full bellies | warm welcomes
Well lovelies, it’s the tail end of tomato season in south Mississippi, which is making me act a lot like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings about each and every plump bright red orb that comes off my vines.
There’s really nothing better than the acidity and sweetness of a ripe summer tomato, and sometimes you want something other than a BLT or caprese salad, ammIright?
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Have you ever eaten at a Robert St. John restaraunt? He’s got what amounts to a restaurant owners compound in Hattiesburg, right down the street from the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.
A rustic Italian spot, a new orleans pub and a southern fine-dining experience, a super swank cocktail bar, and now, a much anticipated hamburger joint are all within the confines of basically one parking lot. ALL the food at all the places (well, I don’t know about the burger spot yet since the lines have been too long for me to try it out) is really delicious, and the ambiance is always perfectly suited to the cuisine. Anyway, I’m a huge fan, especially since his food is great, AND uses his platform to support hunger initiatives in Mississippi.
He also has some pretty lovely cookbooks, and we were leafing through the Italian one, and ran across a recipe for white beans. My dad has basically been talking about wanting a bean dish for DAYS, since it’s what he wants to eat in cold weather, AND we had a huge bone-in honebaked ham (and what do you do with a ham bone if you’re from the south? You season something.) I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, and I didn’t have all the things to make his unique seasoning blends and herb blends, so I just kinda went with my gut. What resulted was my take on his already warm, creamy, Mississippified-Italian white bean dish that is PERFECT for a cold, cold night.
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Ok, it’s freezing all over America, right? Like everywhere? Except here. Our former town is probably covered in frost and ice (Can someone in Leland, MS confirm, please?) but here in Laurel, it’s just overcast and muggy. Although there’s SO MUCH to love about the deepest and farthest south, the winter weather isn’t one of them if you happen to like cold. However, I’m not going to let our mosquito-ridden warm front stop me from making the most delicious, easy, healthy soup on the planet, snuggling up with a bowl of it, cup of hot coffee, and pretend it’s a glorious 21 degrees. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you do this, also, even if you aren’t pretending.
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What you do:
See? It’s SO easy once everything has cooled. However, don’t throw this down your sink. Make sure to put the fat in a plastic bag or jar so that it doesn’t clog up all of your pipes.
You’ll be left with a gorgeous colored gelatin that can be frozen OR used immediately in your soups, stews, or other recipes. it’s SO cheap to make, especially if you’ve been saving your vegetable odds-and-ends in a plastic bag in the freezer. Also, don’t be alarmed about the gelatinous texture… once you heat it up it’ll turn back into a liquid.
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Its about time for me to share this recipe… although I made it back in early September with a HUGE, gigantic sack of okra a friend brought to us and the last of our garden’s tomatoes, it really would be a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving side dish. Also, most recipes I found call for frozen okra and canned tomatoes, so you really can make this year-round.
I’ve always thought of Thanksgiving as an important holiday for Americans to celebrate our “meltingpot” cultural heritage, and okra is an amazing food that does just that. Originating in modern-day Ethiopia, okra was most likely brought to our country by enslaved Africans (like most delicious southern food). It’s also called “gumbo” although it’s more likely that you’ve heard this word in context of soups thickened with okra rather than references to the vegetable itself. Aggie Horticulture writes of the name, “Both of these names are of African origin. ‘Gumbo’ is believed to be a corruption of a Portuguese corruption, quingombo, of the word quillobo, native name for the plant in the Congo and Angola area of Africa.” This dish definitely has its roots in the Cajun and Creole traditions of the south… plus, a version of stewed okra and tomatoes recipe found in Indian cuisine as well. What’s more meltingpot than a vegetable and recipe that immigrated to the US from multiple parts of the world? Definitely a contender for a new Thanksgiving side dish tradition.
Confession: Okra’s hairy-sliminess isn’t always palatable to me… but this recipe breaks down the okra and makes it a smooth texture, plus the flavor of it and the tomatoes comes out beautifully. My grandmother used to make this and for a long time it was the ONLY way I’d eat this vegetable.
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TIP: did you know that whole jalepeno peppers freeze really well? If your garden grows more than you can handle, or you just accidentally buy too many at the store, you can drop them in a plastic bag and freeze them until you need them! These came from my aunt’s garden, and thanks to her I have all the peppers I need for a year!
Ok, so your veggies are chopped and your bacon has crisped in the pot. Take the bacon out and put it on a paper towel to cool for a bit. Then, dump in your onions into the bacon grease in the bottom of your pot and cook until their translucent.
Add in the garlic and cook briefly until tender, then add in the other diced vegetables. Stir them and cook them until they are a little tender and add in your salt, pepper, thyme, and red pepper flakes. (I gave my approximate seasoning measures above, but I was being conservative this time. feel free to liberally season this soup to your liking!)
Add in your peas, your canned tomatoes and tomato paste.
While that’s all simmering a bit, you’ll want to prepare your greens if you haven’t already.
TIP: I like to clean mine ahead of time and then store them after rinsing them and pulling the leaves off of the stalks (because those kale and turnip green stalks can be TOUGH) in a damp paper towel in a large zip-lock bag. This keeps the greens from wilting and can keep greens (and lettuces, too) fresh for nearly a week. If you haven’t prepped your greens in advance, rinse them thoroughly and pull the leaves from the stalk, then chop or rip up the greens into smaller pieces.
Dump those into the pot (and if you’re adding vinegar or wine, now is the time to do it) and stir around until everything’s all mixed together and let simmer on low for at least one hour so all the flavors mix together. I cooked mine for about 1.5 hours, then let it sit for another 2 hours, then reheated it and tasted for salt and pepper.
Serve it with bread and a side salad and you’ve got LUCK for the whole year! Happy new Year!
Drain the corn and add it with the crawfish into the pot. stir for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine and let that cook down for about 3 minutes.
Pour in the stock/broth and add the bay leaf and let simmer for at least 30 minutes (but longer is usually better for flavors to meld together)
Just before serving, add in the cream. this will lighten the color and give it a really lovely richness… viola’! you’ve got a southern seafood bisque that tells you spring is on the way (or already here!) serve with crusty bread and sprinkle it with green onion for a little color… and your good silver if you want it to feel like more than a regular old soup. I did. 
Add the Stock and liquid to the large stock pot with the vegetables. Add in the bay leaf, the red beans, the red vinegar, the squeezes of ketchup for good measure, and the sausage. Simmer on low heat for 2- 2.5 hours. The longer and slower this cooks, the more flavorful and creamier the red beans will be.
Once the liquid has cooked down somewhat and the beans are soft, take about 2 cups of the beans and liquid and using a food processor or blender, puree’ that amount. Add the pureed beans back into the pot with the rest of the beans. This makes them even creamier and smooth.
