Sunday, January 3, 2010

ham bone + woolly socks


Speaking of food, a tradition here at the manor is to make a steaming pot of bean soup from the ham bone left over from Christmas Day brunch. This earthy delight is perfect for a snowy January afternoon. Pair it with some homemade cornbread and you'll be in heaven. Or, if you've had quite enough carbs, a nice bunch of crunchy celery is good with it, too.

Willow's Ham and Bean Soup

1 meaty ham bone
1 two lb bag of dry great northern beans
3 carrots diced
3 ribs celery diced
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Boil beans in a large pot on stove top for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and cover. Let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans.

Place ham bone, beans, vegetables and spices into the large pot, (about a 7 quart size) cover with water (about 2 inches from the top), cover and bake in 300 to 325 degree oven for about 4 hours, checking periodically and replacing any water that may have cooked off. Broth should be dense and beans soft.

Remove ham bone and cut up any large chunks of meat, and return meat to pot. Check for flavor and adjust seasonings. Enjoy, in your woolly socks, my friends.

57 comments:

  1. This is a perfect recipe for me this week, as it is quite cold and nothing warms a person up like a bowl of soup.

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  2. This is a favorite recipe, with a couple of differences, over at our place too! This and the molasses crinkle cookies you posted awhile back. Great minds indeed!

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  3. We did the same thing only the ham wasn't left over from Christmas day, it was left over from the g'kids three days visit.

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  4. Amazing timing... I have a ham bone and beans simmering as I write this... and I'm wearing woolly socks, too. As they say, "Great minds think alike!"

    Stay warm and cozy, Willow!

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  5. You remind me that I have a ham bone in the freezer -- a good plan for a cold winter evening.

    And I love the quote -- sharing food is one of the many everyday sacraments that can get lost if we're not careful.

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  6. Looks delicious, and just the thing for this weather! I've never cooked mine in the oven, but I'm going to give that a try. Thanks for the tip.

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  7. Looks tasty Willow. One to try this winter, I think.

    The Nigel Slater quote is spot-on too. I nearly always make focaccia bread to share at family occasions.

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  8. MMMM my favourite! When my mom was still here she made ham soup after christmas. Sometimes Ham and Pea and other times Ham and Bean.

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  9. Yummm! Nothing Better. And sharing it with friends makes it a Communion.

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  10. Can't believe you posted this because this is what we're having for supper here tonight. We bought some ham hocks at the grocery store in Lancaster County last week.
    Love this soup.
    And wooly socks.

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  11. Looks tasty! And the quote is a good one, too. It does take loving hands and a server's heart to prepare food for others.
    Happy Sunday!

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  12. This would soooo hit th' spot right now :P But I do have my wooly socks :) We like to cook up a big pot of Navy beans with the ham bone but yours just has so much more...mmmmmmm!


    Like what Nigel Slater had to say( wondering if I'm related but then "Slater" is fairly commom, wot? )

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  13. Oh yum! And thank you!! My mother-in-law makes this every time she visits us from Vienna. I ask her all the time for the recipe but never get it. Can't wait to try this out!

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  14. This recipe sounds so yummy and I thoroughly agree with what Nigel said. He is my favourite 'celeb' chef and I have all his books

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  15. very nice!

    round here, we include a couple of handfuls of pearl barley

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  16. Thanks for the recipe Willow - slow cooking in the oven really appeals. My daughter gave me two pairs of woolly socks (with some Angora no less) for Christmas and they are so warm - love them!

    Warm woolly wishes for a joyous New Year!

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  17. This is really unique. I've never made soup by baking it. What a good idea. The only problem is getting a ham bone around here. People in this part of the country eat salmon, salmon, and more salmon. But, with any luck I could get a ham hock (hopefully with some meat on it) and use that.

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  18. Yum! Sounds like great comfort food for a cold day!

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  20. Oh, this looks SO GOOD! It is super cold and the wind is howling trying to push that bitter cold air through every crack and crevice that it can. . .A hot bowl of Ham Bone soup would be the charm. No, I never have had enough Carbs :)

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  21. Yummy looking soup! What a great idea to do it in the oven! Hope you're enjoying that Guernsey Literary Potato Pie book. I loved it! I think stories told in letter form are very cool.

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  22. willow, this sounds wonderful. th high is in the 20s today so it would be jus perfect. my wife sleeps in just one wooly sock...temperature regulation and all...smiles.

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  23. Soup is the 'gift' that keeps on giving.

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  24. Happy New Year Willow! I am so glad to see you are reading Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and I think, enjoying it? But I see also, that Crabtree and Evelyn is not hot at the Manor, so my apologies for getting that one wrong :) Never mind, recycle it!!

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  25. OH YUM. My grandma used to make a soup quite like this and I had forgotten all about it till just now... A most perfect meal for a wintry day.

    Bye now...dashing out to buy ham bones! and thank you!

