Easy Portuguese Style Bean Soup

New Year's Eve. The kids made it to midnight again — Noah stoically, Emma enthusiastically, Jack by sleeping from nine-thirty to eleven-fifty and waking just in time. Kevin and I kissed at midnight. It tasted like the cheese plate I'd put out at ten, which is the recurring theme of our New Year's kisses: cheese-flavored, brief, sincere.

I made black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. Marlene's adopted tradition, year four. Ham hock, beans, bay leaf, the gospel of January first. Jack helped me sort the beans — picking through dried navy beans for stones and bad beans, a task that requires exactly the kind of patience that Jack has in surplus. He sorted three cups of beans without complaint, without distraction, without looking at a screen. The beans were clean. The boy was content. New Year's began with sorted beans and patient hands and the quiet work of beginning.

Resolutions. Last year's results: one new recipe a month (achieved — twelve new recipes, including gazpacho, beef bourguignon, and the bread that changed my kitchen). Teach Emma three meals (achieved — she can make grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, and tomato soup, plus she's picking up pie crust). Visit Dad every week (achieved, more or less). Can fifty quarts (achieved — fifty exactly).

This year's resolutions: One — learn to make pasta from scratch. Not because I need to. Because I want to feel the dough under my hands the way I feel bread dough, and because making something from flour and eggs and nothing else feels like a conversation with every Italian grandmother who ever lived. Two — plant a fruit tree. Something permanent. Something that outlasts a season. Three — teach Jack to cook something that isn't from the garden. The boy grows food but he doesn't cook food, and the transfer of that knowledge is part of the lineage too.

Kevin said his resolution is to "read more." He reads the insurance trade journal on the toilet. I said that counts. He said thanks. 2019 began the way it should: with beans and hopes and a man on the toilet with a magazine. We're going to be fine.

The black-eyed peas I make every January first are really just a vessel — a reason to stand at the stove on the first morning of the year and do something quiet and intentional before the world asks anything of me. This Portuguese-style bean soup is cut from that same cloth: beans, ham, broth, and time. It’s the kind of pot that rewards patience, which is exactly what Jack showed me when he sorted those beans without complaint. Make it. Let it simmer. Let the year begin slowly.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min | Total Time: 1 hr 30 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 lb dried navy beans or Great Northern beans, sorted and rinsed
1 smoked ham hock (about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups chopped kale or cabbage
2 tbsp olive oil
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Soak the beans. Place sorted, rinsed beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water by 3 inches. Soak overnight (8—12 hours), then drain and rinse. For a quick soak, bring beans and water to a boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and let sit 1 hour before draining.
Sauté the aromatics. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 4—5 minutes until softened. Add garlic, carrots, and celery; cook another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Build the broth. Add the chicken broth, water, drained beans, ham hock, diced tomatoes, bay leaves, smoked paprika, thyme, and red pepper flakes if using. Stir to combine.
Simmer low and slow. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a low simmer. Cover and cook 60—75 minutes, until beans are fully tender and the ham is falling off the bone.
Shred the ham. Remove the ham hock and let cool slightly. Pull the meat from the bone, discard the skin and bone, and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces. Return the meat to the pot.
Add the greens. Stir in chopped kale or cabbage. Simmer uncovered an additional 10 minutes until greens are tender. Remove bay leaves.
Season and serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Portuguese Style Bean Soup — The Gospel of January First