Menu

Ham and Bean Soup

  • April 18, 2022

If you’re lucky enough to have a leftover ham bone from Easter with some meat on it, this is one delicious way to use it. A lot of people like to make split pea soup with ham bones, but I’ve never been a fan, preferring fresh pea soup instead. However, the way I use my ham bone is to make a bean soup, using my favorite beans from Rancho Gordo. I buy them at my local health food store, but if you can’t find them where you live, search for them online. They’re worth the hunt. They are very tender and creamy after they’ve cooked for a couple of hours and have a very thin skin. They’re named after Marcella Hazan, the doyen of Italian cooking, who struck up an online conversation with the owner of Rancho Gordo. When she told him that the sorana variety of cannellini bean was her favorite and the one she missed the most, Rancho Gordo’s owner sleuthed out the seed for the bean and grew it. However, she died just as the first harvest was taking place, and Marcella never got to try them. After contacting Marcella’s widower, Victor, Rancho Gordo’s owner decided to name the bean in Marcella’s honor. Of course you could make this recipe with any cannellini bean, but these are the best I’ve ever tried, so why bother using any other?

They don’t need to pre-soak, just let all the ingredients come to a boil, then lower to a simmer (with the lid askew). After two to two and a half-hours, (don’t stir too often or too vigorously or you’ll crush the beans) the beans will be tender and the meat will have fallen off the bone. Remove the bone from the pot, and if you like, puree a bit of the soup, just to give a little more creaminess to the mix. Salt the soup near the end of the cooking. If you salt too early, it will take longer for the beans to soften.

By the way, if you’re wondering what that Italian saying means, written in blue across the bowl in the top picture, it’s a saying my mother used to say to us when we were growing up and it translates to: “Either eat this soup or jump out the window.”

Click here to connect with me on Instagram and find out what’s cooking in Ciao Chow Linda’s kitchen each day (and more)

Save Print
Ham and Bean Soup
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 ham bone
  • ¼ cup minced onion
  • 2 carrots, diced finely
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 bag Rancho Gordo Marcella beans (or 2 cups dried cannellini beans)
  • 6 cups water (or more if soup gets too thick)
  • salt, pepper
  • parmesan cheese rind
  • parsley
Instructions
  1. Sauté the onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil until softened.
  2. Place the ham bone into the pot, and add the water, the beans and the parmesan cheese rind.
  3. Bring to a boil, then lower the water temperature to a simmer.
  4. Cook for about two hours, then add the salt and pepper to taste.
  5. If you add the salt early in the process, it delays the softening of the beans.
  6. After 2½-3 hours, the beans should be soft.
  7. Add more water if it's too thick.
  8. Optional: I like to puree a small amount of the beans when they are fully cooked, to make a creamier soup.
  9. Serve in warm bowls, sprinkled with a little chopped parsley,
 

Marcella Hazan’s Ragù Bolognese

  • March 19, 2019

Before there was Lidia, there was Marcella. I’m talking about Marcella Hazan, who reigned as the doyenne of Italian cuisine until her death in 2013. Her cookbooks are classics in the Italian food repertoire and are the first place I go to when I’m looking for a traditional recipe like basil pesto or gnocchi alla romana. Born in Italy, she wrote her cookbooks in Italian, and her husband, Victor Hazan, translated them into English. Married for 58 years, theirs is a love story that continues even after she is gone. Victor has taken over Marcella’s Facebook page since her death, and occasionally posts beautiful tributes to her, including these lines: “I am at life’s end and in looking back I can see how Marcella and I were squeezed from a single lump of clay.” Or these: “Where cooking was concerned she didn’t need to check how others were doing it. She didn’t have to because Marcella didn’t have doubts, she knew, and out of that knowledge, whose mysterious creative source had always been a wonder to me, she produced the pure, expressive taste of her cooking.”

I don’t know why it took me this long to make her ragù Bolognese, but I’m glad I finally tasted for myself what Marcella followers have known for decades. It doesn’t get better than this. It takes a long time to simmer, but it’s worth the long wait.

Start by sweating the vegetables in olive oil and butter – carrots, celery and onion,

Add the ground meat and cook until it loses its pink color, then add the wine.

