Ham and Bean soup is one of my favorite winter meals. It’s hearty and hot! Every family has there own recipe for Ham and Bean soup. The secret ingredient in my recipe is what makes it so unique and tasty, and its easy to find this time of year: turnip greens!
RECIPE: Ham and Bean Soup
Makes 5 Quarts
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Pot
Bowls
Spoon
Cutting Board
Knife
Ladle
INGREDIENTS:
Northern Great Beans
Ham Bone with meat
Bay Leaves
Onion
5 Cloves Garlic
Wilted Turnip Greens
DIRECTIONS:
1) Follow the directions on the bag of dried beans to properly soak them over night in a pot. The next morning, let the beans simmer the next morning.
2) Drain and move the beans to a bowl.
3) In a the same large pot, place the ham bone with the meat sticking to it. Fill with water until the bone is submerged.
4) Simmer the ham bone covered for most of the morning.
5) Remove the bone and meats from the broth. Save the meat separately for later.
6) Add the 2 bay leaves to the hot broth.
7) Chop up the onion and mince the garlic cloves and add them to the broth.
8) Add the shredded ham and beans back to the broth.
9) Roughly chop the turnip greens and add them to the pot.
10) Cover and let simmer just a bit longer.
If you need a side to go with the soup, while all the flavors are coming together in the final simmer, you can make some great biscuits. I still use my home economics biscuit recipe.
The best part of this soup is the leftovers. We had four quarts of soup leftover, which was enough to feed us for lunch for the rest of the week.