Great Northern Beans And Ham Recipes

HAM AND GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Cut ham off bone in bite-size pieces, reserving bone. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat and fry ham pieces in hot butter until lightly browned, about 4 minutes.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan; cook and stir onion, carrots, and garlic in the hot butter until softened and onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour undrained beans into vegetables, add ham and reserved ham bone, and pour in water to make soup your desired thickness. Stir bay leaves into soup and season with salt and black pepper.
• Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove ham bone and bay leaves before serving.

HAM AND BEANS

Steps:

• Rinse beans in a large pot; discard shriveled beans and any small stones. Add 8 cups of cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse beans.
• Return beans to pot and add ham, onion, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne and parsley and water to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until beans are tender. Add more water if necessary during cooking time.

HAM AND BEANS AND MORE

Steps:

• Place the beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse before using.
• Combine the soaked beans, 4 cups of water, celery, onion, bay leaves, cumin, garlic powder, and parsley into a slow cooker.
• Melt the butter with the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the leeks in the butter mixture until tender and the smaller pieces start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the leeks to the slow cooker. In the same pan, cook and stir the ham until the edges start to brown; stir into the soup. Place the bacon into the hot skillet, and pan-fry until the bacon is crisp, about 10 minutes. Cut the bacon into bite-size pieces and stir into the soup. Pour the chicken stock into the hot skillet, and stir to dissolve any brown flavor bits from the skillet; pour the chicken stock into the soup. Season with sea salt and pepper.
• Set the cooker to Low cook the soup until the beans are very tender, 6 to 8 hours. Roughly mash about half the beans with a potato masher to thicken the soup.

SMOKY WHITE BEANS & HAM

Steps:

• Rinse and sort beans; soak according to package directions., Drain and rinse beans, discarding liquid. Transfer beans to a 6-qt. slow cooker. Add ham hocks. Stir in onion, broth, water and seasonings. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until beans are tender., Remove meat from bones when cool enough to handle; cut ham into small pieces and return to slow cooker. Serve with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle with onions if desired.

HAM AND GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP FOR THE CROCK POT

Steps:

• Place the soaked and rinsed beans in a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. Look them over one more time for any bad beans or foreign matter.
• Add chopped carrots and onion.
• Pour chicken broth (pan drippings/chicken broth combination if you're using it) over beans, carrots, and onion. Mix gently.
• Add ham and stir again.
• Throw in ground thyme, basil, and ground black pepper. (Measurements in ingredients section are a guesstimate, I hardly ever use measuring spoons when cooking, I just make a cup in my hand and eyeball it.) To my tastebuds, a little thyme goes a long way so you may wish to add more than 1/2 teaspoon. Stir again.
• Add bay leaf and push it gently under the surface of the broth so it doesn't float.
• Cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 8 hours, stirring once in a while if you can. You could probably just cook on low for 8-9 hours if there's nobody home to change the setting. I just like to get things heated up and moving so I do high for an hour on just about everything I put in a Crock Pot.
• Remove the bay leaf.
• Add salt just before serving to the whole pot or individual bowls.
• This may taste good with a drop of Dijon mustard in individual bowls or even a tablespoon or two of cream.
• If it's too thin, just take the lid off for a while.