Summer Dreamin’ Soup

A few weeks ago I asked for some cooking suggestions, and some people said summer food to take their minds off the cold and snowy winter we have been having. Others said comfort foods like soup. I took these 2 ideas and ran with it, combining them into one meal! I was thinking about this for a couple days and bouncing a few ideas around with a blogger friend at a recent event finalized the dish in my head. 4 classic summer BBQ dishes in one soup. Pulled Pork, Baked Beans, Corn, and Cole Slaw. The results were awesome! We are forcasted 6-8 inches for today, so hopefully this soup helps some of your summer dreams flow.

I love the look of roman/cranberry beans when they are still dry, I only wish they would retain this color when they are fully cooked!

The awesome spice blend! Cumin, chipotle, ancho, pepper, allspice, oregano, cinnamon, clove, coriander and black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow mustard seeds. Uh, huh, you know what it is.

Onions, butter, habanero, garlic. This is in the same pan I seared the pork in.

Tomato paste and the spices.

Some vinegar and sweeteners added, then the sauce was pureed until smooth.

Into the oven for 2 hours.

Some bacon and peppers.

The pork didn’t really go for long enough to fully shred easily, but I was still able to pull it into shredded pieces and I knew it would soften more in the soup.

The nice pork cooking liquid mixed with chicken stock.

This cooked about an hour and a half until the beans were tender. Yum! I added the corn in the last 15 minutes of cooking.

A quick spicy cole slaw finished it up!

This was really tasty. Tangy from the vinegar and mustard based BBQ sauce, with deep savory flavors, reminiscent of all 4 dishes!

This was very spicy! If you want less spice, use jalapeno instead of habanero, and remove the seeds. Also use smoked paprika instead of chipotle powder.

Because this is such an involved recipe, I have added a few tips at the bottom to make a quick and easy version (but not as homemade or awesome)

The long homemade way:
First make this spice blend:

Tablespoon of:
Cumin
Chipotle powder
Ancho Powder
Black Mustard Seed
Yellow Mustard Seed

Half Tablespoon of:
Pepper
Allspice
Oregano

Teaspoon of:
Cinnamon
Clove
Coriander

Sear your pork shoulder on all sides in a very hot pan with some oil. I used a 6 lb bone-in Boston butt cut. Remove the meat and add 1 chopped onion and 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook until the onion is browned, and add 5 diced cloves of garlic and 3 habaneros. Cook 2 minutes. Add a 6 oz can of tomato paste and 3/4 of the spice blend you made. only 3/4 of it! save the rest to sprinkle on your eggs or use as a rub for chicken. Cook this about 2 minutes. It should smell amazing and have a very vibrant color! Add one can of diced tomatoes, then fill the can up with water and add that. Next add:
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
Blend this all up with an immersion blender and taste for seasoning. Your mind might be blown a little by the deliciousness of this bbq sauce. You may also need to add another cup or so of water to thin it out and be sure it comes at least half way up the meat.  Place the meat into the sauce and braise for 2 hours in the oven at 325, or on the stovetop at a simmer.

Soak your beans the quick way, or overnight (directions on the package), and strain and rince.

Chop up 4 strips of bacon (cause there isn’t enough pork already in this) and a green bell pepper.

Shred up some cabbage and carrot and mix in a bunch of green onion, mayo, mustard, and sriracha for a quick delicious spicy slaw.

Get the pork out and get it on a cutting board. It is not going to be all shreddy yet cause it hasnt cooked quite long enough, but with a little effort you should still be able to “pull” the pork. Strain the fat from the sauce and set the sauce aside. I cleaned the pan at this point cause there was a lot of crusties and stuff that didnt look or taste good stuck to it.

Cook the bacon until crispy, remove about half the liquid bacon fat. Add the peppers and cook for a few minutes. Add the sauce, beans, and shredded pork. Add enough chicken stock to fill the pot, should be about 1 and a half boxes. Simmer this for about an hour and a half or until the beans are tender and creamy. Add corn 15 minutes before its done cooking.

Serve with the cole slaw on top!

If you want to make an easy version of this, you could use a store bought bbq sauce. I would do about 3 cups of that to 1 cup of apple cider vinegar, and put it into the slow cooker with the pork. Also canned beans would make it much easier. You could even cook chicken instead of pork, just cook it in a pan with your bbq sauce and cider vinegar blend, then shred it, and you could have this on the table in under a half hour!

10 Comments

  1. Looks yummy. Especially for a day like today! Great seeing you at the blogger launch party the other night!

  2. Another Music inspired post?… sort of…?
    haha
    looks awesome. I love a good BBQ sauce to blow my mind 😛
    Plus 7/10 spicy scale! Nice.

  3. This looks so delicious. The spice would probably kick my butt though so thanks for providing a less spicy option. I’m definitely going to try this recipe out. Thanks!

  4. Kim –
    it’s pretty much the same scale haha. I ripped it off from them, but I added a decimal so i can be more exact. so basically you would be crying if you ate this just like you cried while eating that pork 3 ways. ohhhhhhhh snap!

  5. You beat me! This looks like a fantastic summer backyard barbecue in a bowl. Great seeing you at the party & looking forward to some upcoming foodie fights. Let me know when it launches and I’ll be there.

  6. This looks fantastic. Love spicy! I actually have just about everything I need to make this, so it looks like I’ve got a great culinary adventure this weekend. (For a moment there I thought black and yellow, hmm, Go Steelers?! Guess that’s where my mind is!)

  7. Hi Kim, I liked a lot your website, I think I will become fan of it. I love to cook and try new recipes.
    Congratulations

  8. Dang that looks good. I just made some pulled pork last week but it was a little too vinegary. I couldn’t get a Boston Butt so I used pork side ribs, boiled them for 2 hours then smoked for 2 hours. I’ll have to try this sauce next time.

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