Black Bean soup

1 lb dried black beans
2 medium or 1 large onion diced
1 large bell pepper diced
6-8 cloves garlic minced
2 bay leaves
2 smoked ham hocks
Salt/Pepper to taste
Rice, cooked

Sort and rinse beans and cover with water to soak overnight or use the quick method of bringing to a boil and let soak for an hour.
In a stock pot saute the onion, bell pepper, garlic and bay leaves in a little olive oil until onion is tender but not until clear. To this add the hocks and pour in the beans water and all. Adjust water until covered. Bring to a boil then lower to medium and cook until beans are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste prior to serving. Optional; dash of cayenne pepper

Serve over rice and have diced fresh onion and sour cream available for garnish.

Directions
In an eight quart stock pot, add rinsed black beans, water, ham, onion, celery, carrots, diced tomatoes, minced garlic, garlic powder, parsley, salt, celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon cubes, bay leaf, pepper, mustard, cayenne pepper, oregano and thyme. Cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. Discard bay leave and serve.

For all these recipes, I do not add salt, believing that if salt is used at the table, people eat far less of it. The sprinkling of salt on the surface of fo'od seems to use a lot less than adding it "to taste" while cooking. The tongue is fooled into thinking the entire dish is salty.

But I included salt as designated in the recipes, so you can do as you please.

Greek Baked Beans With Honey and Dill

These beans become creamy as they bake slowly in a sweet and sour broth flavored with honey and vinegar.

1 pound dried white beans, soaked if necessary for six hours or overnight in 2 quarts of water and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, preferably a sweet red onion, finely chopped
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
1 large bay leaf
3 tablespoons honey, such as clover or acacia
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
~ (less than) 1/4 cup chopped dried dill (1/2 cup fresh)

1. Combine the drained beans and water to cover by 3 inches in a large, oven-proof casserole or Dutch o'ven, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the o'ven to 375 de'grees. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium size, heavy skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until tender and lightly caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. After 30 minutes, drain the beans and return them to the pot. Add the remaining olive oil, the tomatoes and the liquid in the can, bay leaf, honey, and 2 cups water or enough to just cover the beans. Stir in the onion, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover and place in the oven. Bake one hour, stirring often and adding water if necessary.

4. Add the tomato paste, vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir in the dill, cover and bake for 30 more minutes, until the beans are tender and the mixture is thick.

5. Remove from the o'ven and let sit 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with thick slices of Texas Toast.

Yield: Serves six.

Ultimate Great Northern Beans

16 ounces Great Northern Beans
30 ounces chicken broth (canned or home-made)
15 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies (ro-tel)
1 large white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cooking oil
6 ounces smoked pork jowl, cut into chunks
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
48 ounces water

Directions

1. Soak the beans in cold water overnight. Make sure there is twice as much water as beans because they will swell up.

2. In a large cooking pot, pour in the cooking oil and toss in the smoked jowl pieces. Stir and allow them to sizzle over medium heat for 5 or 6 minutes. After they brown a bit, deglaze the pot with about 4 ounces of the chicken broth.

3. Add the onion and allow to simmer until the onion is tender, stirring often.

4. Rinse the beans in fresh water a final time and, after draining, add them, plus all the remaining ingredients into the pot. This should include the 48 ounces of water listed in the ingredients.

5. Simmer, covered, over low heat until beans are tender, stirring occasionally (about 2-3 hours).

If you wish, you can use chunks of ham or bacon instead of pork jowl.

Serves six to eight.

Greek Black-Eyed Peas With Vegetables and Small Pasta

Since black-eyed peas require no soaking, you can cook this after work so long as you have some vegetables around the house. It is an utterly simple.

2 lbs beef chunks (optional)
1 pound dried black-eyed peas, picked over and rinsed
2 large chopped onions
4 large chopped carrots
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste (6 oz can okay) dissolved in 1/2 cup water
6 garlic cloves (to taste), minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 to 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup small dry pasta, such as elbow macaroni or tubettini, or small square Greek egg noodles
1-2 cups cooked & chopped kale

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, to taste

1. Cover the black-eyed peas with water, bring to a boil and then drain.

2. Brown meat & remove from grease in pan

3. Combine the drained black-eyed peas, onion, carrots, red bell pepper, dissolved tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, hot pepper and 1/4 cup olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven.

4. Set aside the pasta, kale, & red-wine vinegar. If including meat, soak it in vinegar to tenderize it as the rest cooks.

5. Cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a gentle boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.

6. Add meat and salt to taste; continue to simmer until the beans and vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more. Taste and adjust salt.

7. Add the pasta, increase the heat to medium-high, and simmer five to 10 minutes, until the pasta is cooked and much of the liquid has been absorbed.

8. Stir in the greens and the vinegar. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: Serves twelve. This is excellent when served meatless as well.

Enjoy!

Actually I soaked them for two days, several changes of water, as they were several years old and I'd read that old beans might not rehydrate. They were a bit mealy, but after refrigeration and microwaving, they softened up well enough.

Night before:
1 ½ C King of the Early beans
Boil 2 minutes, change water, soak over night

In Crockpot:
The Beans
2 links of Andouille sausage
6-8 oz ham , diced
1 onion, chopped (between baseball & softball in size)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 or 3 garlic cloves
32 oz chicken stock

Cook on LOW for about 8 hours, then add:

2 C of chopped Tomatoes (mine were San Marzanos from the freezer, thawed, peeled & seeded)
1-2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Let cook 15-20 minutes more

Thicken texture of the soup with a submersible hand held blender.

Jim

No exact amounts, mix and match to your own tastes.

Saute half a shallot in a small amount of olive oil until soft but not browned then add sliced mushrooms, saute until soft.
Add green beans and a small amount of water, simmer with lid on until the beans are tender crisp, remove lid and continue cooking until the water has evaporated.

Annette

1 cup raw cashews
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2" piece of fresh ginger, sliced
1 or 2 hot green chiles
1/4 cup or more water

Blend until smooth. Add water as needed to make a smooth puree.

Fold a tablespoon or two into stir fried green beans, shower with cilantro.

Just received about a pound of Hutterite Soup Beans. Any suggestions?

I had fun reading the recipes from the Cooking forum, and it led to a question. I recently bought some dried Navy beans, which cost TWICE as much as the same size dried Great Northern beans. Does anyone know the bean that is grown and dried and called Navy beans? I may grow some from the package I bought if they're viable for the garden. But I just wondered which bean they might be.