Creamy Ham Bone Soup with Beans

Recipe video above. This is a Ham Bone Soup made using the sluggish cooker which is the most effortless way to cook leaving ham bone. Set, forget, plunge apart meat, flavour infused soup!

You'll adore the creamy broth (but not at all cream!) and tender beans that absorb the flavour. Leave some of the ham tender and juicy, pan fry some to produce it crispy. It's the best of both worlds!

Ingredients

Homemade Ham Broth:

• ▢ 1.2kg / 2.4lb leftover ham bone OR outlet bought ham hock / meaty bone (Note 1)
• ▢ 2 carrots , peeled saw into 3 chunks
• ▢ 1 celery stalk , saw into chunks
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 3 sprigs thyme or 1/2 tsp dehydrated thyme
• ▢ 1.5 - 2 cups dried white beans , not at all need to soak (Note 2)
• ▢ 2 litres / 2 quarts water (8 cups)

Ham Bone Soup:

• ▢ 2 tbsp (30g) butter or oil
• ▢ 1 onion , chopped
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 3 celery ribs , chopped
• ▢ 2 carrots , chopped
• ▢ 2 cups milk , a scrap of fatness %
• ▢ 2 tsp Vegeta or other stock powder (Note 3)
• ▢ 60 g / 2 oz baby spinach (Note 4)

Thickening

• ▢ 1/2 cup extra milk , a scrap of fatness %
• ▢ 1/3 cup cornflour / cornstarch

Instructions

Ham Broth:

• Place the Ham Broth ingredients inside the sluggish cooker. Slow cook appropriate to 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.
• Remove ham bone. Shred meat and discard bone. Return half the ham to the sluggish cooker (remainder is pan fried).
• Discard thyme sprig.
• Remove then chop carrot and celery, come back to sluggish cooker.

Crispy Ham:

• Melt 1 tbsp butter inside a skillet above medium high heat. Add half the ham and cook until yellow and crispy.
• Transfer most to sluggish cooker - hold back a few appropriate to garnish.

Soup Broth:

• In the same skillet, melt remaining butter. Add onion and garlic, cook 1 minute.
• Add celery and carrot, cook appropriate to 3 notes until soft.
  
• Add 2 cups milk, stir.

Soup Thickener:

• Mix cornflour and more Milk. While stirring, pour into skillet. Mixture drive set quickly.
• Once very thick and paste-like, scrape into sluggish cooker.

Finish Soup:

• Add Vegeta into sluggish cooker. Stir to dissolve paste.
• Add spinach, push down into liquid.
• Slow cook 30 notes on little or 20 notes on high until spinach is wilted and broth is heated and a little thickened.
• Serve garnished with crispy ham and a sprinkle of parsley, provided desired!

Recipe Notes:

1. Leftover Ham Bone - If your ham is looking a slice skimpy, you might wish for to purchase some ham to dice up and throw into the soup. If the bone won't fit into your sluggish cooker, try break the knuckles with your hands or take it to your amiable butcher to saw inside half (or hollow out out your saw). Can also use outlet bought ham bone / hock.

2. White beans - More beans = chunkier soup. Great northern, cannellini, navy. No need to soak because we're using the sluggish cooker.

Canned beans drive also work however dehydrated is to a greater degree because it absorbs additional flavour while it cooks and you can power the quality better. Stir drained canned beans into the bisque when you total the shredded ham back in. May need more cornflour to set broth (as dehydrated beans soak up additional liquid than canned)

3. Vegeta is a kind of stock dust sold inside supermarkets. Vegetable or chicken stock powders drive also work nicely here, or crumble inside a bouillon cube.

4. Greens - about 2 to 3 handfuls. Or use chopped normal spinach, silverbeet or kale.

5. General:
- Soup tone drive differ depending on your ham bone. More skin (leathery brunette stuff) = browner broth (and additional flavour) = away white soup. Less skin = whiter soup.
- Soup is not proposed to be a really thick bisque while I find it makes it too heavy (it's quite rich). But provided you wish for a thicker broth, simply total additional cornflour/cornstarch conflicting with equal amount of water/milk - total a slice at a time, while bisque heats it drive thicken.

6. Storage - outlet inside fridge appropriate to 3 to 4 days. If you freeze, cornflour drive be beaten it's thickening power so you'll need to total additional when reheating to re-thicken bisque (see Note 5). Works perfectly, I tried it.

7. Nutrition is a handbook only. It's virtually impossible appropriate to a non-scientist to calculate the nutrition inside the ham bone broth, I've you're on my best!