Smoked Pork and White Bean Soup

By á-73576

A tasty soup to prepare with leftover smoked pork. The bone adds rich, meaty flavor to the broth. Simmering fresh herbs fill the kitchen with tempting aromas.

Ingredients

• 1 pound bag dried white Northern or cannellini beans, rinsed, picked through for any debris, then soaked in a pot of cold water overnight
• 4 carrots, peeled, quartered
• 3 celery stalks, quartered
• 1 onion, peeled, cut into quarter pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 8 sprigs thyme, removed from stem
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• Smoked pork bone with any meat still attached
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes with juice
• 3 cups chicken stock, plus 1-2 cups for thinning once soup is cooked and beans absorb liquid
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups leftover chopped smoked pork, divided
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons coarse Kosher salt, plus additional pinches to taste
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper, or more to taste
• Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, for topping each bowl

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 600mins
Adapted from spicedpeachblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Drain the soaked beans. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor, one vegetable at a time, wiz the carrots, celery, and onion to a very small dice.

Into a large soup pot on very, very, low heat add in the olive oil then stir in the diced carrots, celery and onions. Cook five minutes, then stir in garlic, thyme and rosemary. Heat through for three minutes.

Tumble in the soaked, drained white beans, stir. Snuggle the pork bone in with the beans and vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the whole tomatoes with juice and raise the temperature to medium high heat. Pour in the chicken and beef stock, stir and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for around ten minutes before reducing the heat back down to very, very low temperature.

After soup has cooked for around an hour or so, with beans mostly cooked, add in half of the leftover chopped smoked pork. Simmer another half hour.

Transfer a few large ladles filled with the beans and other solid ingredients, including the pork, to the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture is liquified.

Return soup ingredients back to the soup pot. Add the other half of the leftover chopped pork and stir through. Pour white wine into soup, stir, and continue simmering soup for another hour or more.

Turn off heat. Stir in salt and pepper; check seasoning.

Let soup sit for at least a half hour. Add more chicken stock for thinning if beans absorb liquid upon setting. Stir in parsley and check seasoning again. Top soup with Parmesan cheese.