Lisas Ham Northern Beans Soup Recipes

LISA'S HAM & NORTHERN BEANS SOUP

Steps:

• Cover the beans with cold water and soak overnight. In the morning place the ham hock in the slow cooker, pour in the beans and enough water to cover. Add the onions. Cook on low for 8 hours. Most of the meat will have fallen off the bone, but you may need to give it a little help with a fork. Remove the bone. Taste for seasoning. Serve with homemade cornbread.

HAM AND GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP FOR THE CROCK POT

Steps:

• Place the soaked and rinsed beans in a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. Look them over one more time for any bad beans or foreign matter.
• Add chopped carrots and onion.
• Pour chicken broth (pan drippings/chicken broth combination if you're using it) over beans, carrots, and onion. Mix gently.
• Add ham and stir again.
• Throw in ground thyme, basil, and ground black pepper. (Measurements in ingredients section are a guesstimate, I hardly ever use measuring spoons when cooking, I just make a cup in my hand and eyeball it.) To my tastebuds, a little thyme goes a long way so you may wish to add more than 1/2 teaspoon. Stir again.
• Add bay leaf and push it gently under the surface of the broth so it doesn't float.
• Cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 8 hours, stirring once in a while if you can. You could probably just cook on low for 8-9 hours if there's nobody home to change the setting. I just like to get things heated up and moving so I do high for an hour on just about everything I put in a Crock Pot.
• Remove the bay leaf.
• Add salt just before serving to the whole pot or individual bowls.
• This may taste good with a drop of Dijon mustard in individual bowls or even a tablespoon or two of cream.
• If it's too thin, just take the lid off for a while.

BASIC HAM AND BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Rinse the beans, sorting out any broken or discolored ones. In a large pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and the beans and remove from heat. Let beans sit in the hot water for at least 60 minutes.
• After the 60 minutes of soaking, return the pot to high heat and place the ham bone, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mustard and bay leaves in the pot. Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 more minutes.
• Remove ham bone and discard. Stir in the chopped ham and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season with ground white pepper to taste.

HAM AND GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Cut ham off bone in bite-size pieces, reserving bone. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat and fry ham pieces in hot butter until lightly browned, about 4 minutes.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan; cook and stir onion, carrots, and garlic in the hot butter until softened and onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour undrained beans into vegetables, add ham and reserved ham bone, and pour in water to make soup your desired thickness. Stir bay leaves into soup and season with salt and black pepper.
• Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove ham bone and bay leaves before serving.

LISA'S DRIED GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Look over the beans and remove any rocks or broken beans. Rinse the beans and put in a large pot. Add water, about 8 cups or enough to cover by at least an inch. Bring to a boil on stove. Add onions, garlic, bay leaf and ham hock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Makw sure you don't run out of water and that the beans don't scorch. Add more water if necessary.
• After beans have softened (about 2 hours), add salt and pepper to taste.
• Continue cooking until beans are done. Make sure the soup is not too thick or too thin. (I usually get it too thick but you can always add water to thin it out.). Remove bay leaf and serve.