Friday, January 8, 2021

Senate Bean Soup


A while back, John expressed a wish for Senate Bean Soup--something I've made in the past and not liked all that much. But I made some on Tuesday and it was our supper on Wednesday night--a fitting meal for a day in which the Democrats won back the Senate (oh, yes, and there was an attempted coup in DC.)

The soup was surprisingly good--though like the Senate, it does tend to produce a lot of gas.

SENATE BEAN SOUP

1 pound dried Great Northern beans

2 smoked ham hocks (or 1 meaty ham bone)

4 medium onions, chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

6 celery ribs, chopped

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

5 medium red potatoes, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste (the ham hocks provided plenty of salt)

Minced parsley or chives for garnish

***

Rinse beans. Put in large kettle, add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and boil two minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 3 or 4 hours till beans are softened.

Drain and rinse, discarding liquid. In large kettle, put beans, ham hocks (or bone,) and 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours.

Skim fat if needed. Add onions, garlic, celery, parsley, potatoes, and simmer 1 hour.

Remove hocks or bone and let cool till you can handle them. Remove the meat, discard the fat and bones. cut meat into bite size pieces and return to soup. Taste and decide if you want salt and/or pepper.

Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley of chives.

Freezes well.



5 comments:

Barbara Rogers said...

Great Senate Soup...I'd never heard of it. Georgia came through for us! Wasn't that a wonderful thing that happened on Tues!

Vicki Lane said...

Absolutely, Barb!

Thérèse said...

A great way to celebrate. Starting today our own Bean Soup, whose recipe is very close to yours's, is renamed "Senate Bean Soup".

Vagabonde said...

This sounds like a great soup and I’m going to copy the recipe. But do you use regular smoked ham hocks or country cured ham hocks? I used both last week for my turnip greens and found more flavor in the smoked ones, and more meat, salt and less fat in the country ones. Which do you prefer?

Vicki Lane said...

John did the shopping and what he got were country cured. I don't know if there was a choice. They were quite flavorful and there was a fair amount of meat. They were salty enough that I didn't add any salt to the soup. The next time I make this soup, I'd like to add chopped kale or collards in the last ten minutes of cooking.