Cooking with Chef Jo: Dry Bean Soup with Polenta Cakes

 Yes, I'm still canning tomato sauce! There's times I don't think I'll ever be done. Why? Because after I completed the bushels of tomatoes I had in my freezer, I didn't have my goal of sauce on my shelves. I really wanted 184 jars of diced tomatoes and sauce on my shelves. The year before I put up 104 jars of just sauce, and ran out six months before I could get anymore. I didn't want this to happen again. Maybe it's just me, but after eating homegrown/home canned tomatoes, the  tomato products I bought at the store had a slight metallic flavor that carried through whatever I made with them.

I was saved from paying higher wholesale house prices by a friend who grew certified organic tomatoes. He was doing what I did the previous week, clearing his fields before the heavy frost set in. The only thing keeping the temperatures from a hard freeze is all the hurricane activity this year. Can you believe we've made it through the alphabet this year? Cockeyed weather! Anyhow, he sold me his tomato harvest for $0.25 a lb. I snapped up all he had. It was close to 65 lbs and it put me at my goal of jars. Plus, I dehydrated all those tomato skins for 3 qt jars of tomato powder.  The chickens loved the cores too. Waste not want not. 

Usually when I'm in heavy duty canning mode, dinners are simple quick, heat-n-eat fare. So coming up with a recipe for y'all was tougher than usual for y'all this week.  In the grocery stores, citrus fruits are starting to go on sale. But it's only mid November, so my mind reasons this is the sell-off of last year's harvest. I mean it could be the beginnings of this year's, but I doubt it. So I'll be canning some citrus next month including my favorite preserves...orange marmalade. I'm going off on this tangent so I can think of a yummy recipe for y'all. 

Er, Um, Got it! Bean and Ham Soup! I've been shelling my drying beans that grew up and around my stunted corn and the peas I used as ground cover for the past two years. Other than the 15 or 16 bean soup y'all are used to, this is made with whatever dried beans I have handy so the number of beans/peas changes with each pot I make. (rummaging around my dried beans and pea stores) I got enough for a pot without going to the store. Do I have a ham bone in my freezer? (rummaging through the freezer.) Nope! But, I did find smoked chicken and turkey neck bones, feet, and wing tips. yes, we had smoked the feet and neck bones when we smoked the chickens and turkeys. Don't you? Score! My stove top and wood stove burners are full so I'll cook this in the crockpot.

Dry Bean Soup with Smoked Poultry and Polenta Cakes

Serves 6 hearty portion

What you'll need

3lbs assorted turkey and chicken boney pieces, smoked

Enough water to cover the bones by 3"

1 onion, rough chop

4 ribs celery, rough chop

1 carrot, washed and rough chop

6 peppercorns

2 tsp salt

4 sage leaves

                                                   2 bay leaves

4 cups assorted dry beans and peas*

1 tsp baking soda

1 onion, medium dice*

3 ribs celery, medium dice*

1 carrot, grated

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, fine dice*

1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke™

2 tsp salt & more salt to taste

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne

Enough water to fill crock pot

1 TBS Masa or corn starch

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sharp grated cheddar cheese or Swiss cheese

1/2 cup grits/polenta

2 cups water

1 TBS butter

1/2 tsp salt

Notes- *Tonight, I'm using the combination of baby limas, kidney, small red, garbanzo, black eyed, cannellini, acre, and pinto beans/peas. So it's only a eight bean soup, but still tasty.

*My small and medium dice is made by my Vidalia Onion Chopper but feel free to use a knife.😉

Putting it all together

• The night before, place first nine (9) ingredients in the slow cooker. Turn heat to high 1 hour, and then turn to low.   
• In a large bowl, place dried beans to soak with 1 tsp of baking soda.
• In a saucepan, place 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt. and butter, and bring to a boil. Stir in grits/polenta. Continue stirring until it comes back to a boil for an additional 1 minute. Turn heat to low and cover. Continue cooking for 5 minutes. When the grits/polenta are the consistency of thin oatmeal, turn off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Pour onto a buttered, parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• The next morning, strain the broth from meat from the slow cooker. Pull meat from the bones and reserve. Strain and rinse the beans/peas.
• In the slow cooker, add medium and fine diced vegetables and the beans/peas.
• Pour in broth. Add enough water to 3/4s fill the container. Turn to high.
• When mixture comes to a boil (about an hour),  add meat and turn heat to low. Continue cooking until beans/peas are tender (about 4 hours)
• Mix masa and water to formed a slurry. Pour into slow cooker stirring well to mix. Soup should thicken slightly.
• Now for the cakes. Take cold grits/polenta from the refrigerator. It should be firm. Cut into square pieces or get fancy and use a cookie cutter. You want two for each bowl of soup served.
• Heat a small pat of butter to grease a frying pan. Turn heat to medium.
• Fry each shape about 2 minutes each side. They should be slightly golden and warmed through. Place on layers of paper towels to drain and hold for service.

For service- Divide soup equally between bowls. Sprinkle grated cheese and place two shapes of polenta on top.

It's a hearty, stick to your ribs dinner. Fancy enough to get in a restaurant, but simply enough to make for a weeknight dinner. The beautiful thing about it is at a mostly hands off meal that tastes like you've spent all day in the kitchen. If you desire as a variation to this recipe, you can add a jar of diced tomatoes when you add the other vegetables into the pot like I did in the picture. So I can can vegetables all day and still have a fantastic meal ready when I want it.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo