Fart on...lol

• hey foodies are you ready to fart on? Lol…i know but seriously as delicious as this recipe straight from lovie’s kitchen is, you have been warned. i would advise you to eat it in the company of trusted friends or family or perhaps you may need it for another purpose…say to get rid of some love pest  or maybe save it for the black friday sales if you have your eye on something in particular, hee-hee.

this soup is a childhood favourite and there are variations of it. in hrvatski terms it is known as grah and is basically a bean and kransky sausage combo. my mum lovie has a bit of a different take on it which in my opinion super charges the taste level and maybe the fart power too! we made this together this past weekend and i added another touch which elevates this humble soup into a hearty meal and skyrockets your carb intake. along with this delicious soup i made a batch of fresh lepinja , soft pillows of yeasty goodness made better with lashings of butter. guaranteed to be on the weight watchers banned list but truly they are just too hard to resist. even moi who is on a health kick managed to eat one and half from a batch of 12 which in my books is pretty good going coz i did lock myself in my room to stop myself from eating the left overs. luckily for me i have two  young hungry men who saved me from a carb overload and blood sugar catastrophe. actually if the truth be known i gave 4 to my mum and two to my sister, lol which left us with 6. technically i was entitled to two but my good friend anica came for lunch and she had a half of one and of course being polite i had the other half but then snuck in an extra one later in the day…yes with vegemite and butter and it was sooooooo good.  (please refer to a previous post for lepinja recipe and make sure you pay your respects to brigita husic’s youtube video, link included)

i have been farting for two days but fortunately ceased upon my return to work but hey the farting is definitely worth it, so here it is folks…lovie’s grah

*Please note before contemplating making this soup you must soak your bean mix or beans overnight

ingredients

1 smoked ham hock

3 kransky sausages, put these in whole, for a bit of a kick you can get the chilli ones

1 large onion finely diced

5 cloves of garlic crushed

4 medium carrots peeled and kept whole

3 stalks of celery finely diced

2 stalks of whole celery

1 tablespoon of vegeta

½ tspn of ground black pepper

1 tablespoon sweet paprika and 2 tablespoons of plain flour to thicken

parsley for garnish

1 kg pack of continental soup mix soaked overnight

( I get mine from gaganis) this must be soaked overnight, alternatively you can also use  borlotti beans but I recommend going to gaganis and buying the continental bean soup mix as this is my mum’s variation and take it from me if you have ever had any of lovie’s cooking you will heed this advice!!!

 method

place bean mix, ham hock, kranskys into a large pot, add onion, garlic, diced celery, whole celery and whole carrots. add vegeta, pepper and cover with boiling water until completely covered. Bring to boil and then simmer for 1 and a 1/2 hours- 2 hours. meat should fall off ham hock. remove whole celery, carrots, ham hock and kranskys, peel kranskys if you desire and add back to soup, shred ham hock meat and add back to soup, chunk carrots and add back to soup, discard whole celery. mix flour and sweet paprika together in a cup, add some soup stock and mix to form a smooth past then, add back to soup to thicken it. add some chopped parsley, season to taste with a teaspoon of salt if you feel it needs it. serve with freshly baked lepinjas or crusty bread and fart on!