White Beans

 

I still have a few Kinja recipe posts saved on the computer that were not recreated here. Cooking With Wu tag is where to find those.

1 - 1.5 lbs. dried white beans

1 lb. ham chunks (cut into cubes)

1-2 quarts chicken stock

1 ham bone or ham hock

2 medium onions, 3 stalks celery, half a large bell pepper, and 3-4 cloves garlic (chopped)

Bay leaf, black pepper, salt, cayenne, hot sauce

Green onion (optional)

Rinse and pick over beans. Place in heavy pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Keep at a hard simmer for 20-25 minutes, until water starts turning yellow. Drain beans. I like to throw in a few onion and celery tops here too to add flavor. Just fish them out before draining. The theory is that this step will help beans keep a whiter color

Brown ham lightly in heavy pot and remove. I like to cut up solid ham chunks into cubes but I only made one grocery stop this time and just bought some packaged and sliced stuff.

Add chopped onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and some olive oil. Plus salt, black pepper, touch of cayenne. Cook until soft, 4-5 minutes.

Add ham hock.

Add beans, bay leaf, and enough chicken stock to cover everything. I used 1.58 lbs. of dried beans so I ended up using two of those boxes of chicken broth. May still need to add water as you go to keep everything soupy.

Bring to a boil and drop to a medium-low simmer. Cook one to one and half hours, until beans get soft. Maybe more depending on how old the beans are. Skim off foam and grease that rise to the top. After one hour remove bay leaf. You can also remove the ham hock after an hour and pull the meat off and add that back in.

Add ham. Low simmer another 30-45 minutes, until beans start to break up and everything gets creamy. May take longer depending on beans. You can smash some beans against the side of the pot with a spoon to aid creaminess.

Optional to add chopped green onion at very end of cooking or as a garnish. Shot of hot sauce will brighten flavors. Serve over white rice with fresh bread.