Author Notes
This soup (or almost stew if served the day after making) is pretty traditional in my family. You must season your beans with mint (and a little paprika doesn't hurt either). Normally I would stand over the stove and make it in a pot, but recently adapted it to the slow cooker for an almost hands free experience. —inpatskitchen
Ingredients
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1 pound
dried Great Northern beans
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1
very meaty ham bone and 2 cups of cubed ham (one inch cubes) Note: If you can't get your hands on a ham bone just add another cup of ham cubes.
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1
large onion
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2
medium carrots
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2
stalks celery
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3
large cloves of peeled garlic
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1 tablespoon
dried mint leaves
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1 tablespoon
sweet Hungarian paprika
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1 teaspoon
crushed red pepper flakes(or less if you're not a heat freak)
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6 cups
low sodium chicken broth
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Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
Directions
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The night before making, soak your beans by placing them in a bowl and covering with water. The next day drain and rinse them before starting your soup.
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Place the soaked beens in a six quart slow cooker. Chop the onion, carrots and celery in large pieces and place them in a food processor along with the garlic cloves and process until the mixture is finer than a small dice. Stir this into the beans.
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Stir the mint, paprika and crushed red pepper into the chicken broth. Add the ham and ham bone to the beans and pour the broth mixture over.
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Set your slow cooker on low for 8 hours and enjoy your day.
Once the eight hours has elapsed, check to make sure your beans are nice and creamy. Remove the ham bone from the pot to cool a bit and then remove the meat from it and return (the meat) to the pot.
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Scoop out about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the beans, place in a shallow bowl and take a fork and smash them until creamy. Return the beans to the pot. Taste to see if you need to season with salt and/or pepper.
I think I get my love for food and cooking from my mom, who was an amazing cook. She would start baking and freezing a month before Christmas in order to host our huge open house on Christmas afternoon. I watched and I learned...to this day I try not to procrastinate when it comes to entertaining.
My cooking style is pretty much all over the place, although I'm definitely partial to Greek and Italian cuisine. Oh yes, throw a little Cajun in there too!
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