After Easter, if you had ham like we did, you have that big ol’ bone full of meat you can’t get off very easily. We froze ours – and this is what we made with it. The chiles give it a Latin flavor (per my husband’s request) and makes it stand apart from regular old ham and bean soup!
What you need:
- Left over ham bone with 1-2 cups of meat still on it (or you can purchase a large ham steak and cube it)
- 3 cups dried pinto beans
- 1 large onion cut into 1/6ths
- 3 dried ancho chiles
- 1 Tablespoon chipotle chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (I like to use sea salt)
- 1 16oz can of diced tomatoes (I use the ones with green chiles)
- Cold water
How to Do it:
Rinse the beans well and place in a large kettle that has a lid. Add all the other ingredients, except the tomatoes and cover with water.
Bring to a hard boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low until the ham begins to fall off the bone. Remove the ham and set aside to cool. Add the can of tomatoes and continue cooking the beans on low.
When the ham is cool, remove the meat from the bones, being careful to remove all bone and cartilage. Place the meat back into the pan and cover.
Continue cooking until the beans are soft, adding water as needed.
You can also cook it in the crock pot – cook on low for 4-5 hours – clean the bones as directed above – cook another 2-3 hours.
Makes 5-6 hearty portions
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