Senate Bean Soup

I used Dad Cooks Dinner's recipe for ham with bourbon honey mustard glaze on Easter Sunday knowing he'd likely follow it up with a recipe the next week for the ham bone. Split pea soup is the traditional soup for a ham bone but it's one of those childhood holdovers of food I just don't like. I imagine it was a meal I didn't like and my folks made me sit at the table until I finished. Or maybe not, maybe I'm just not a fan.

At any rate, I was delighted when Mike Vrobel of DCD published a recipe for Senate bean soup. I heard about this soup years ago and it's been on my list of things to try. The Senate has had a bean soup recipe on the menu every day since the early 20th century. There is an interesting Wikipedia article here. This is a very simple recipe and well worth the small effort required; I rate it 4 stars (out of 5).

I was also anxious to try this recipe because I've never cooked navy beans. I'm a fan of smaller beans and navy beans fall into that category. Check out Mike Vrobel's recipe from the link above and compare it to my slightly modified recipe here.

1 pound of small navy beans

 Nine ingredients make this delicious soup. I added a carrot, and substituted 3 cups of chicken stock for an equal amount of water.

A simple set of ingredients

Coarsely chopped aromatics.

Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Lightly brown the aromatics

Simmering ingredients at the ready while the aromatics sauté.

Dinner is served

I meant to make cornbread to go with this, but forgot until it was too late. But this hearty soup and a salad made a very satisfactory meal.