Sissy and Bob's Senate Bean Soup

One, misty, moisty, morning when cloudy was the weather.. well no actually Sissy was in for Christmas this past year and she brought in tow with her a ham bone and a recipe for Senate Bean Soup. Apparently she had it at a restaurant while on vacation, and wanted to have it again. I guessed that her having the ham bone and recipe in hand from the restaurant was my hint to get into the kitchen. Well, I did not tell Sissy this at first, i looked at the recipe and said... I can do better!!! (Muhahahahaaa) So I went about doing some quick research on Senate Bean Soup, thought it through and came up with this recipe that was REALLY, very nice! You can soak the beans overnight or use the quick soak method listed below.

Quick Soak Method

For One (32 ounce/2 pound) Bag of Great Northern Beans:

Use 3 cups of water per 1 cup of dried beans ( so for one bag it would be 12 cups of water)
Bring water to a boil add beans, cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and a lid for 1 hour, drain afterwards.

Senate Bean Soup

1 Bay Leaf

4 whole Cloves

3 cloves of Garlic, finely minced

1 large ham bone with meat on it

1/2 stick of butter (salted or unsalted)

1 onion finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, rough chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1 Potato Peeled and Finely Chopped

In a soup pot melt the butter, saute onion until soft and tender, ad garlic and saute for about 1 minute, being careful not to brown or burn. Add pepper, bay leaf, 3 cloves, the beans along with the ham bone and 12 cups of water. (Water should cover the beans plus be an inch or 2 over them. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

After 1 hour add the other vegetables, cover and simmer for 40 more minutes. Then take out 2 cups of the soup with a lot of beans and liquid (no meat, veggies are okay) Puree in a blender or food processor and add back to the soup. Remove the bone from the soup, take the meat off the bone, chop up that ham into bite sized chunks and return the meat to the pot, discard the bone. Simmer the soup UNCOVERED for 10-20 minutes until it thickens.

**Add extra water during the cooking process if need be. Also, if I have chicken or ham stock laying around, I add that in place of the water, but i would do no more than 6 cups of stock total.