the first soup I made was "ham & pea soup with white beans"
I didn't use a recipe, but rather just went on some advice from my mom and some experimenting.
take the ham bones and any leftover ham meat and place in a large pot. cover with water. place on the stove at about medium-high heat. stir and allow to come to a gentle boil. at that point, lower the heat to a simmer and allow to simmer (uncovered) for about 5-6 hours. stirring occasionally.
after the 6 hours, remove all of the bones and meat. throw out the bones, but keep the meat in a container to use later. strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer, to get rid of any unwanted "extras". Put in the fridge to cool. When it cools through, the fat will rise to the top of the broth, and harden in a layer that you can (literally) peel/roll off (gross, but nice to get rid of it!) If you won't be making the soup within a few days, freeze so that it keeps. Otherwise put in a large pot again (once it has cooled, it will be quite gelatinous and thick. as you heat it back up it will liquify.
At this point, I cooked about 3-4 cups of frozen peas, then put them about a cup at time into a blender with a bit of the broth. Puree it completely, and then put into the pot. continue until all of the peas are completely pureed.
i used dry white beans, so I cooked them according to the recipe on the bag. then I pureed them with the same method, adding some broth to the beans until it was completely pureed. continue to keep on the stove at medium-high heat. add pepper to taste (it shouldn't really need any salt since ham is a fairly salty meat.) add in the meat that you reserved previously. at this point, it is ready to eat!
serve with some cornbread (click here for the cornbread recipe), hot out of the oven. and enjoy on a cool autumn day.
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