Rockin the Crock Week 3 (Recipe)

Week three threw us a little bit of a curve ball.  I was super busy this past week and had less time than normal, so we fell back on some of the recipes we've already done.  We tried spaghetti and meatballs again, this time using 100% ground sirloin and it was MUCH better.  The kiddo asked for roast beef.  We used one of the leftover bags of pulled pork from the freezer.  And we did *blush* go out for fast food one night.

I also made a pot of my grandmother's soup.  My grandmother was an incredible cook and her meals were comfort food all the way.

As she got older, cooking from scratch became more and more difficult and she found little ways to make it easier on herself. Instead of dicing a ton of fresh tomatoes, she started buying canned.  Instead of making a ton of slippery dumplings from scratch and freezing them, she found a frozen brand just as good.  Instead of using fresh veggies straight off the farm, she occasionally snuck in a bag of frozen ones.  Instead of making her own stocks, she switched to canned stock.

And we went on thinking she was still making everything from scratch, completely oblivious to her subterfuge.  Once I learned what she was doing, I was shocked and upset (I was only 18) and thought the end of the world was coming.  Now, as a busy working mom, I can appreciate what she was doing because I can now make some of my grandmother's recipes really quickly.

Now, we're from the rural Maryland Eastern Shore, and even though that's technically just above the Mason-Dixon line, don't let that fool you.  The Shore is a mix of waterman, country folk, and rednecks. Grandmas store bacon grease in a can on the counter.  You will hear the word "y'all" thrown about.  And you put fatback in your collard greens.

What is fatback?  Or as my grandfather called it, "streak a'lean, streak a'fat".  It's basically bacon before it's sliced.  You can find it at most grocery stores under the name "salted pork", usually in or near the meat department.  I get it from the big box grocery store with the big yellow smiley face.  It's can be unrefrigerated prior to opening and usually has a REALLY long shelf life.

My grandmother used fatback in all her soups and continue that ... because it tastes hella good.  It may not make it quite as healthy, but it's comfort food.

Mommom's Lima Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1 piece of Fatback/Salted Pork
1 small onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 14-16 oz bag of frozen lima beans
1/3 to 1/2 - 14 oz bag of frozen white corn
(optional) slippery (flat) dumplings, 4 -6, ripped into halves or thirds
salt
pepper

In a 4 qt soup pot, fill with water about 1/2 full and bring to a boil.  Cut a piece of fatback about the size of a large pack of gum.  Put into the pot, whole (it will make it easier to take out later.)  Add in the onions and about 1-2 tsp salt.  **You may want to refrain from adding salt until the end when you can taste it if the salt pork has a lot of salt on the outside.**  Allow the fatback and onions to cook for about 30 minutes to an hour on simmer/low to pull the flavor from the meat.

Bring up the heat to medium high and allow to get back up to almost a boil.  Add 1 TBSP of pepper.  Add in the can of tomatoes, with the juice, as well as the frozen vegetables.  Bring to almost a boil and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for two to three hours, stirring occasionally.  If it gets too thick as it simmers, add a little more water to give it the consistency you want.

Optional - You can add in a few slippery dumplings at the end.  Make sure the soup has a good amount of liquid to it and bring the heat back up to a near boil.  Throw in a few pieces of frozen flat dumplings, broken up into near bite sized pieces.  Cook until dumplings are tender.

Taste - add salt and pepper to your preference.  You can remove the salted pork after, if you desire.  I usually leave it in my pot with leftovers, giving the soup more flavor when I reheat. 

My Comments:
Goes great with a grilled cheese sandwich (especially with thick cut sourdough bread from Panera!  YUM!!)

For those of you who say "that's just succotash!", no it isn't.  It's a close cousin, but no.  It's soup, not a side.

Anne's Dumplings can be found in the frozen section around here.  A red and yellow box usually near the frozen garlic bread.  I couldn't tell the difference between these and my grandmother's scratch dumplings.  She'd been using them for years before I found out.

Fresh veggies, in season, are so much better.  But I never seem to want to eat soup in the summer, so I usually just go for the frozen veggies.

If you have a hard time finding salted pork, you can use thick cut bacon.  It will be harder to fish out the pieces once the soup is done.

Dogs LOVE cooked fatback.  They might even take off an arm trying to get to it.

From the point where we added the tomatoes, you can then switch it up, too.  I add a bag of mixed veggies (limas, corn, green beans, and carrots), a can of diced potatoes, and a pound or so of pulled/diced grilled chicken breast to make a great chicken chowder.