Green Beans, Potatoes and Ham

                                                                    

Green Beans, Potatoes and Ham

 



When I was a child my grandma would always make a huge pot of this for dinner with the very first harvest of green beans from the garden, and then maybe one or two more batches before summer was

over and all the beans canned for the year. I like to make this a few times per year myself as it is a

nourishing and deliciously easy soup that uses up ingredients from the garden.

  Over the many years of my life I have eaten this made by other people. Most people gather green beans, stem and snap them, then cook them for 2-3 hours in water, adding the potatoes and ham shortly before the beans are "done". It is the way I used to make this soup as it is how I was taught, but over the years I have learned how to make this much more quickly, saving much of the nutrients in the beans, and adding other items that make this much more tasty and nutrient-dense.

  A dinner of this soup with some hearty homemade bread and butter is a meal worthy of kings. My husband loves this meal and asks for it sometimes. I have even made it in the dead of winter from canned beans, though it is not as healthy as when it is made from fresh ingredients. However you make it, you will enjoy it and so will your family. Promise.

  I have never in my life measured out or weighed the ingredients in this soup. This is one of those soups where you just add what you want and hoof it as there is no 'official' recipe that I know of where one uses exact amounts, so you will also have to "eye" the amounts you are using and make it work. In this recipe (picture above) I used a piece of ham bought as a slice from the store for convenience. but the very best ham to use is leftover ham from a whole ham as it will be more smoky and delicious tasting, besides being more tender. However, I did not have leftovers from a whole ham, so I had to use a slice, which is not smoky, is not as tender, and does not need to be added until shortly before the soup is done. Some people use bacon in place of the ham, and you can, too, but I don't like it as well. You could also use pork hocks or any other kind of pork, but I like ham best.

 

Green Beans, Potatoes and Ham

 

Fresh green beans (about a pound or so)

1 quart of homemade or canned chicken broth

4 Tbls. of real butter*

Red or white potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces

About 1 cup or so of onions, diced*

Leftover ham cut into bite-sized pieces or a slice of ham from the meat department

Real sea salt and pepper, to taste

 

Pick, clean, and snap your green beans.

Place a steamer basket inside of a large pot, add water to bottom of pot almost to the basket, then place in green beans, put on lid, and put over the fire. Allow beans to steam to desired tenderness, which for me is about 25 minutes.

While beans are cooking, peel and dice potatoes; put to the side till ready to cook.

Dice onions and put to the side.

When done, drain the beans and put to the side.

Clean the large pot, then add the quart of chicken broth and place over the fire on medium heat. Add the butter and the potatoes and cook till potatoes are almost done, about 15-20 minutes, depending on size of potatoes.

While potatoes are cooking, cut up ham into bite-sized pieces, trimming off any excess fat.

Add onions so they can cook 10 minutes or so until opaque. Also add the beans at this time.

If you are using leftover whole ham, this can be added with the onions and beans, or even when the potatoes come to a boil.

If you are using a slice of ham from the store, then add about 5 minutes before soup is done so the ham does not cook much and get tough, but gets heated thoroughly.

Once the food is all cooked, the soup is hot and bubbly, check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve piping hot along with bread thickly spread with real butter.

Enjoy!

 

Tips:

*Do NOT leave out the butter! This has two uses: 1) keeps the potatoes from boiling over in the pot and 2) gives a richness and depth to the broth.

*If you don't like onions, then omit them.

*For time's sake, you can snap the beans, cut the potatoes, chop the onions, and dice the ham before cooking if you are worried about the time factor. If you do this, place potatoes in cold salted water in a pan to sit so they do not oxidize and turn brown. Drain them before adding them to the broth to cook.