I haven’t tried this recipe from Food and Wine, but it was part of an email I got from them recently. It does call for canned beans, but I thought it (or some of it?) might help. You could certainly include the items you mentioned.

https://www.foodandwine.com/white-bean-and-ham-soup-6422065

Thanks, chloebud. That looks tasty.

I would put in just what you said, but I use more than a little garlic. And no potatoes in my bean or split pea soups. I rarely have any ham broth so would use chicken or vegetable broth - not that your ham broth wouldn't be wonderful.

I like beans of all types, happily so does DH. Many white beans will make a good soup but my favorite is flageolet that I have soaked overnight in a bowl of water in the refrigerator So creamy! A delicious bean. Go easy on the carrots so you don't end up with a soup too sweet.

I taste and season with salt and pepper close to ready to serve, I don't add any salt any earlier with the ham.

There's a fancy restaurant which I like to frequent, when I can, but instead of prime rib or crab cakes, if they serve their white beans, I get it. It has a huge piece of cornbread right in the middle of it. I think that's my favorite addition to white beans. Maybe they cook it with a beautiful hambone. But that scoop with the cornbread and the white beans, is amazing. That's my best suggestion.

Oh, leeks are a great suggestion. I really love them in soup and often forget to include them.

It took me a while to get going on the White Bean Soup project.

Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions. Isley, I looked up that interesting Garbure and found a video and recipes. Maybe in the future.

By the time I got around to making the soup, the ham-bone was left but DH had been snacking on most of the ham because I didn’t make it clear that I was planning on using maybe a cup of that in the soup. But I got a few pieces and I used a ham bone for flavoring as well as hand broth that I had made earlier. (Whenever I get a ham shoulder or smoked ham, I usually cook it. I rinse it off then I usually cook it. Simmer it several times not too long on low heat and get broth that way, then I freeze this broth.)

So I started as most of you would probably begin making soup. I made a sautéed about a cup or so of mirepoix. I had soaked 2 pounds of dry white beans overnight so I drained these rinse them and added these and added hand broth and some garlic. Then I let this simmer for quite a while. I got sleepy and had to take a nap, but DH finished except he’s not used to cooking dried beans and he often under cooks them.

I also had him include about three or 4 tablespoons of chopped parsley, ground black pepper, a little bit of thyme, a little bit of sage maybe something else.

The next day I tasted a bowl of it, but the beans were a bit too firm and the flavor. I wanted to have a little bit more ham flavor so I asked him to add a teaspoon or so of the better than bullion ham flavor. And we have to cook the soup another couple hours to soften the beans more. There are pieces of ham as well.

Here is what the soup looked like yesterday; you might notice that the beans look a bit too firm ;)

Good, but not there yet.

Thanks for the caution not to add too many carrots. I wanted to in lude leeks, but did not have any on hand and it may be too late now unless I sauté separately then include. I think one great things about soups like this is you can continue adding to it and have it evolve. So a leek or two and some tomato pieces might find thereway into it.

It is raw and rainy today and the aroma of this soup adds to the coziness of the fireplace wood stove and secure, dry home.

I will check it again in an hour.

I was just wondering if my pea soup/ham recipe would work with white beans…? You’d just have to cook it longer. This stuff is so full of flavor with the smoked ham shank. See my *Notes following the recipe.

Split Pea Soup With Ham (From the Silver Palate)

1 pound dried green split peas
6 cups chicken stock (preferably low sodium)
4 cups water
1 meaty ham bone or smoked ham shank
2 ribs celery, leaves included, diced
3 T. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 tsp. crumbled dried tarragon leaves
4 T. butter
1 cup diced peeled carrots
1 cup diced onion
1 leek (white part only), rinsed and sliced
1 cup slivered fresh spinach leaves
2 T. dry sherry
1/2 tsp. pepper

Rinse peas in a strainer and then combine them with the stock and water in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil.

Add the ham bone, celery, 1 T. of parsley and tarragon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add carrots, onion and leek. Cook until veggies are wilted, about 10 minutes. Add them to the soup pot, along with the spinach. Simmer, partially covered, about 45 minutes.

Remove soup from heat. Remove ham bone and shred meat from bone, removing any excess fat. Return meat to the soup.

Add sherry, pepper, and remaining 2 T. parsley. Taste for seasoning; salt is usually not needed due to the salt in the ham. Heat through and serve immediately. For reheating: The soup will thicken quite a bit when chilled but will thin out when reheated.

*Note: I usually make this with a meaty smoked ham shank that's about 1.75 lbs. I make this with all stock…no water. I also don’t add tarragon (not a fan) or spinach (just don’t think it adds much). The sherry’s optional but adds a nice flavor touch. Still very tasty w/o it. No need for salt due to the ham shank.

Thanks, chloebud. That looks like what I did. Bean and pea and lentil soups are so yummy and flexible and healthful. A simple meal. I always like making extra soup so that I can put some in the freezer. I’ve even frozen leek and potato soup and that was a treat after a days work in the yard on winter afternoon.

PS Agree w the tarragon. I rarely use it. I was going to add spinach, but thought that it would be distracting. I’d rather have spinach on the side — I love it.

Here's my favorite: Sausage & White Bean Soup

2Tbs. olive oil

1 1/2 pounds sweet or hot Italian sausage in casing (I use the Italian)

2oz.thinly sliced prosciutto ham, minced (I don't add the ham)

2 medium onions, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery sticks, diced

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

3 15.8 ounce cans great Northern or other white beans undrained

1 quart chicken stock

Heat oil in a large, deep saute pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add sausages; cook turning once or twice until well-browned on all sides (sausage will not be fully cooked at this point).

Remove from pan. When cool enough to handle, cut into slices 1/4 inch thick. Add prosciutto, onions, carrots, celery and thyme to the empty skillet; cook, stirring often, until well browned. In a small bowl, mash one can of beans with a fork into a chunky puree. Add broth, the carrots, onions, celery, thyme , whole and mashed beans, and sausage to a soup kettle; cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, partially covered, to blend flavors, 20 minutes Let rest 10 minutes and serve.

I always make cornbread or cornbread muffins, even crumbling a bit of them into the bowl of soup. mmmmm

Thanks so much for taking the time, schoolhouse. This looks fantastic.

Taste test #2

Cooking it longer softened the beans and thickened the soup. Good flavor.

Looks pretty darn tasty!👍🏻 Wish I had some!