Well, like my creamed cod and potatoes, my ham and bean soup is another something I just make. I don't follow a recipe, but I'll do my best...
A proper ham and bean soup is usually a two day preparation.
The day before, sort and pick a pound or so of white navy beans. Put in a pot and cover with at least 4 inches of water. Let soak at least overnight. I usually soak for about 12 hours.
Start your broth with a nice, meaty ham bone. Smoked salt cured only. Don't use sugar cured, or it will be gross.
You can also use a couple of ham hocks, or even smoked, cured neck bones if you can find them.
Cover the bone with water in a large stock pot. Add several halved onions, a handful of pepper corns, and, if you' want, a couple of carrots and ribs of celery.
Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and go do something else for 4 or 5 hours. Check every once in awhile to make sure it's not boiling dry.
When you have a nice stock and the meat is coming off the bone, pull it from the heat and strain it. If you've done it right you'll discard everything except the broth. The meat should have given up everything to the broth.
Put the broth in the fridge so that the fat layer will come to the top and can be removed.
Day 2
When the beans have soaked, rinse them well, return them to the pot, add water to cover along with a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a low boil. Cook until tender, about 1 to 2 hours. Test often, as you don't want them to get too mushy.
Once they're done, cover and set them back.
Next, chop a medium onion, a couple of carrots, and a couple of ribs of celery. The carrots and celery are option, I rarely use them.
Sweat in a pan over medium low heat with a tablespoon of butter until the carrots start to soften and the onions go translucent. Just before they're done, add a couple of cloves of minced garlic.
Bring the ham broth to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the vegetables, a couple of bay leaves, a teaspoon or so of ground dry mustard, and some oregano and basil. Add low sodium chicken broth if you don't have enough ham broth.
Leave simmer 20 minutes or so, then drain and add the beans and a pound of diced ham.
Simmer another 20 minutes, fish out the bay leaves, and then mash some of the beans with a vegetable masher or a fork. That will add somebody to the soup.
At that point, you're done. Bowl up and eat.
I like eating my ham and bean soup with thick cut sourdough bread.
A nice touch to top the soup just before serving is to mix 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and a dab of mustard (which serves as an emulsifier). I do it by adding it all to a screw top bottle and shaking it.
Drizzle this over the top of the soup. The acid in the lemon adds a bit of brightness, and the oil adds a nice mouth feel along with its flavor.