Great Northern Beans And Ham Food

GREAT NORTHERN BEANS & HAM

Steps:

• Directions: In a colander, pick over the beans and discard any misshapen or discolored beans, then rinse well. Transfer the beans to a large bowl and fill with enough cold water to completely cover the beans. Soak overnight. When you are ready to cook, drain the beans, and place them in a large stockpot. Add 6 cups cold water, the ham bone, ham, onion, garlic, chili pepper, and bay leaf and slowly bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 6 to 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Add additional water as needed to keep the beans covered by 2 inches of water. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Buttermilk Cornbread. From Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent by Jennifer Hill Booker, photography by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn (Pelican Publishing, 2014). Chef Jennifer Hill Booker is a Le Cordon Bleu-certified chef, cookbook author, reality TV personality, culinary educator, business owner and GA Grown Executive Chef for the GA Department of Tourism and Travel. She weaves her love of traditional Southern cuisine with her belief in incorporating healthy, seasonal foods and her classic French training.

HAM AND BEANS

Steps:

• Rinse beans in a large pot; discard shriveled beans and any small stones. Add 8 cups of cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse beans.
• Return beans to pot and add ham, onion, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne and parsley and water to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until beans are tender. Add more water if necessary during cooking time.

GREAT NORTHERN BEANS AND HAM

Steps:

• Sort beans and place in a saucepan with 2 inches of water to cover, bring to a boil for 3 minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Allow to sit one hour after boiling (do not lift lid).
• Rinse and drain beans and put in crock-pot. Put all ingredients plus water in crock-pot.
• Cover crock.
• Cook on low for about 8 hours. Skim any excess fat, if necessary before serving.

HAM AND GREAT NORTHERN BEAN SOUP FOR THE CROCK POT

Steps:

• Place the soaked and rinsed beans in a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. Look them over one more time for any bad beans or foreign matter.
• Add chopped carrots and onion.
• Pour chicken broth (pan drippings/chicken broth combination if you're using it) over beans, carrots, and onion. Mix gently.
• Add ham and stir again.
• Throw in ground thyme, basil, and ground black pepper. (Measurements in ingredients section are a guesstimate, I hardly ever use measuring spoons when cooking, I just make a cup in my hand and eyeball it.) To my tastebuds, a little thyme goes a long way so you may wish to add more than 1/2 teaspoon. Stir again.
• Add bay leaf and push it gently under the surface of the broth so it doesn't float.
• Cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 8 hours, stirring once in a while if you can. You could probably just cook on low for 8-9 hours if there's nobody home to change the setting. I just like to get things heated up and moving so I do high for an hour on just about everything I put in a Crock Pot.
• Remove the bay leaf.
• Add salt just before serving to the whole pot or individual bowls.
• This may taste good with a drop of Dijon mustard in individual bowls or even a tablespoon or two of cream.
• If it's too thin, just take the lid off for a while.

GREAT NORTHERN BEAN, HAM AND VEGETABLE CHOWDER

Steps:

• Soak beans overnight in water to cover by 2 inches.
• Drain beans.
• Add water to cover beans by 1 inch.
• Cook beans with ham hocks (I use a ham bone with some meat) for at least 2 hours on low heat. Remove ham bone from beans and let cool.
• Add all other ingredients.
• Remove ham from the bone and return ham to the bean mixture. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Freezes well.
• Note: I submitted this to a family cookbook and it is the recipe that "everyone" loves.