American By Birth, Southern By the Grace of God: Maw-Maw Falls' Vegetable Soup

Maw-Maw Falls

The late, great Lewis Grizzard used to say he was "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God." I can identify. I love being from the South, and I love coming from a long line of amazing Southern cooks. I'm fortunate enough to have known both of my maternal great-grandmothers (who were, in fact, amazing Southern cooks), and remember times spent with them very well. Like so many other great memories, food plays a huge part in my memories of time spent with them.  Every Sunday we'd all head up to my Ma-maw and Pa-paw Ford's (Mom's dad's parents) house for a huge spread, with vegetables fresh from their garden out back and gorgeous, delicious desserts. I always had to help Ma-maw make the cornbread- it was my special job. (And the cast iron cornbread stick pan is hers- it makes the best cornbread ever. I highly recommend getting a stick pan if you're going to make Southern cornbread often. It has more surface area, and therefore more crusty goodness. Plus your cornbread looks like a corn cob- how fun is that?!)

My other great-grandma, Maw Falls lived with my grandparents and took care of me and my brother after school. She was always cooking up something tasty. One of my favorites was her vegetable soup. We'd come in the house after school and an electric pot would be sitting on the counter bubbling away and smelling so good. It was full of veggies, lots of them frozen or canned from the garden. In fact, I was asking my mom where to get "flat green beans" (pole beans) from the store, and she said, "Oh, I think those were the ones they canned..." So I have to settle for regular green beans until I can grow my own flat ones. In any case, here's Maw-Maw Falls' vegetable soup recipe.

Maw-Maw Falls' Vegetable Soup


Ingredients:

• carrots, diced or cut into rounds
• celery, diced
• onion, diced
• fresh or frozen peas (crowder, zipper, black-eye, pigeon, whatever you've got- I used some frozen lima beans from my grandpa's garden and a handful of frozen crowder peas)
• fresh or frozen okra (if frozen, about half a bag)
• half a head of cabbage, chopped
• fresh, frozen, or home-canned green beans (flat/pole beans are my favorite!)
• tomatoes- fresh if they're in season, home-canned or canned if not. 
• water 
• butter
• salt and pepper
• cayenne pepper
• bay leaf
• (optional stock- chicken, turkey, veggie)

Directions

• Saute carrots, onions and celery in a large dutch oven until softened. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients. (note: Maw-maw made hers with water and butter- I used some turkey stock I had frozen from Thanksgiving, my mom uses low-sodium chicken stock. The water/butter way works great, but takes a little longer for the flavors to meld)
• Let cook until vegetables are tender and flavors are melded. Adjust seasoning and serve with cornbread. 

The great thing about this recipe is you can put pretty much whatever you have lying around in it. Corn, potatoes, different beans, squash... the possibilities are endless. You can add some fresh herbs if you happen to have them- thyme is a good option. Have fun with this great (and super-healthy) soup!

Southern Cornbread
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated- this isn't my great-grandma's recipe (I'll post it another time) but it's fantastic!


Ingredients:

• 4 tsp. bacon drippings
• 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/3 cup rapidly boiling water
• 3/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

• Put a daub of bacon drippings in each muffin tin, corn stick mold, or 8" round pan. Place pan on lower-middle rack and heat oven to 450. 
• Put half the cornmeal in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the remaining cornmeal and other dry ingredients and set aside.
• Pour bowling water into the bowl of just cornmeal and mash into a paste. Whisk in the milk gradually, working out the lumps. Whisk in the egg. 
• Once the oven is preheated, add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into the hot tins from liquid measuring cup. Bake 13-20 minutes, depending on size of pan.
• Remove from oven and immediately flip onto a wire rack, gently using a butter knife to pry it out if necessary. Cool 5 minutes and serve.