Bean Soup With Ham Recipe

Few things are as comforting in the winter months as a hot and hearty bowl of soup. This bean soup with ham is practically the easiest meal you could make this side of macaroni and cheese from a box, but this will fill you with a sense of sated hunger and accomplishment without the yellow die #5 and carcinogen style cheese powder.

If you have small kids you'd like to share the joy of cooking with, or if you do not enjoy culinary duties, this is the place to start. With just a few minutes of prep work, a heavy dutch oven and an afternoon's worth of simmer time, you'll have a delicious and very inexpensive meal fit for a small army just in from the cold.

These measurements are designed to make a full pot of soup. This is not some bullshit four serving thing like crafty Aunt Martha worked up for you. This is a full on meal including leftovers. Around our place, we like to make this on Sunday afternoon. We have plenty of time for a long simmer and this will afford us lots of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. If it's way too much for you and yours, you can always throw some of the leftover soup into freezer safe containers and save it for another week or even another month. From start to finish this will take several hours. You might as well stock up and get several meals out of it.

As far as cookware is concerned, you'll want to use a large, heavy Dutch style oven with a lid. I like to use a 5.5 quart Le Creuset. It's an enameled cast iron pot that is perfect for this type of application. It doesn't have to be Le Creuset brand, but this type of pot will prove invaluable in your kitchen.

The Ingredients:
1 pound smoked ham (chopped into small cubes)
2 large smoked ham hocks (scored with a sharp kitchen knife)
2 48 ox. jars Great Northern Beans*
1 large Spanish onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp. dried thyme leaves
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cold Water

*You are welcome to use dry beans for this, but I find that canned beans are easier to use, cost only a shade more and don't require a pre-soak the night before. If you use dried beans, just make sure they're fully or mostly cooked before you refer to the times in this recipe.

The Process:
Over medium heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the hoil is heated through, add the ham to the pan and stir. Let it cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until you can smell the aroma of the ham cooking. Once the ham is heated through and aromatic add the onion and garlic, along with the thyme leaves, some salt and pepper and stir to combine. You should be adding salt and pepper regularly throughout the process. I like to add small amounts continually so all the layers are seasoned properly. However, it's important to remember that youcan always add more later, but it's tough to fix it if you've gone too far.

After the onion and the garlic have softened and become almost opaque, add the beans and the ham hocks. As mentioned above, I recommend scoring your hocks, or cutting slits into the outer layers of fat to allow the fat to incorporate in to the soup. There isn't very much fat in the smoked ham and the small of amount of oil you need to start the cooking process likely are not enough fat to afford the flavor and texture of soup you're looking for here. Scoring helps add depth of flavor and is key to achieving a great bean soup.

Once you've added your hocks and beans, fill the pot to nearly to the top with cold water. Because I use canned beans, I refill the jars with water so it's not just plain water that I am adding, it's another layer of flavor. If you have cooked your own dried beans here, you can just use tap water. Stir all of the ingredients well and bring to a simmer.

After the soup has begun to simmer away, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid just askew to allow steam to escape, thus allowing the soup to thicken. This should simmer for at least 2-3 hours and will be fine if you leave it for even longer as long a you check and stir it regularly. I like a think, but not mushy soup, but you can simmer this until you achieve your desired thickness. Also be sure to keep tasting during the simmer and add salt and pepper as needed. Remove the hocks from the pot and discard them and you're ready to eat. A great homemade cornbread or loaf of bread goes perfectly with this and all told you can feed your whole family a feast for well less than twenty bucks, and have leftovers for several more meals.