Bacon, Bean, and Ham Soup

Serves 6 to 8 or makes 2 dinners to freeze

1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 Ham bone, if possible with chunks of left over ham
4 strips of thick Bacon, cooked until just done
4 Celery stalks, diced finely
4 Carrots, diced finely
1 Onion, diced finely
1 small can (8 oz) of tomato paste
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves of minced garlic
6-8 cups of water
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 large (28 oz) cans of white beans (I used Goya)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a skillet or oven set to broil. (I bake it on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, flipping once, on the middle rack of the oven, and it turns out perfectly every time.) When bacon is done, patted with paper towel, and cooled, dice into small pieces.

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. When oil is hot enough to easily spread across the pan, add in diced onion, carrot, and celery. Allow to sweat down until the onions and carrots have some color.

Add garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and tomato paste. Stir to evenly distribute. Add ham bone with chunks of ham to the pan, and then add water to fill the pan with 2 inches to spare. Add liquid smoke, bacon chunks and beans straight from the can (no need to rinse, the liquid from the can adds extra flavor).

Allow to simmer on low to medium heat 2-3 hours. Remove ham bone from soup pot and dig in.

If you’d like to make this in the crock pot instead, simply brown the carrots, celery, and onion in a frying pan, and then add all ingredients at once into crock pot and cook for 4-6 hours on low.

Since technically all the ingredients are already cooked, really what you’re doing is allowing the ham bone and marrow time to infuse the water for a rich and meaty taste.

Serve with warm rolls, corn bread, or beer bread  perfect for dipping.