dinner

The standard Neil is out of town fare.

White Beans 

w/Ham

  ( I don't like corned beef and cabbage )

I get so many requests for how I do beans, since I do them so very often. As a rule I do them vegan, but had a ham bone tonight.

1. Two Pounds Small White Beans, soaked over night
2. Onion, Celery, Carrot, Garlic . I had a green pepper so I used it, if you had some fennel, yum. Fresh Rosemary and Bay 

ham bone

A step most folks don't do, and if you are in a hurry, you do not have too, but brown your left over ham in a little olive oil. You are basically making a water based soup, so you need to build some flavor. Not long, and not on too high of a temp, just get some brown bits on the bottom of the pan

A few minutes in , add a couple of diced onions, keep cooking for 10 min or so, get some real color and depth of flavor to your onions, then add your garlic - a lot for this dish - 6/7 cloves , cook for a couple of min. If you are not using meat, do the onions and garlic for a bit before adding everything else - it makes a real difference.

THEN 

just dump everything else in.

No chili in this dish.

A little red pepper flake and black pepper - but not too much, these are not spicy beans

Tie your rosemary and bay, just saves some time, if I would have had fresh thyme I would have used it, but just went with a good amount, 2 tbl? dried

Cover everything in water and just let it go - hour/hour and a half. 

DO NOT ADD your salt till near the end, and start off with much less than you think you need, taste - and add if you need too, but you can never know what is going to cook out of your ham

Top your bowl with olive oil and more black pepper!