Senate Bean Soup My Way

My husband LOVES beans any way you can make them and so I do use them frequently to make him smile. He loves Portuguese Bean Soup and one of his favorites is Senate Bean Soup, like his mother used to make.  After Christmas we got a big ham which I smoked and then used in a variety of ways, but as with any ham... there is always that bone calling to be put into a pot to make one more dish and usually that includes legumes of some sort.

Senate Bean Soup is really just a very simple way of making Navy Bean Soup. It is served every day in the US Senate Dining Room. There are two stories of how this came to be, on is that early in the 20th century, Senator Fred Thomas Dubois of Iowa (who was interestingly both a Republican and a Democrat) requested that it be served and henceforth it has been. However, his version of the soup has mashed potatoes in it and the recipe that has been served in the Senate Dining Room does not. There is a second story that Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota requested the soup be served in 1903 and it became an instant hit with the senators. His version did not have mashed potatoes and is much like what is served in the Dining Room today. Regardless, the soup is a mainstay in the Senate Dining Room to this day.

I tend to put my own mark on even the most simple of recipes, and so my recipe is slightly different, but adds only a few nuances to the pot. The result is a hearty and delicious soup which is great served with cornbread on a winter afternoon. It is equally nutritious and economical. My husband, for whatever reason adds ketchup to it, where I add some sliced Hawaiian Peppers and lots of crushed black pepper. Here is my take on Senate Bean Soup:

Ingredients
1 large ham bone or three smoked ham hocks
5 quarts of stock or broth (water can be used if you don't have stock)
1/2 cup dry white wine (or stock can be used)
1 Pound of Navy Beans (soaked over night and rinsed)
3 carrots chopped coarsely
2 Large shallots and 1 onion chopped finely
3 stalks of celery chopped finely
9 cloves of garlic chopped finely
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped coarsely (same size as the carrots)
1 bunch of parsley chopped finely
Salt and pepper to taste ( about a teaspoon of each)

Method
In a large stock pot, add oil and the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté till the onions are slightly  transparent. Make a hot spot in the bottom of the pan, add garlic and allow to simmer for just a moment, then stir all together. When the onions start to turn golden, add the potatoes and stir again. De-glaze the pan with the wine or stock. Then add the beans, & ham bone/hocks. Generously salt and pepper. Turn heat on medium low and simmer for an hour. Taste. The beans should be soft, but not mushy and the carrots and potato should also be cooked through.  Remove ham bone, add any ham meat leftover (more is always better when it comes to ham.) Stir in 1/2 of the parsley. Dish into bowls and sprinkle remaining parsley over all.

*Note, "Senator" Wes says this should be served with cornbread and maple syrup.

What it is like to sit at my desk

A typical morning finds me up at 4 am and after walking the dog, feeding the cat, making coffee and turning on the computer, this is what it is like:

Pork Belly

I actually think that bacon (aka pork belly) is probably one of the most diverse and craving inducing foods known to man. Pork Belly can be cured and made into pancetta or cured and smoked and made into bacon, made into one of my favorite Asian flavorings, Char Sui or in some cases just cooked in interesting ways. Here are a few fun things done with it...

Visit Bacon World, where bacon becomes art! These photos are courtesy of www.UnusualLife.com

It is not all bacon... he uses cold cuts too

And then there is David Beran, one of my favorite Chicago chefs from Alinea. I consider Chef David to be a food artisan... making amazing flavors and displaying  them in innovative and beautiful ways. He uses tweezers and surgical instruments to create his incredible dishes. In this video he shows us how he works his magic with a pork belly dish: Alinea-Video 

Another thing that always cracked me up when I was a kid was the commodities market, remember hearing about the price of Pork Bellies... now "I so get it!" And today at least the market is UP!

Pork Bellies (CME) February 10 (cents per lb.)

89.30

+0.25

89.85

89.30

90.25

1/21 10:29am

Wordless Wednesday My Tardy Christmas Cactus

This Christmas Cactus is ten years old, but really it is far older. It is a cutting from a very old Chicago family Christmas Cactus given to us by our dear friend Larry Heinemann when we were married in 2000. When he gave it to us, it was a cutting in a six inch pot with three little stems. If you live in Hawaii, let me know and I will give you some cuttings. The whole ordeal of being shipped here may have something to do with it's tardiness at blooming this year. We'll see what happens next year.

Caught One!

The coqui frog is the bane of most Hawai'i residents existence. It is an invasive species that makes a loud chirping noise and seems to breed faster than rabbits. It has no natural predators in Hawai'i. We don't have many of them around our house and the ocean blocks out the sound of those that are around us. However, I know a few people who love the sound of them and some who are driven nuts by the noises they make.

Meanwhile, I have never been very good at catching them. And... then last week when I was in the garden I found a BIG one and he made his way into a zip lock bag in my freezer. Today I pretty much hit the coqui jackpot, I found an adult male sitting on a nest of eggs. Usually the eggs need to be in water and these may have been laid in water, but they were just in the bottom of a pot that had an orchid in it. I was changing out the pot and discovered this little nest.

Bad Boy!

This video/audio clip was taken down by the river in Hilo where the coquis are quite dense. It gives you a good idea though of what they can be like.

Smoked Duck Tortilla Soup

I smoked a duck and made duck tacos last week. And then what? I made duck stock and reserved the remaining meat for soup. I made a big pot of Smoked Duck Tortilla Soup a few nights ago. You can find whole ducks in the freezer section of most grocery stores. Here in Hawaii, they are a rare "find" and when someone in our group finds them we buy enough for everyone because they go fast.

Here is the recipe:
The Stock
1 duck carcas
2 heads of garlic cut in half
2 carrots quartered
2 stalks of celery
1 Large onion quartered
2 Bay Leaves or cinnamon leaves if you can get them
6 dried ancho chiles (can sub Dried New Mexico or California red chiles)stemmed and seeded.

Place all in a stock pot, simmer on low for 10 hours, do not allow to boil. Then strain with cheese cloth. Chill stock and remove fat (save 3 Tablespoons for soup). Reserve meat and garlic (remove from bulb) for soup. Remove the chiles and place in a blender with 1 cup of stock and puree, then set aside.  This should make about 6 quarts of stock.

The Soup

4 quarts of duck stock

Reserved duck meat (note if you did not have much meat left, you can sauté a breast and chop it up)

3 tablespoons reserved duck fat

2 sweet onions  or 4 chopped

3 ribs of celery (including tops) chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly

1 bunch of kale or chard chopped roughly

Reserved chile puree

Reserved meat

Reserved garlic

1 package of fire roasted frozen corn or fresh corn off the cob

In a large soup pot sauté the onions in the duck fat. When they are beginning to sweat, add celery, garlic and carrots and sauté another couple of minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt, pepper and red crushed pepper. It should be slightly spicy, but not extremely so.

The Garnishes

4 tortillas sliced thinly and fried till crispy

1/2 cup green onions (scallions)

1 medium avocado diced Finely shredded cheddar or jack cheese

Chopped cilantro

Crema (Mexican Sour Cream)

To serve fill a bowl with the tortilla strips and avocado chunks. Ladle the hot soup over the strips and then top

with cheese, green onions, cilantro and drizzle crema lightly over the top.