Tuesday, October 16, 2007

"Stone" soup and soda bread

Do you remember the story of Stone Soup? Well, after church, I made "stone" soup and soda bread. At least I felt like I was making "Stone" soup, since I was just using what was on hand, without going to the store on Sunday. I started with a frozen ham bone (my stone) and started throwing in stuff. My neighbors in the story were the freezer and the cupboard, etc. My neighbor "food storage" added dehydrated onions, peas, carrots and corn, since they rehydrate nicely. My neighbor "canned goods" brought canned white beans and kidney beans since I didn't have time to soak beans. My neighbor "dried goods" added soup pasta, those tiny sized pasta bits used for soup. My neighbor "seasonings" garlic salt, paprika, pepper. My neighbor "refrigerator" add hot sauce. Sounds funny, but I like hot sauce in my soup. "Canned goods" also threw in some instant potato buds to thicken it from soup to stoup -- thicker than soup, but thinner than stew. I'm probably forgetting something, but since I had no recipe, just watching my Mother and others in the past, I concocted it from what my "neighbors" had on hand. We enjoyed it. Hope you do too. If you have a variation of "Stone Soup", please share it here.

I wanted hot home made bread to go with it, but didn't want to wait for bread to raise, so I remembered I had a recipe for Irish Soda Bread, which has no yeast. It makes one round loaf and we ate all but four slices of it in that sitting. The recipe:

4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 C butter
3 T honey
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 c buttermilk

1. Blend together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar.
2. Cut in butter with pastry blender.
3. Make a well in center of flour mixture; add honey and buttermilk. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough.
4. Form with floured fingers into a round shape and place smooth side up on lightly foured baking sheet. Cut an X on top. This keeps the crust from splitting.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until a rich brown. Tap bottom of loaf. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done.

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