Yesterday, while I was just finishing up the animal pictures on my newsletter, my furnace started acting up. Actually, it has been acting up for a few days now. It would start up, with the exhaust fan, but the burner wouldn’t light. Then it would time-out, and shut down. If I cut the power to the furnace, and then turn it back on, it would work.
Well, yesterday morning that happened, and I went to shut the power and restart it. As I did, I noticed my water heater was leaking, the drip pan was full and it was beginning to run on to my hardwood floor.
There was a sticker on it for a local service company, with 24 hour service, which I called. He said he’d be out around noon. He replaced my water heater, hauled the old one away, and then cleaned and fixed what he thought was causing my furnace problem. A few hours, and twelve hundred bucks later, I was back in business. It was just luck I found the problem, before it ruined my hardwood floor. Here is the soup I made while all of that was going on.
1 large bone from a roast leg of lamb
Lots of water
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup of onion flakes
4 bay leaves
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 Italian sausages, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped smoked sausage
16 oz. can of Blue Runner Creole Cream Style Red Beans
6 oz. can of tomato paste
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup of barley
3 oz. piece of the rind from Parmigiano-Reggiano
2/3 cup of broken spaghetti
Adobo seasoning
Maggi Seasoning
Worcestershire sauce
Preparation
First step is to make a stock. Place the big lamb bone in a stock pot, and cover with lots of water. Add the garlic powder and onion flakes, as well as three of the bay leaves. Bring that to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for two hours.
Strain the stock into a large soup pot. My stock came almost to the top of the soup pot, so I let that simmer uncovered, for a couple of hours to concentrate the stock and reduce the volume, so my other ingredients can fit.
Add the onion, celery, and chopped sausages. Next add the Blue Runner beans and the tomato paste. Stir to dissolve and blend everything together. Let that continue to simmer, stirring often, uncovered, for a couple of hours.
Add the baby spinach, the Parmigiano-Reggiano rind, and the barley. Stir and continue to simmer uncovered, for at least another hour. By now, the soup should be getting thicker. Stir in the spaghetti pieces, and let it simmer for another half hour. Stir often. Splash on several shakes of Maggi Seasoning and Worcestershire sauce. Taste and adjust the salt with adobo seasoning, and you are ready to serve.
Serving
Last night a couple of loyal readers came for dinner, and we had this hearty minestrone along with broiled chicken and asparagus. We also had warm homemade bread, fresh from the oven and a chilled bottle of a California Viognier. All in all, it was a nice meal, after an eventful, expensive day.
No comments:
Post a Comment