When it comes to using up leftover Easter Ham, it doesn’t get much better, or much easier than Kitchen Sink Black Bean and Ham Soup. And I got to run down some of the odds and ends I’d stashed in my freezer. That’s not to say that this improvised cooking project didn’t require a little creativity and flexibility. In one of my previous lives, I was a high school English teacher, and I taught Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. To introduce the book, I’d always start with Robert Burns poem, To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough. I often quote from his beautiful poem, (from which Of Mice and Men takes its name) when things don’t work out as I’ve expected. In my terrible Scottish accent I say, “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley.” That phrase inspired a whole category of recipes I call “Gang aft agley” and it includes Beet Gnocchi, an amazing artichoke tale you can read all about before making Artichoke and Preserved Lemon Soup and to a lesser degree, this Kitchen Sink Black Bean and Ham Soup. I started in the crockpot, but I didn’t end there- the lid broke somewhere along the way so I transferred (with a great mess of boiling beans) everything to a large stockpot. But all was well. Unlike the poor field mouse in Burns poem, I didn’t lose my house in the ordeal. And the result was a huge pot of awesome Kitchen Sink Black Bean and Ham Soup that we enjoyed for a few days as well as a few quarts we squirreled, or rather “moused” away in the freezer for a rainy day. Feel free to follow this recipe very loosely, and add in lots of odds and ends from your freezer. Soups are a great way to gain confidence improvising in the kitchen and no matter what you add, this Kitchen Sink Black Bean and Ham Soup won’t disappoint.
Kitchen Sink Black Bean and Ham Soup
Ingredients
- ham bone
- 1 pound dry beans I used mostly black, some red, some black-eyed
- 4 cups water
- 5 cups stock I used chicken
- 1 cup poblano peppers green bell would be great too
- 2 cups onions
- 2 cups celery
- 2 cups carrots
- 2 cups diced ham
- frozen corn optional
- 28 ounce jar diced tomatoes + a cup frozen tomatoes that I had in the freezer
- 2 cups frozen pearl onions optional- again, I wanted to use them up
- 3 + tablespoons cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon dry cilantro or ¼ cup fresh chopped leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon + cayenne powder
- salt optional at the end
garnish
- avocado
- sour cream or yogurt
- cilantro
- limes
Instructions
- Dice onions, celery, carrots, and peppers. Add to a large stockpot with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Sauté until beginning to soften.
- Add the cumin powder, bay leaves, and cayenne. Sauté another minute or two.
- Add the tomatoes. Cook another minute or two.
- Cut as much of the meat from the ham bone as possible. Dice and reserve in the refrigerator until the soup is finished.
- If using a crock pot or slow cooker, add the ham bone, beans, water, and stock to the crockpot and set on warm, otherwise, add to the onion mixture on the stove. Add the frozen tomatoes and onions if using. Cook on low for a couple of hours, until the beans soften completely.
- Add the diced ham at the end and cook for a few minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper if the stock and the ham didn’t flavor it enough.
- Serve with avocado, sour cream or yogurt, and lime wedges.