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  26. Sounds great! How about celery & cornbread!

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  27. Yup, John, you got that right! Celery AND cornbread it is!

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  28. ArtPropelled, sometimes I make it with dried split peas, too. It's delicious both ways.

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  29. Gary, it was 7 degrees this morning when I got up. That cold air is coming in every nook and cranny of this old manor, too! Brrr-r.

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  30. Willow,
    Bean soup as you describe is my all time, hands down, favoritist soup ever!!!
    rel

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  31. Snap . . made a yellow pea and ham soup last night with the last of the ham offcuts. Delish. The best thing? Nobody in my household likes it! Yours is a nice recipe actually but I don't know where we'd buy the beans so I use split peas.

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  32. VERY MUCH a tradition at our house as well. We look forward to that hearty bean soup! PURE COMFORT! AND...SO WARMING!

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  33. Rel, I still think we were somehow separated at birth.

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  34. Baino, I'm sure any dried bean variety would work beautifully with this recipe.

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  35. Simple, basic, warm food is so appealing after the holidays. I'll bet that even my non-bean-eating-boys would give this a try... and like it.

    Happy New Year, Willow!

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  36. -10C here and ham/bean soup sounds lovely. I may not be wearing my wooly socks but I am knitting a pair. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the poems..love the SNOW. It has been snowing here for 4 days now. Happy New Year!

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  37. Oh this is one of my very, very favorite soups in the entire world, and sadly beans will be off the menu starting tomorrow. Pass the celery, Willow!
    Wishing you a year filled with poetry...(to share with us all.)
    Catherine

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  38. Happy New Year! It's a soup and socks kind of a day here too. ; )

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  39. Joni, so fun to meet another "woolly" friend! :^)

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  40. I love that kind of stuff, especially a good pea soup!!

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  41. well....i had a ham bone in the fridge and had bought navy beans to soak to make soup..your looks beautiful,btw....
    and then i get hit with 75 degrees...so it's pizza night...love that you like making it too.....it's my favorite food....

    hurray for PIZZA !

    more later,
    Kary
    xxx

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  42. Comfort food at its best. I was just telling Joe we need to clean out the freezer, and I know we have a meaty ham bone in there! It'd be great for these cold nights we're having. Looks easy and delicious--thanks again, Willow! Enjoy!

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  43. Willow~ email me~ I have a splendid idea. Lets co host a winter party! A glass of favorite brandy, a cup of favorite soup, a favorite pair of socks and perhaps one line of poetry we can string together!

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  44. Wow...the soup looks fantastic and so yummy!!!! I SO have to try this out. Thank you for sharing.

    Wishing you a fantastic new year. You deserve it for all the joy and laughter to bring to everyone via you and your amazing blog! Hugs!

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  45. looks absolutely delicious... wonderful blog...so happy to have found you... happy new year..x pam

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  46. I think it is wonderful to have good food traditions-- we don't have ham but we do have turkey on Xmas day-- and today I made a big pot of turkey noodle soup-- something we look forward to after Xmas season winds down.

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  47. I'm not wild about ham but love bean soups. Mmm.

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  48. Plus ribs for sticking to. Lovely.

    Like Nigel's quote too.

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  49. I'm almost tempted to buy another ham, just so I will have a ham bone to make this soup! (It took us a week to finish the very big ham that I made for Xmas.) And we did have some ham/lentil soup . . . but this sounds delicious. As are Nigel Slater's words. Isn't he wonderful? He writes the food column for our favorite newspaper.

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  50. Guess what we're having for dinner? Perfect, rainy, Oregon day for it. Your place is always an inspiration.

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  51. Thanks, Sunshine, let me know how you like it!

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  52. This sounds marvelous, Willow! I will be trying this one out :)

    Jen

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  53. Great inspiration; my beans will be soaking tonight. Cooking in the oven sounds different; may have to try it.

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  54. Had to come back and tell you that we had the soup last night (instead of the night before--Momma's not as organized as me thinks). It was delicious and made A LOT OF BEANS. :) Thankfully this is something my kids actually like. The Hubbs is having it for lunch today AND we're having it for dinner again. Beans. :)

    Oh, and I was so excited, cuz I had to rush right out and get a pot I could bake and found a nifty Paula Dean cast iron one on sale 50% off. No worries--I've needed one for a long time. Oh, AND--I feel all fancy-like now with my "white pepper". Oooh la la...Yes, it's the little things that make me happy. And sales. AND huge pots of beans. I may have to blog about you. You know I talk about you in real life, right? :)

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  55. OMG, Sunshine, I am having total pot envy here! I've been using one I got in 1982, it's still fine, but with all those lovely pots flooding the market, I've had a hankering for a bright new one. Glad you liked the beans. Yes...tons. I should have mentioned that a pot lasts the entire week!

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  56. Ham and beans were made at my house using the ham bone left over from Christmas also. A warm bowl of soup is great on these cold wintry days.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)