Fresh Chef Steve Walls

Hearty Beans Recipe

Winter is the perfect time for a pot of hearty beans. Any hearty bean will do. You can cook several beans together. I have made 17 bean soup this way and it's terrific. I like white beans a lot so I'll use them in this recipe. I also use a homemade chicken stock for the cooking liquid, this way I can use fresh produce in the stock. This recipe is so easy to make and hands on involvement time is around 25 min. and cooking time 3 1/2 hours.       

Ingredients

l lb dry white beans
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 smoked ham hock
1 tbsp dry oregano
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups Tuscan kale or spinach chopped 
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1. Soak the beans. Cover the dry beans with water by a few inches and soak over night. (Quick soak method): Add the beans to an 8 qt stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat and let sit for 1 hour.

Step 2.
For both methods, drain the water. Put the beans, onions, ham hock and oregano into an 8 qt stock pot and cover with the stock. Bring to a boil, skim the scum then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Add more chicken stock if necessary. Do the 5 bean test. Taste 5 beans and if just one of them is under done keep cooking till a test of 5 beans results in all tender beans.

Step 3.
Remove the ham hock then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in soup bowels with crusty bread and butter.