White Bean & Ham Soup

I told myself I was going to blog more in Lent.  Not ranting but deep profound spiritual stuff.  I did pretty well on Ash Wednesday.  Then that was kind of the end of that.  I am writing Lenten Devotions for a Facebook Group on Fridays so that's something anyway.

So here's a recipe anyway.  

1 bag of dried white navy beans
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
4 or 5 carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
4 slices of bacon
1/4 Cup white wine
2 Tbl (or so) Balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
1 Ham shank

Cover the beans with water.  Bring to a boil.  Let them soak for an hour or so.
Fry the bacon in a big ol cast iron pot.  Take the bacon out and use it for broccoli salad.  Saute the onions, 1/2 the peppers and garlic in the leftover bacon fat.  You might have to use a little olive oil if it's not enough fat.  When the onion is translucent, add the vinegar and wine and simmer that for a few minutes.

Add the beans in the same water they've been soaking in,  and the ham shank.  Add more water to make sure the beans are covered.  Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and let it do it's thing for a few hours.  You can also add it to the crock pot if you want to go out and don't want to leave the stove on. 

After the beans are soft most recipes will tell you to blend half the beans and put them back in.  Well, I don't like the consistency of beans so I put an immersion blender in the pot and mush them all up.  Then I add the rest of the peppers and the carrots and keep simmering for another hour or so.  

When it's done, the ham should be fall off the bone.  Take it out, cut the ham up and put it back in the soup.  Really nice for a snow day.  Serve with corn bread.