Skip the bloggy bit and SHOW ME THE RECIPE!
Being from Cape Breton, this is one of The Canadian One’s favourite stews. His grandmother used to make it for him when he was younger and he would always talk about it. One year, he got the recipe from his cousin and we set out to recreate it.
The Canadian One took me to Cape Breton for the first time this past summer. We ventured east with my father-in-law and brother-in-law and had a fun filled 5 days together.
Here we are with our obligatory lighthouse photo. There’s also one of us with the fiddle and of us at a barn party and of us driving across the bridge…but one photo of our trip is probably enough for you guys.
We actually tried to go to that lighthouse the day before but no one could remember where it was, and did we miss the turn or is the turn up ahead or is the turn elsewhere…is that the lighthouse there…no…so instead we all went to Walmart – I can’t remember why but at the time there was a valid reason – and we set out the next morning to find it again…after TCO’s cousin put it into my Google map for us to find.
Back to the recipe!
Now, traditionally it would be made with chicken but we usually use turkey as with there just being two of us, whenever we cook a large turkey, we have turkey for daaaays. I’ll roast the turkey and then we will carve it up, portioning some of it into freezer baggies to make fricot with later in the week/month/year.
It’s a simple stew made using ingredients you probably have on hand most of the time, except for one, Summer Savory. But fear not, it’s not an herb you need to spend a lot of money on hunting for it in a fancy store. I get mine at Silk Road Spices because that’s where I buy all my spices and herbs but you can get it at any large grocer store. By coincidence, Silk Road Spices’ version of Summer Savory is actually grown in Nova Scotia!
FRICOT
1 tb butter (or vegan butter if you are dairy-free)
2 cups of cooked, diced Turkey or Chicken
1 Onion, diced
4-5 Carrots, diced
4-5 Potatoes, diced
2 tsp Dried Summer Savory
1 cup chicken stock (optional but recommended)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Throw everything into pot. Cover with water. Boil. Stir. Then simmer for 1.5-2 hrs.
OR
Throw everything into Instant Pot, cover with water, bring to boil on SAUTE function and then slow cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
If you want, you can thicken it with a little flour (or GF flour) or you can take a scoop out, blend it and return it to the pot. I’m a big fan of thickening with blended soup.
Serve with buttered bread rolls.
The Ketchup War 