Time: 3 hours and 40 minutes       Servings: 8

One of the coziest meals that you can make in a cold day is soup. This dish keeps you warm and comforting. In this recipe, we are introducing a hearty soup of ham and white beans that you and your family are going to love.

This Ham and White Bean soup does take quite some time to prepare, but it is definitely worth it. It is so delicious. It is salty, soft and a little bit hot thanks to the few drops of Tobasco. The texture of our soup is creamy and thick. One of the best things about this soup is that the longer it sits, the more it becomes thicker. You can serve this scrumptious soup with anything that you like to make it more comforting. Nevertheless, some serving ideas are provided below.

Don’t worry about the quality of this delicious soup. It just gets better as the days pass. The more you allow the ingredients to blend together, the more flavourful this soup becomes. Therefore, you can enjoy it for dinner when you make it and for the upcoming days too for lunch or dinner. If you want to make a bigger batch, just double the amount of the ingredients provided.

Each serving of this delicious soup provides you with 611 Calories, 25 g of total fat, 37g of total carbohydrates and 58 g of Protein. Each serving bowl of this ham and white bean soup contains 229 mg of Sodium, 155 mg of cholesterol. It also gives you 3 mg of Vitamin C, 187 mg of Calcium, 8 mg of Iron and 1696 mg of Potassium. This amazing delicious soup is quite nutritious. Don’t hesitate to make it for you and your loved ones. Enjoy.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 and a half cups of (1 pound)  dry white beans,
• 2 quarts of water
• 2 to 3 pounds of smoked ham shanks
• 2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence,
• One tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup of diced onions
• 1 cup of chopped celery
• 2/3 cup chopped carrots
• 2 or 3  minced garlic cloves ,
• Tabasco sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh parsley

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large pot, bring water to boil and turn off the heat. Add in the beans and allow them to soak for 2 hours. After this time has passed, drain the water.
2. In that time while the beans are soaking, take another large pot and put the ham shanks there. Pour 2 quarts of water until the ham is covered.
3. Add the herbes de Provence.
4. Place this large pot over high heat until water starts to simmer then reduce the heat. Partially cover the pot and allow it to continue to simmer for an hour.
5. Place a small saute pan on medium high heat, warm up olive oil and add the chopped onions. Cook your onions until they become almost transparent for about 5 to 6 minutes then add minced garlic and cook for another minute.
6. When the ham hocks have finished simmering for an hour, add the drained beans. Also, add in the chopped celery, cooked onions and garlic and carrots.
7. Leave your pot uncovered and allow everything to cook together for another 40 minutes.
8. When your vegetables are soft and the meat pulls away easily from the bone, remove the bones from the soup and throw them away.
9. Add some salt and pepper according to your taste. Add some few drops of Tobasco.
10. Serve your yummy soup with a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley on top.

Notes:

• It is recommended to use Ham shanks instead of ham hocks for this recipe. The former are meaty and make up a great balance with the veggies in the soup.
• For white beans, you can use cannellini or Great Northern.
• You can replace Herbes de Provence with Italian seasoning.

How to serve?

• You can serve this soup with buttered crusty bread
• You can also serve it with cornbread, garlic bread or buttermilk biscuits.

How to store?

• You can keep this recipe in the fridge for a maximum of 5 days.
• I f you want to freeze it, do it in separate containers for a maximum of 3 months.
• Allow your frozen soup to thaw overnight then reheat it.
• You can also place the frozen soup directly into your pan and cook it over low heat.