White Bean and Ham Soup with Chard

Surely you've heard about it. Alanna of a Veggie Venture is collecting soup recipes for February. There's probably nothing I love to make more than soup. I'm having fun creating recipes for soups with greens, and this week it's chard for the surprise ingredient.

I love chard, and knew it would add great flavor to what would have otherwise been a fairly ordinary white bean and ham soup. What I didn't know was that when I used red chard, it would give the soup a lovely color. This is truly one of my best soup recipes yet.

I'm also including a bonus with the recipe. Here are two tips for getting more flavor into ham and bean soups. I use one or both of these tricks every time I make a soup with ham.

Tip #1. Buy a type of ham that has a rind. Then cut the rind off and put it in the soup while the beans are cooking. Try to keep the pieces big so they're easy to fish out at the end.

Tip #2. If your bean or split pea soup still doesn't have as much ham flavor as you'd like, add a small amount of "ham bouillon" such as the one above made by Goya. This is my favorite brand, but other brands I've used include Penzeys, Better Than Bouillon, or Knorr ham flavor base.

White Bean and Ham Soup with Chard
(8-10 servings, recipe created by Kalyn. This will freeze very well.)

3 cups dry white beans, soaked 8 hours or overnight
10 cups homemade chicken stock or 6 cans chicken broth (1 can is slightly less than 2 cups)
4 cups water
1 T minced garlic (I used garlic puree in a jar)
1 tsp. dried sage
3-4 dried bay leaves
1 tsp. ground fennel seed (optional but recommended)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced ham plus ham rind if available
1 bunch chopped red chard (about 4 cups)
Goya ham buillon if needed (depends on how flavorful your ham is)
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Soak dried beans in cold water for 8 hours or overnight. Rinse well.

Put beans in large soup pot. Add chicken stock, water, garlic, sage, bay leaves, fennel, onion, celery, carrots, and ham rind if available. Simmer on low heat for one hour.

Add diced ham and cook 30 minutes more, or longer if needed, until beans are quite soft.

Trim center stem from chard leaves and discard, then cut each leaf in fourths lengthwise, and slice crosswise into strips about 1/2 inch wide. Wash chard after chopping. (If the leaves are big, cut the pieces in half again.)

Add chard to soup with one cup additional water. Taste for flavor and add ham bouillon if desired. (I nearly always add a small amount.) Cook about 20-30 minutes more, until chard and beans are starting to break apart. Season with fresh ground black pepper and serve hot.

More White Bean Soups:
White Bean Soup with Ham and Rosemary
White Bean and Ham Soup from Simply Recipes
Artichoke and White Bean Soup from Bakingsheet
White Bean and Escarole Soup from Beyond Salmon
Rosemary White Bean Soup from Champaign Taste
Hot Broccoli and White Bean Soup from Lucullian Delights
White Bean, Kale, and Sausage Soup from Chez Megane

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