Old-Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

• 1 meaty ham bone or ham hock
• 500 g dried navy or cannellini beans, soaked overnight
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 carrots & 3 sticks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 bay leaves & 1 tsp dried thyme
• 8 ⅓ cups (2000 ml) water or unsalted stock
• 1 ⅓ cups (200 g) cooked ham, chopped (optional)
• Black pepper · salt at the end only

Method

1. Soak. Cover the beans in cold water overnight (or quick-soak: boil 2 minutes, stand off the heat 1 hour). Drain and rinse.
2. Base. Soften the onion, carrot and celery in the oil, 8 minutes, then the garlic for one more.
3. Bone in. Add the ham bone, drained beans, bay, thyme and water. Bring to a bare simmer and skim the foam.
4. Low & slow. Partly covered, simmer very gently 1½–1¾ hours until the beans are soft and the soup thick. No salt yet.
5. Shred & finish. Lift out the bone, shred the meat back in (add extra ham if lean), throw out the bone and bay. Mash some beans for body. Pepper, then salt to taste. Bread on the side.