omnomnom | Entries tagged with leftovers

It's been ages (plus an international move), but after eighteen months at my parents' place, I have a kitchen of my own again and I'm back to cooking. To celebrate, and in the spirit of the recent increase in activity on dreamwidth, I'm posting the recipe for the soup I made myself for supper tonight, with a potential variation to make a Doukhobor-style Borscht.¹

( Dietary and Accessibility Notes )

( Ingredients and Directions )

1. Real Douhkohbor borscht is amazingly delicious but is typically prepared in huge batches in a much more complicated process than the rough-and-ready somewhat similar method I've described here, and it's much richer (think DEFINITELY heavy cream plus MASSIVE AMOUNTS of butter). back

cougars_catnip

Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients

1- 2 lbs chopped up left over ham ( and the bone if you want )
1- 2 cans cannellini beans ( white kidney beans ) drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 cup apple cider
4 cups chicken broth
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
4 cloves minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried marjoram
2 TB dried parsley
1 cup baby spinach cut into chiffonade ( ribbons )

Place all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low 8 hours.

To cook on the stove top:
Put ham bone and ham in the pot and add broth, cider and tomato sauce and bay leaf. Simmer on low for one hour.
Saute onion, carrots, celery and garlic until fragrant, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add beans, tomatoes, sauteed vegetables, and herbs to the pot. Bring soup back to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes stir in spinach and parsley and simmer for 5 more minutes. Remove ham bone and serve with a crusty bread.

NOTE: Do not leave out the apple cider, you can't taste it in the soup but if left out it is certainly missed!