Spicy Ham and 10-Bean Soup

Spicy ham and bean soup is the perfect comfort food and it is best made in a slow cooker where the beans won’t catch at the bottom as they begin to plump out, soften and thicken the soup. 

Mix and match ingredients
If there is any recipe that is forgiving of mixing and matching and adding more or less of this and that, it’s bean soup. Especially bean soup cooked in a crockpot or slow cooker. I’ve given you some guidelines here of what I usually toss in but feel free to add a can of crushed tomatoes or more carrots or fewer chilies. Use smoked pork loin or sausage instead of ham. Up the amount of garlic or toss in some leftover caramelized onions if you’ve got some handy. It’s all good! Beans are best friends with just about every vegetable I can think of and using a mix of different beans means that the smaller, quicker cooking beans will essential dissolve as the soup cooks, thickening it beautifully and leaving you with a hearty bowl of comfort that sits well on a spoon and sticks to your ribs.

Crockpot potential - so much more than soup!
I use my slow cooker frequently in the summertime to avoid turning on the stove or oven but as weather gets cooler in the northern hemisphere, I start making soup. I know for a lot of families, soup is a starter course to be followed by the main meal but I firmly believe that a good, thick soup is a meal in itself, especially with some vegetables thrown in. I am delighted this week to be sharing a long list of wonderful Sunday Supper Slow Cooking recipes - from drinks to desserts - that can all be made in your crockpot. Special thanks to Christie of A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures and Heather of Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks for hosting this event. Make sure you scroll down past my bean soup to see all the links.

Ingredients 

1.1 lb or 500g assorted dried beans (A 16 oz bag will work fine as well.)
1 carrot (4 2/3 oz or 130g)
1 onion (about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)
3 cloves garlic
2 fresh red chilies
Olive oil
1 1/2 lbs or 700g ham
3/4 cup macaroni or small pasta of your choice – optional
Sea salt
Black pepper

Method
Start softening your beans by putting them in an heatproof bowl and covering them with boiling water. Put a plate on top of the bowl to hold some of the heat in and allow the beans to soak for one hour. This replaces the overnight soak that is often recommended when cooking dried beans.

While the beans are soaking, peel and chop your carrot and onion. Slice your garlic and mince the red chilies.

Cut the ham into chunks. This is an excellent use of the end bits you can often find discounted in the deli section of most supermarkets. I buy them and toss them, well-wrapped, in the freezer till it's time for soup. Another bonus of buying the end bits that are too small for the deli to slice safely is that, sometimes, they have spices on the outside or charred marks from the roasting, which add even more flavor.

Put a good drizzle of olive oil in the bottom of your crockpot or slow cooker and pile in the carrot, onion, garlic and chilies.

Add the ham and cook on high, with the lid firmly closed until the beans are finished their hour soaking time. If you have planned ahead and the beans are already soaked, everything can go in at once.

When the beans are ready, pour out any soaking water that was not absorbed and give them a quick rinse.

Add the beans to the pot and cover with fresh water plus an additional two or three inches above the beans. Give the slow cooker a good stir.

Put the lid on securely and cook on high for three to four hours or on low for five to six hours. Check your beans for doneness occasionally towards the end of the cooking time.

When the beans are sufficiently soft, and about half an hour before you are ready to serve, add the macaroni, if desired. Give it a good stir and cook on high, covered, until it is done. This makes a very thick soup, especially if you have added the pasta, so feel free to add a little more water, if you want to thin it out a bit. Personally, a soup I can almost eat with a fork is my ideal soup.

Taste your soup and add salt and some freshly ground black pepper to your liking. I recommend this step at the very end because some hams are very salty and there’s no way of judging ahead of time how salty that will make your soup.

Enjoy!

Are you a fan of cracking crockpot recipes? Have I got a link list for you!

Satiating Soups

• Amazing Slow Cooker French Onion Soup from Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Crockpot Caramelized Pork Noodle Soup from Brunch with Joy
• Crockpot Kielbasa Split Pea Soup from The Foodie Army Wife
• Crockpot Turkey Meatball Soup from Flour On My Face
• Slow Cooker Acorn Squash and Apple Soup from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Slow Cooker Chicken, Spinach & White Bean Soup from Amee's Savory Dish
• Slow Cooker Chunky Chicken Tortilla Soup #GlutenFree from Sue's Nutrition Buzz
• Slow Cooker Kielbasa Soup with Kale and White Beans from The Messy Baker
• Slow Cooker Potato, Kielbasa and Spinach Soup With Gouda from Meal Planning Magic
• Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup from Noshing With The Nolands
• Spicy Ham and 10-Bean Soup from Food Lust People Love
• Three Bean, Butternut, and Quinoa Vegetarian Chili from Ruffles & Truffles

Scrumptious Mains (Breakfast and Dinner)

• Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Sliders from Eat, Drink and Be Tracy
• Crock Pot Pork Chops with Apples and Figs from Cooking On The Ranch
• Crockpot Sesame Chicken from Casa de Crews
• Madras Beef Curry with Vegetables from Curious Cuisiniere
• Pork and Cabbage Stew from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Pork Chops in Gravy with Potatoes from Cookin' Mimi
• Slow Cooked Apple Pie Oatmeal from Life Tastes Good
• Slow-Cooked Country Pork and Veggies from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken with Artichokes from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Slow Cooker Lime Garlic Chicken from Peaceful Cooking
• Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef from Nosh My Way
• Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Slow Cooker Spicy Peach Pulled Pork from Family Foodie
• Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Pulled Chicken from Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Satisfying Sides

• Scalloped Potatoes from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions from The Dinner-Mom

Scintillating Sweets and Sips

• Slow Cooker Brownie Dessert from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Slow-Cooker Kheer (Indian Rice Pudding) from Magnolia Days
• Slow Cooker Lemon Poppy Seed Cake from Ninja Baking
• Slow Cooker Rice Pudding from Killer Bunnies, Inc
• Spiced Caramel Cider from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch
• Triple Rich Chocolate Cake from MealDiva

Savory Baking

• Slow Cooker Seedy Bread from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Slow Cooker Sourdough Bread from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Crockpot Borlotti Beans with Smoked Pork

Cream and burgundy Borlotti beans are sometimes called cranberry or French horticultural beans but they all seem to come from the same original new world source, the cargamanto bean first cultivated in Colombia. Near as I can figure. 

Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely considering how small the world has become these days, I first discovered Borlottis (or one of their close cousins) as fresh beans in a small vegetable stall in Kuala Lumpur. They were already shelled but their distinctive red marks attracted me immediately. This was years ago (2007, in fact) when Nigella was still doing her quick dinners on television. She was home alone and had pan-fried a thin steak to eat with some mashed white beans as her side. I tried some version of her recipe with the fresh borlottis and fell in love with them. Nowadays, I can’t find the fresh ones so I make do with dried. But, you know what?  They are also fabulous. Maybe I’m just a bean person. Are you?

I made this one-pot dish in my crockpot a while back and I’ve been wanting to share it with you. I love the slow cooker for busy days when I can’t be standing around stirring a pot. Fill, turn it on and walk away! Come back in a few hours and you’ve got dinner. If you can’t get smoked pork neck steaks, by all means use whatever you’ve got. A smoked ham hock would be great, as would any kind of sausage.

Ingredients
2 medium onions
2 handfuls cloves garlic (Let’s not get anal about how many. You like garlic? Hum more in.)
2 lb 3 oz or 1 kg smoked pork neck steaks
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 lb+ or 500g dried Borlotti beans
2 bay leaves

Method
Slice your onions and lay a third of them at the bottom of your crockpot or slow cooker. Add a third of the garlic cloves.

Top with a third of the smoked pork steaks or whatever meat you are using. Sprinkle with sea salt and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper.

Add on one third of your Borlotti beans.

Keep layering, onions and garlic, pork steak, salt and pepper then beans until you get to the final layer of beans.

Add water to cover the beans by at least one inch or two centimeters.  Add another few grinds of pepper, if you are so inclined and tuck a couple of bay leaves into the water. Cover the pot and turn it on low.

Totally forgot to take a photo with the bay leaves but they did go in!

You’ll have beans and pork ready to eat in six to eight hours, depending on how old your beans were to start. Older beans have dried out more so they take a little longer to cook. Check them in around four to five hours and add more water, if necessary. You don’t even need to stir.

When they are done, I like to take a half cup or so of beans out and mash them with a fork.  I add the mashed beans back into the crockpot to thicken the broth beautifully.

Serve with rice or a crusty loaf to sop up the broth and, if you are me, some pepper sauce.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot French Onion Soup #FeaturedFriday with Momma's Meals

Hours of simmering make this delicious crock pot French onion soup the perfect bowl of rich stock and silky onions. Topped with melty cheese toast, it will warm your heart as well as your belly.

 

Today I am doing something a little bit different around here. I was invited by the adorable Tammi from Momma’s Meals to do a blogger exchange she calls Featured Friday. She chooses a dish from my site and I choose one from hers and we post the results together. It sounded like a lot of fun!  

I’ve been reading Tammi’s blog for a while now and her friendly, casual writing style makes every recipe approachable. I especially love the letters she writes to her two sweet children. She’s honest about the challenges of motherhood while still clearly head over heels in love with them both. 

I chose to make her French onion soup because it’s still a little bit chilly in Dubai, and this soup is one of my favorites. I was almost tempted by her Baked Parmesan Pork Chops and her Honey-Roasted Carrots with Walnuts.  Such lovely dishes.  But I love a good crock pot recipe, so soup it was! I can't wait to see what she has chosen to make of mine!

Ingredients for four or five good bowls
1 purple onion
1 white onion
1 yellow onion
1 large shallot – total weight of oniony things: 1 lb 9 3/4 oz or 730g
5 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons or 30ml balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 can (11.1oz or 330ml or your nearest equivalent size) medium to dark beer  (I only had lager so my soup ended up lighter but still tasty.)
6 1/3 cups or 1.5 liters beef stock
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme (plus some extra for garnish)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Few good grinds of fresh black pepper
Bread – one slice per bowl.  I used slices of baguette but any will do nicely.
Cheese to cover each bread slice. (Pick your favorite, semi-hard to hard) I used a Tomme made from sheep’s milk.

Method
Peel then slice your onions and shallot very thinly. Mince the garlic.

Turn the crock pot to high. Add onions, garlic, sugar, butter and balsamic vinegar.

Cover, and let cook for at least one hour, stirring midway through.

After that hour or so, sprinkle on the flour and give the whole thing a good stir.

Add in the beer, stock, thyme and salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook for eight hours.

Prior to serving, put the broiler or grill on in your oven. Toast your bread slices in the toaster then top with slices of your chosen cheese.

Put the toast on a piece of foil on a baking pan and pop it in the oven. Cook until the cheese is all bubbly and melted. When it’s almost ready, serve your portions out into bowls.

When the cheese toast is ready, lift the pieces off the foil, making sure to scrape up any cheese that melted over the side, and gently lay one on top of each bowl of soup. Garnish with more fresh thyme.

Enjoy!

Thanks again for choosing me for this week's Featured Friday, Tammi! It was such fun!