This is a great soup..my family requests it all the time. Ingredients For the Ham Stock: 1 pound of meaty smoked ham hocks Water to cover (about 7 cups) 1 celery stalk (rib) , rinsed but untrimmed, with leaves and cut into large chunks 1 large carrot, unpeeled, rinsed and cut into large chunks 1 medium onion, unpeeled and quartered 4 sprigs of fresh parsley 2 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon of whole peppercorns For the Soup: 1 pound of dry navy (pea) beans, soaked overnight 1 large baking potato, peeled and diced 1-1/2 cups of chopped onion 1 celery stalk (rib), chopped 1 large garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings or butter 1 cup of finely diced smoked ham, optional 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, or to taste 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, or to taste Cayenne pepper or Cajun seasoning, to taste, optional Instructions Soak beans overnight to speed the cooking process. Add the hocks to a stockpot and cover with water. Add the remaining stock ingredients, bring mixture to a boil, reduce and simmer for 1 hour. Strain stock, discarding the vegetables and returning the ham hocks and the stock to the soup pot. Rinse and sort through the beans, add to the soup pot; bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for 1 hour longer. Remove ham hock and once cooled enough to handle, dice meat from the hock, discarding skin and bone. Add the meat to the soup pot. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Add the potato, onion, celery and garlic all at once, return to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mash with the bacon drippings or butter; add to soup pot, along with the diced ham, if using; bring to a boil, reduce, and simmer another 25 to 30 minutes, or until beans are tender. Taste, season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning; adjust as needed, serve hot. Cooks Notes: Like all beans, soup will thicken when refrigerated. To loosen, add chicken broth when reheating, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Shortcut This: You can shortcut this recipe for a quick weeknight soup by omitting the ham hock or bone, and substituting a commercial ham or chicken broth for the homemade stock, adding in 2 tablespoons of chicken base. Include the remaining soup seasonings and the chopped, smoked ham and substitute 4 cans of navy beans, drained and well rinsed, for the dried beans, mashing one can to add creaminess to the soup. Mix together over medium heat until completely heated through. Source: deepsouthdish Read more: deepsouthdish/2013/01/us-senate-ham-and-bean-soup.html#ixzz2wda9frs4 Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives Follow us: @DeepSouthDish on Twitter | SouthernRecipes on Facebook
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 22:34:23 +0000
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