Ham and Beans

This soup/stew was a two day labor of love. My husband is a bean fiend, and I have tried to make beans so many times and they never come out exactly right.

I am glad to say that he deemed these perfect in every way! I used my leftover ham bone from Thanksgiving!

I served it with Jalapeno Cornbread and Honey Butter.

1 large ham bone
water
2 onions, 1 reserved and one chopped into large chunks
3 large carrots, 1 reserved, peeled, chopped large
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1 bay leaf
Ham, diced
Pinto Beans, small sack
Red Kidney Beans, small sack
Franks Red Hot
Cayenne pepper

The first thing you must do is create the Ham stock.

Place your Ham Bone, water, a roughly chopped onion, several roughly chopped carrots, 1 bay leaf and some salt and pepper into a large soup pot and simmer for 12-15 hours. As it reduces you can add more water.

Your stock should have reduced and be a beautiful brown color.

Drain the contents of the soup pot thru a mesh strainer into a large bowl.

Refrigerate the stock overnight, the next day scrape off the layer of fat which formed at the top of your stock.

Add your beans, the additional onion which you will dice into small pieces, and the additional carrot which you will chop into small pieces. Add your diced ham, jalapeno, and some Franks Red Hot and Cayenne.

Let simmer on low heat for about 3-6 hours, testing periodically and adjusting seasonings. We like it spicy so I added quite a lot of Franks Read Hot.

When the beans are at the level of tenderness you like, serve with Cornbread!