Black Bean Soup with Ham Hocks

    
    For our first post of this lovely new year, we are showcasing our black bean soup with ham hocks. It's supposed to be winter here in Northern California even though the temperature outside is in the 60's and we are experiencing another very dry January. Nevertheless, we wanted to make this heart warming, flavorful black bean soup. We made a variation of this recipe 3 years ago and it's so tasty we have thought about it every winter since. So here's the recipe and a couple of pictures of the process...

Here are all the ingredients in the Dutch oven. It is all ready to go. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 3 hours.

This is the soup after simmering for 3 hours and having the ham removed from the bones, cut up, returned to the pot and the bones and skin discarded.



Serves:                    4-6 
Prep Time:             20 minutes active
Cooking Time:       3 hours inactive 

INGREDIENTS:   
1 pound dried black beans
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, diced small
2 leeks, chopped. Use only the white parts and discard the tough green tops
4 ribs celery, diced into 1/4" pieces
5 large carrots, sliced on the diagonal
2 smoked ham hocks
3 C beef broth
3 C reserved water from soaking the beans
5 whole cloves of garlic 
6 bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh thyme tied in a bundle
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes
14.5 ounce canned whole tomatoes and juice. Crush the tomatoes in hand and separate into bite size morsels
Sour cream for garnish
Artisan bread for dunking

PREPARATION:  
1. Soak the beans overnight in a large bowl and make sure there is enough water to cover the beans plus an extra inch or two.
2. Drain the beans by pouring off the water into another bowl and reserve to use as a liquid for the soup.
3. In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, pour the olive oil then add the onion, leeks, celery and carrots. Cook until softened, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans, ham hocks, beef broth, reserved water, bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover the pot and cook until beans are very soft, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If the liquid level gets low, add more beef broth or water.
5. Remove the meat from the ham hocks, cut into bite sized pieces and return to the pot. Remove the bay leaves and thyme stems.
6. Crush the tomatoes, separate into bite sized pieces and add to the pot with the juice from the can.
7. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

PLATING: 
Warm the soup bowls while the soup is cooking. Spoon the soup into the bowls then add the dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with chives or parsley, if desired and serve with pieces of an artisan bread to soak up the liquid. 

Bon Appetit,
Anita and Tom