{"id":10194,"date":"2013-01-07T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=10194"},"modified":"2013-04-06T20:13:26","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T02:13:26","slug":"ham-and-bean-pumpkin-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/ham-and-bean-pumpkin-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Ham and Bean Pumpkin Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"a<\/a>
a ladle full of ham and bean pumpkin soup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a harvest of 20-some pumpkins from our garden, I became acutely aware that I can only eat so much pumpkin pie.<\/strong> \u00a0After being coaxed into hitherto unappealing sounding pumpkin soup by Chef Betharoni<\/a>, I realized I had had a limited view of pumpkin, particularly freshly cooked and pureed pumpkin. \u00a0I began to consider it as a potential ingredient for more common recipes. \u00a0Where I had once purchased sweet potatoes as a side for steak, I now whipped up some pumpkin, to still be dotted with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar, of course. \u00a0 Fresh pumpkin doesn’t come in specifically sized cans, but we can pre-measure the cooked amounts and freeze exactly what we will want for a recipe, of say, pumpkin muffins in the future. \u00a0It doesn’t take that long to thaw a little block of pumpkin mash. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>And everything made with fresh pumpkins tastes much better, unsurprisingly.<\/p>\n

My favorite ham and bean soup, or stew, \u00a0occurred to me a few days ago, as the snow fell and the wind howled.<\/strong> \u00a0I half-absentmindedly went over the list of ingredients by memory and noted that mashed pumpkin might be a good substitute for the mashed potatoes originally in my recipe. \u00a0The results were even better than expected, so here I share with you how I went about it!<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/p>\n

32 ounces of dry white beans \u00a0(I used great northern beans)<\/p>\n

1 large onion, diced into 3\/8 to 1\/2 inch pieces (around 1.5 cups diced)<\/p>\n

1 (one) 6.5 pound ham with bone in<\/em> \u00a0 (I used what is called the butt portion. \u00a0I might want less ham next time, but I like something more than the things they sell called “soup bones.”)<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon celery seed \u00a0 (I don’t happen to do well chewing celery….)<\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon black pepper \u00a0(I would experiment with a little more next time, just because hubby likes it)<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon of salt<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons of beef base \u00a0(I get mine at Costco)<\/p>\n

20 cups of water<\/p>\n

1.5 teaspoons of minced garlic<\/p>\n

4 cups freshly pureed pumpkin<\/p>\n

Everything EXCEPT the pumpkin went into a large pot at about noon.<\/strong> \u00a0The pot contents were brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. \u00a0While that was cooking, I cleaved the pumpkin in half<\/em>, just the way Chef Betharoni taught me. \u00a0Well, maybe not exactly, because it took me several timid tries to cut it in half. \u00a0It wasn’t in just two halves when I was done. \u00a0It’s not the first pumpkin I have cloven, but I’m not very good at it yet… \u00a0I baked the pumpkin in the usual 1\/2 inch of water, cut sides down, in a glass baking dish at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1.5 hours, or until soft. \u00a0I put the halves on a cutting board to cool for a few minutes before scooping some into the food processor. \u00a0I whipped it until it had the consistency of smooth mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n

The beans were tender by about 5:30 PM.<\/strong> \u00a0That’s when I took the ham out and let it cool some, before taking the meat off of the bone and cutting it up to more bite-sized pieces. \u00a0This was a good time to add the pumpkin and stir it in. \u00a0Once the ham was back in, it was ready to serve.<\/p>\n

There was only a slight hint of pumpkin flavor.<\/strong> \u00a0 It did impart some mild sweetness to the soup, much as carrots do. \u00a0It also thickened the soup some, just like the mashed potatoes would have done. \u00a0It may have taken all day to cook, but it was easy. \u00a0It saves well and makes a great winter lunch. \u00a0I think I have a new favorite variation of ham and bean soup!<\/p>\n

\"left-overs<\/a>
left-overs for lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a harvest of 20-some pumpkins from our garden, I became acutely aware that I can only eat so much pumpkin pie. \u00a0After being coaxed into hitherto unappealing sounding pumpkin soup by Chef Betharoni, I realized I had had a limited view of pumpkin, particularly freshly cooked and pureed pumpkin. \u00a0I began to consider it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[70],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}