HealthNotes

Black Bean and Ham Soup

• From: Cooking During Stolen Moments

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs olive oil

• 6 stalks celery (plus leaves), chopped

• 2 large onions, diced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 5 cloves garlic, minced

• 3 Tbs cumin

• 2 tsp rosemary

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 ham bone, with some meat still on the bone

• 12 cups water (use more or less if needed)

• 5 cups fully-cooked black beans

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice (or brown rice)

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• Sour cream, optional garnish

• Extra cumin, optional garnish

Enough soup for at least three family-sized meals.

Directions

• Heat oil in a large stock pot. Add celery, onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes. Stir in cumin, rosemary, and cayenne pepper.
• Add the ham bone to the stock pot. Cover completely with water. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 hours.
• Remove the ham bone and any large chunks of ham that may have come off the bone. Set aside to cool and let the soup continue to simmer.
• When the ham is cool enough to touch, shred off as much meat as possible and return to the pot. Add the beans and rice.
• Bring soup back to a rolling boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until rice is completely cooked: about 20 minutes for white rice and 1 hour for brown rice.
• Just before serving taste the soup and season as desired with salt and pepper. You can also add more cumin and/or cayenne pepper at this time if you’d like the soup to have more punch.
• Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a pinch of cumin, if desired.