Soup Kitchen Recipes – Ham and Bean Soup
January and February are the coldest months of the year, especially up north in the USA. What is better than a steaming bowl of soup with a good loaf of bread. Put on your turtle neck sweaters, coats, scarves, and mittens and pull up to the table to a bowl of soup. Well, I guess you don’t need the coat, scarves, and mittens if you pay your heating bill. I just got carried away with the cold weather. This month, I want to feature Soup Kitchen Recipes -Ham and Bean Soup recipe for today.
Ham and Bean Soup
- 1 pound navy beans, picked over, rinsed and drained
- 2 to 3 T parsley
- ½ tsp. thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 large smoked ham hocks, about 1½ pounds
- 4 medium diced potatoes
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
- 8 cups of cold water
- 1 medium carrot, shredded
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- After washing and picking out the bad beans, place the beans in a large saucepan and cover with cold water about 1 to 2 inches and soak overnight.
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven combine the beans, herbs, hocks, onions, potatoes and garlic with the water. Bring to a boil, cover, and adjust the heat so the soup cooks at a gentle simmer. Cook until the beans and hocks are completely tender, about 2-2½ hours.
- Turn off the heat and remove the hocks. Cool slightly. Remove the meat from the hocks, discarding the bones, fat, and skin. Cut the meat into small cubes.
- You can puree about 2 cups of the beans with a some of the liquid in a blender. (For a smoother soup puree all the beans.) Stir the puree and diced meat into the soup. Heat the soup and adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper.
I like to cook the soup long, sometimes 3 hours and I don’t have to puree it. I think that using ham hocks are the best cut of ham to use. When we were children, we would eat a piece of jelly bread with it, but I’m sure a good artisan or crusty french bread would be better. Join me for Soup Kitchen Recipes this month and enjoy the Ham and Bean Soup from today.
Picture by Allrecipes.
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Simplee Sue
8:10 am
Yummy looking soup, perfect for the cold weather. Thanks for visiting me and for your sweet words
7:43 pm
Your ham and bean soup sounds great! I am all about soups this time of year as I am always cold. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!