My birth
mother (who I thought was my sister – another story) always made Hopping John
on New Year’s day. The southern
tradition said that Hopping John on New Year’s would bring you fortune for the
rest of the year. The recipe was
simply a mixture of rice, black eye peas and turnip or mustard greens, with
bacon sprinkles over the top.
However,
most of us look at New Year’s as the beginning of the really cold winter months
– January and February – and a perfect time of soup.
If your idea
of mushroom soup is the gelatinous glob made by the Campbell company – a soup
my grandmother added to anything to make it exotic – then you need to try this
simple recipe.
Melt ½ stick
of butter in the soup pot
Add:
1 medium
onion chopped
8 ounces of
mushrooms chopped
2
tablespoons of dried parsley
When all the
water is absorbed add 1 tablespoon of flour – stir in for one minute.
Slowly add
two cups of beef broth (I use McKays,)
Return to a
boil then remove from heat.
Add 8 ounces
of sour cream
Blend with a
food processor – I use one of those hand held processors
Dish out and
add pepper to taste. Great with
homemade bread and real butter.
This
produces about three good size servings.
Enjoy
the Ol’Buzzard
