When I was growing up, Easter usually meant a ham dinner. Of course, I love the memories of my mother's cooking and being with my family. I must admit most of the time when I was older and cooked Easter dinner for family, I bought a spiral sliced ham. If you are having ham on Easter or any other occasion, don't just throw away the bone from your ham. It's great for soup and ham broth. It's also wonderful to add to a pot of collard greens or cabbage. You can keep the ham bone in the fridge for 5 days or freeze it for at least a few months.
Today's recipe is classic white bean and ham soup. Very often family members get tired of a holiday menu when having it warmed up several times. Besides adding the ham bone for great flavor, the soup is the perfect way to use left over ham and vegetables. The next time you have a ham dinner for the family, plan to make bean and ham soup and use the ham bone and any leftovers in the soup. I'm using navy beans, but you could add other beans or peas too. Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs for a comforting bowl that's inexpensive and filling. If you don't have a ham bone, you can use a ham hock. It's similar. I was raised in the south so I grew up with homemade corn bread to accompany the meal, but it's great with rolls, biscuits, or crusty bread.
Bean & Ham Bone Soup
Use organic when available. 8 Servings
Ingredients
- 16 oz dried navy beans (or great northern beans)
- 8 cups water
- 1 ham bone or smoked ham hock
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups chopped ham
Instructions
- Sort and rinse beans
- Soak beans overnight in large pot or bowl covered with at least 4 inches of water
- Drain and discard the liquid
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 4-quart soup pot over medium high heat
- Add onion and celery & cook for 2 minutes
- Add garlic and cook for another minute
- Add 8 cups of water to soup pot with lemon juice, beans, bone, thyme, parsley, mustard, salt, pepper, and bay leaves
- Bring the mixture to a boil
- Reduce heat to low and simmer covered
- Cook for 2 to 3 hours
- Stir occasionally and add more water if needed
- Add chopped ham and carrots the last 20 to 30 minutes of cooking
- When beans are tender, remove bone and cut off any meat
- Discard bone, gristle and bay leaves
- Add ham back to pot
- If soup seems too thin, use potato masher to mash some of the beans in the soup
- Optional sprinkle fresh chopped herbs or green onion on bowl of soup
- Serve with crusty bread, corn bread, rolls or biscuits
Enjoy!
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