Next comes the unusual step of adding milk and seasonings that include a generous grating of nutmeg. It looks curdled at first, but after it cooks and the milk gets absorbed into the meat, it will look more blended. Be patient, it may take a while for this step.

The tomatoes are added last, after the milk has become absorbed. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for at least three hours – even longer if you have time.

After the lengthy cooking at low temperature, you’ll be left with this rich, dense ragù.

Perfect for adding to a bowl of pappardelle, as I did, or if you prefer, use tagliatelle, or fettuccine.

The recipe makes more ragù than I needed for the pound of pasta I cooked, so I served the leftover ragu another night with a bowl of polenta. It was equally as good and soul satisfying. Grazie Marcella, for this gem of a recipe. And grazia, Victor, for keeping those memories alive through Marcella’s Facebook page.

Click here to connect with me on Instagram and find out what’s cooking in Ciao Chow Linda’s kitchen each day (and more)

Save Print
Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Ragù
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons chopped yellow onion
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons chopped celery
  • 2 tablespoons chopped carrot
  • ¾ pound ground lean beef, or a combination of beef, veal and/or pork
  • salt
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 cups canned whole tomatoes, chopped, with their juice
  • 1 pound pasta - tagliatelle or pappardelle (you'll have leftover ragu)
Instructions
  1. In a Dutch Oven or large heavy pot, add the onion with the oil and butter and saute briefly over medium heat until translucent.
  2. Add the celery and carrot and cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the ground beef, crumbling it in the pot with a fork.
  4. Add 1 teaspoon salt, stir, and cook only until the meat has lost its red, raw color.
  5. Add the wine, turn the heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the wine has evaporated.
  6. Turn the heat down to medium, add the milk and the nutmeg, and cook until the milk has evaporated. This may take a while.
  7. Stir frequently.
  8. When the milk has evaporated, add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly.
  9. When the tomatoes have started to bubble, turn the heat down until the sauce cooks at the laziest simmer, just an occasional bubble.
  10. Cook, uncovered, for a minimum of 3½ to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
  11. Serve with tagliatelle, or pappardelle, and a good sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.
 

Bagna Cauda

  • January 16, 2013

 If there’s one dish that’s typical of Italy’s Piedmont region, it’s bagna cauda, sometimes spelled “caôda.” Although bagna means “bath” in the Italian language, in the Piemontese dialect, it means sauce; hence bagna caudo translates to “warm sauce.” Along with a glass or two of wine, it’s the perfect way to warm up during the cold winter months. The origins of the dish are a mystery, but it was traditionally served by winemakers in the late Middle ages after they poured their wine into barrels. It remained as “cucina povera” or “peasant food” for a long time, but nowadays, restaurants all over Piedmont include this on their menus, including Antica Bruschetteria Pautasso in Torino, where I recently ate this lusty dish. It arrives at the table with two earthenware bowls — one with a candle below that helps keep it at just the right temperature, as you ladle more in from the crock in which it’s cooked.

The basic ingredients are olive oil, anchovies, garlic and butter, while some versions add milk or cream as well. If you’re feeling really decadent and your pocketbook allows, you can shave some truffles on top. In that case, you’ve surely elevated it above cucina povera. Gather your friends around the table since it’s a dish to enjoy with others before the main course, or just as an excuse to sit together and talk. Serve with crisp, raw vegetables, such as fennel, carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and wedges of cabbage.
If you do find yourself at Antica Bruschetteria Pautasso in Torino, order the bagna cauda, and a dish of tajarin (Piemontese dialect for taglierini pasta) made with sausage and leeks. Just looking at the photo makes me long to be back in Torino.

Bagna Caôda
printable recipe here
From “The Classic Italian Cookbook” by Marcella Hazan

3/4 cup olive oil
3 T. butter
2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
8 to 10 flat anchovy fillets, chopped
1 tsp. salt

 

1. Heat oil and butter in a pot over medium-high heat until butter is thoroughly liquified and barely begins to foam. (Don’t wait for the foam to subside or the butter will be too hot.) Add the garlic and sauté very briefly. It must not take on any color. Add the anchovies and cook over very low heat, stirring frequently, until the anchovies dissolve into a paste. Add the salt, stir, and bring to the table along with raw vegetables.