There is a well-known quote from a Tennyson poem that states, “In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” I would suggest a corollary that states, “In the Winter a man’s fancy turns to thoughts of soup.” At least, when the temperature starts dropping, I know I dream about tucking into a nice steaming bowl of soup instead of walking through the wind and snow.
One of my favorite soups going back to childhood is split pea soup. My Grandma Fikse always started her pea soup with a hamhock, simmering the peas with the meat and bone for hours to extract all the flavor from the hock and infuse it into the split peas. Despite the hours that soup spent simmering, my grandfather still insisted he liked pea soup better leftover the next day, because the flavors mixed more thoroughly.
Although my grandmother’s split pea soup was wonderful, I never want to spend the time simmering and picking meat off a hambone. My variation of split pea soup instead relies on ring bologna to give it that smoky, meaty flavor. Specifically, this recipe was created around the Sully Community Locker’s ring bologna. The soup does benefit from a long simmer, but the flavors blend well the day it is made. My grandfather probably still would have said he liked it better the second day, though.
Another favorite of mine is chicken tortilla soup. When Lynnette and I lived in Davenport, we would occasionally have lunch at the Downtown Deli. I always hoped for chicken tortilla soup to be on the menu when we went. Over the years, I have tried several chicken tortilla soups, and there is a huge variation in what constitutes a chicken tortilla soup. The Downtown Deli continued to be the standard that I measured other soups
against. After making a few different versions at home, I finally found one that measured up. I can’t say that this recipe is even close to Downtown Deli’s version, but I look forward to it in the same way, and I think that is what is important.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Photo from mygourmetconnection.com
Ingredients
1/2 gal. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. Monterey Jack
3/4 c. cheddar
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 pint half & half
2 tsp. diced jalapeños
10 oz. Rotel tomatoes with chilies
1 1/4 c. chicken (cooked/diced)
Directions
In a large pot, combine chicken broth, pepper, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in flour. Cook flour mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Stir flour mixture into chicken stock. Finely shred cheese. Add shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar along with cream cheese to the chicken stock. Stir until melted. Add half & half, jalapeños, Rotel tomatoes, and chicken. Heat over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Garnish with shredded Monterey Jack and corn chips or tortilla strips if desired.
I like this soup best when made as printed above, but I have recently experimented with making it a bit heartier by adding one can each of drained cannellini beans, black beans, and pinto beans. Lynnette far prefers this new, bean-laden variation.
Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
10 c. water
1/2 lb. ring bologna (diced)
1 small onion (chopped)
1 pkg. (16 oz.) split peas
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. carrots (sliced)
1 1/2 c. potatoes (diced)
Directions
In a large pan, combine water, bologna, onion, split peas, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until peas are mostly broken down, about 4 hours. Add carrots and potatoes and cook until carrots and potatoes are tender, about 1.5 hours.
This recipe was created with the Sully Community Locker’s ring bologna. I know Pella Bologna has the brand recognition, but for this soup I prefer Sully’s recipe. And if you are shopping at the Sully Community Locker already, it would be a shame to not pick up some of their sliced smoked cured beef. It is the best dried beef I have ever tasted. It is perfect on a buttered raisin bun, or for making pickle wraps, or just snacking on. My favorite way to use Sully’s dried beef, though, is in dried beef gravy on toast.
Dried Beef Gravy
Photo by Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
Ingredients
8 Tbsp. butter
½ c. flour
4 c. milk
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. dried mustard
8 oz. dried beef (chopped)
Directions
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth, cooking for about one minute. Add half a cup of milk and stir until slightly thickened; continue adding milk half a cup at a time and stirring until slightly thickened. Reduce heat to medium/low; add salt, pepper, dried mustard, and dried beef and simmer 3-5 minutes. Serve over toast.
When I make dried beef gravy, I like to render some of the beef fat into the butter before making the gravy. Once the butter is melted, I add half of the dried beef to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low, stirring gently for about 3 minutes. I then remove the beef, leaving as much butter in the pan as possible, before adding the flour. I also substitute half and half for the first half cup of milk.
