It's sunny but cold here in San Diego. So, it was time for some yummy Mexican soup. I still have a cold so it is my "Mexican medicine". My first mother-in-law was Mexican and this is a variation on her soup.
Memo's soup
2Tbsp bacon drippings or EVOO
8 oz ham, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, sliced (I could have also added carrots and green peppers, but I did not have them on hand)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1Tbsp crushed red pepper (like comes with pizza)
4 big chicken thighs with bone, cut into thirds
1 large can hominy
1 med can tomatoes with peppers
1 tsp salt
1tsp leaf oregano, crushed in your hand
4 cups water
1/2 Cup red wine vinegar
Saute the onions, celery and ham in the bacon drippings until they begin to brown. Add the pepper, cumin, red pepper and the garlic. Cook until you smell the garlic. Lift the onion mixture into the crock pot. Brown off the chicken in the remaining oil. While it cooks, add the hominy, salt and the tomatoes to the crock pot. When the chicken is brown, add it and the oregano to the crock. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, also the water. Scrape up the fond (the brown bits) real good, as they add so much flavor to the soup. Add the resulting broth to the crock. Set the crock pot to low and cook 4 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with quesadilllas or cheesy toast. Add a salad or fruit and you have a great cold day dinner. I had fruit with mine. Yummy.
I gave my freind Barbra a bowl of the soup when she stopped by today to knit and talk. She is studying fashion and is using me as a model for her plus size swim suit line. I hope she makes a mint. This is an area that needs more young designers to make the suits fun.
I finished a shawl from the UFO collection. Purple and magenta. 7 feet long and about 15 inches long. Crochet, mixed patterns.
The yarn was from Mexico. A few years ago (like maybe 4) Dan and I went to LA to attend his sister's graduation. We stayed at the Miyako Hotel in Japan-town. http://www.miyakoinn.com/ We got a great deal through AARP. We had so much fun. They have Japanese style rooms, too. They were so Japanese, the breakfast menu included natto, super stinky fermented soybeans. The neighborhood included great Japanese food, jazz clubs and a fun local micro- brewery. We had a blast. I'd do it again in a New York minute.
Anyway, in the neighborhood was a yarn shop that specialized in yarns from Mexico, and I bought this yarn. Good thing Dan speaks Spanish. Great colors. And now it's done. There are leftovers of the yarn, plus some of the other purples I bought at the same time. So now I'm working on a new one where the colors shift gradually.
Enjoy my soup,
Julie
- Location:home in San Diego
- Mood:
relaxed - Music:Santana, Supernatural
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