Dark Days: ham and bean soup

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The dried beans I purchased from Margerum’s last month have been hibernating in my kitchen.  In truth, I’ve been a little hesitant to use them.  It’s sort of like that whole thing with Elaine and her “spongeworthy” dilemma from Seinfeld - those dried beans are such a great (and not widely available) commodity that I start to second guess myself when I have a recipe idea.  Is that soup recipe spongeworthy?  Well, you know what I mean.  I just don’t want to waste locally grown dried beans on just any old recipe.

Finally, I got over myself.  I mean, they’re beans and they’re meant to be eaten.  And if I run out of beans and can’t find any more this Winter, I’ll just have to live with it and resolve to stock up for next year.  And then I grabbed up a slab of ham from Country Time Farm in Hamburg, PA and made ham and bean soup. 

It’s been a little warm this December to be true soup weather, but this really hit the spot!

1/2 lb of white beans (Margerum’s)
1 quarts of water
1.5 lb of smoked ham steak with a small pc. of bone, cubed and bone reserved (Country Time Farm)
1/2 cup of diced onions (alas, not local)
1 cup chopped celery (from my CSA share, frozen)
1/2 cup chopped carrots (Lancaster Farm Fresh)
2 cloves garlic, diced (Landisdale Farm)
Salt and pepper
chopped parsley (my garden, dried)

Soak the beans in cold water for about 2 hrs. Drain.

Place all ingredients in a big old soup pot, cover with water and simmer for about an hour and a half.  If you want a thicker soup, cook the beans for about an hour and then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for another hour.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

I must admit, I’m kind of excited about the prospect of a Nor’easter coming through on Sunday.  It’s my fervent wish for us all to get snowed in for a couple of days.  We’ve got wood for the fireplace, and lots of soup!