White bean chowder

 

White powder outside? Time for white chowder inside. It helps counter the -1 showing on the car thermometer as I ran errands.

Best-ever white bean chowder
Adapted from "Betty Rosbottom’s Cooking School Cookbook"

Ingredients
1½ cups dry white beans
6 cups water
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
¼ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped carrots
1 ham hock, ham bone or ham shank
¼ teaspoon dried savory
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
5 cups broth
¾ cup whipping cream
Chopped parsley or fresh rosemary leaves for garnish

Method
Put beans in a large heavy pot. Cover with the water. Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let set for an hour. Drain beans well.

In a cheesecloth bundle, tie up savory, rosemary, parsley and bay leaf.

Melt butter in a large heavy pot. Add garlic, onions and carrots and cook several minutes until softened. Add drained beans, ham hock, herb bundle and broth. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for about 1 hour or until beans are tender.

Remove herb bundle. Remove ham hock. Take any meat of the bone and set aside. Spoon up to half of the solids (beans and vegetables) into a food processor or blender and puree. Return to pot along with shredded ham. Stir in cream and heat through Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with herb of choice.

Rating: This benefits from being made a day ahead. I made this on a weekend to have during the week. A first taste didn't blow me away. But having it for lunch on subsequent days made me quite happy. Rather a nice texture, and very nice flavor. I used a half a ham shank, since that's what I had on hand, so there was more meat than there might otherwise have been, but it would be good flavor even without putting the meat back in. Definitely making this again during this nasty cold snap.