Triple-Smoked Bacon and Bean Soup

[Dano]

Hey all,

It's getting to be Canadian Winter time and thought I'd make some soup.  Found this bean soup recipe online somewhere but decided to alter it and add some of the rinds from one of my triple-smoked bacon runs.  Turned out beautifully if you like bean with bacon soup and the smoke gives it a nice flavour.

1lb dry navy beans
2L chicken broth - try to get reduced sodium or use homemade
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
3 bay leaves
2 tsp pepper
1 yellow onion, pureed
1 large carrot pureed
1 celery rib, pureed
handful of triple-smoked bacon rinds - 1/3 to 1/2lb worth
1/4 cup crushed tomato
1/4 tsp ground clove

Place beans in pot, add water to 2 inch above
Bring to boil and boil 5 mins
Remove from heat, cover and let stand 1 hour or until water is room temp
Drain, rinse beans and discard liquid
Combine broth, beans, parsley, bay leaves, tomato, onion, carrot, celery and pepper
Bring to boil, then simmer for 1 hour
Trim most of the fat(but do leave a little!) off the bacon so it's mainly smoked bacon meat
Add bacon and gr cloves
Simmer 45-60 mins or until beans are soft
Discard bay leaves and serve

*you can make it thicker or thinner soup by decreasing/increasing the amount of broth - I like mine thicker :)

Enjoy!

[Habanero Smoker]

That looks like a good recipe. If you like bean soup you may be interested in Black Bean and Pastrami Soup. Instead of one 15 ounce can diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers, you can substitute a 10 oz. can or mild Ro-Tel.

Another way to thicken the soup is the take about 1/3 to 1/2 the beans, puree them and add them back into the soup.