Staying with the bean theme, we made ham and bean soup for dinner. Ham and bean soup has always been one of my favorite comfort meals.
My original intention was to make black-eyed pea soup for an pre-New Year’s Day good luck meal, but I couldn’t find any locally grown black-eyed peas, and opted for the Yankee version instead. We used our recently purchased Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye beans, but you can use any white bean. If you are trying to use local beans, Azure Standard carries several regionally grown white beans including their organic navy beans. (Incidentally, they also carry black eyed peas that are grown in Moses Lake, WA)
Other bean recipes and posts on this site:
Cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta
Beans and grains in the Willamette Valley
Beans and grains in the Willamette Valley revisited – Ayers Creek Farm
The recipe couldn’t be any easier (and it is really good). I started the soaking process in the morning and stopped by Long’s to pick up a ham hock this afternoon. Again, I used Rancho Gordo’s Senate Bean Soup recipe that can be found in their new Heirloom Beans cookbook.
Ham and Bean Soup, adapted from Senate Bean Soup recipe in Heirloom Beans
Serves about 8
Ingredients
1 lb Yellow Eye beans (or other white beans), soaked and drained
2 lb ham hock, cut into 4 pieces
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
8 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
Salt & pepper
In a dutch oven or soup pot, combine beans, water, ham hock, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and turn down heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 1 hour.
Add the onion, celery, garlic, 1/2 cup parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to simmer for about another hour. Traditionally, ham and bean soup is cooked until the beans begin breaking down, but you can see from our picture that we didn’t cook it that long and it was still delicious. Remove ham hock and allow to cool long enough to handle. Shred ham meat and add back to the soup. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.
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[...] Ham and bean soup [...]
i too made ham bean soup last week. ten years ago mom gave me two zip locks full of various dried beans: lima, kidney, split yellow peas, split green peas, cranberry, cannelini, black, red, barley, and maybe three or four more. on the bag in her handwriting it said “page 28.” what the? well, i called her and she insisted she hadn’t done this, even though i know her handwriting as well as i know my own. as we talked it hit me: page 28 in the minnesota heritage cookbook, which i luckily had upstate. i didn’t use the soup recipe there, instead just did my own old thing. brian’s family had brough a gorgeous spiral cut ham and we used the large bone and butt end for the meat. a mirepoix of carrots celery and onion (i like these to disappear in a good soup), a large can of whole plum tomatoes plus sauce, bay leaves, and a good quantity of mom’s favorite “northern lights” spice mix. might be the best bean soup i have EVER made.
Amy – sounds delicious, and just so you know, we had 2 bags of beans that said p. 28 too. Thank you for solving the mystery. We used some of them a while back and finally I decided they stuck around too long. I love that Northern Lights spice and will have to try it on the next round of Bean Soup.
[...] Gordo. You are probably wondering when we will get sick of beans. We have made pot beans, and ham and bean soup over the last couple of weeks, and now cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta. And we [...]
[...] Ham and Bean Soup [...]
beans don’t go bad. they were ten years old and fantastic. they also were moved from 31st street to 28th street all the way up to elka! those beans really wanted to be eaten.
Amy – I think I was in my former canned bean phase when I tossed them, thinking dried beans were too much trouble. Glad I’ve seen the light, finally!
[...] Ham and bean soup The recipe couldn’t be any easier (and it is really good). I started the soaking process. [...]