sailor bean soup(navy)

okay sister holly,..navy bean soup easy to read:

1 1/4 cups  navy beans
2 tbls olive oil
3/4 cup brunios carrot
1 cup brunios celery
1 cup brunios onion
1/2 tsp minced garlic,...done properly mind you
smoked ham hock
1 Qt stock,chicken, veg but not beef please
Sachet(see recipe)
S+P tt
tabasco or another vinegar based hot sauce tt

    So the important part here are the beans really at first,..you want to make sure there is no rocks or any nonsense like that cover the beans with a good few inches of water and boil, take off heat,cover and let soak for about an hour or so,.the longer you let them soak the softer the bean obviously, meaning you can eat a soft bean right away or if you keep them a little less cooked then you get to enjoy the magic that happens after you let the soup sit overnight,..your choice.

   Okay, beans on the side resting covered, now get to your miripoix, that'd be the brunious veg(small dice) get some olive oil in the pan you plan on cooking the soup in and heat up the miripoix just to a sweat, also a little salt works wonders here as it helps to let the water from the veg seep out thus releasing good flavor for the beans to soak up.
    now our veg is done add the beans (drained of course), to the sauteed veg along with the stock, simmer for an hour,....
    side note here,..some like to add diced potato here as a thickening agent, i never thought it was necessary though, but like i said, "some" like it
   also if you opt for no potato then this is where you would add the "sachet".. this being a tsp peppercorn, three thyme sprigs, 3 or so bay leaves, and parsley sprig all encased and tied in a cute little bundle of cheesecloth,..or i've used a section of a towel or a t-shirt before, but that's gross.  if you want to get fancy tie some large leek leaves around it, but the important thing is to make sure you can take your little sachet bundle out in one piece so you don't have to separate all those aromatics from your soup later, as we just want this thing to season it.

okay, so now we have beans, stock, sweated miripiox, sachet, and now for the ham hock, add it and simmer for however long it takes to be done,....so that's when the beans are tender right?  at this point i remove my sachet and my ham hock,..pick the hock apart and chop to nice bite size pieces, a medium dice should suffice!  HA good rhyme, i should send it to chris for a song,...

    sorry anyway take a portion of the beans out,..and this is all a matter of textural preference really,..if you like a silky smooth soup then you could blend the whole thing, want a bit more texture then only blend a partial amount...i like about a third of the beans blended.

   So after the blend you mix in, season for taste, let us not forget that starchy foods like this absorbs much salt so you might need more than you think,....also starchy food like this is a great place for food born illness so refrigerate properly.
 
    And when i say season i mean S+P and the Tabasco, remember the thing when tasting your food is to ask what flavor is not hitting your palate, you taste beans, and savory ham, and salt, and ,and and,..what's missing? train your taste bud to feel what's not there,..is it sweet perhaps ? or maybe a little bitter,  just how i like my girlfriends, little and bitter! HA!...

  okay so that was my first recipe, with ingredients and everything,..harder than i thought,..holly i hope this works for you and your step mom i believe was inquiring about it

Cody