Recipe for "senate-soup"

NAME

     SENATE-SOUP - Bean soup as served in the U.S. Senate  dining
     room
     I lived in suburban Washington DC for most of  my  formative
     years.  One  of the things that formed in the aforementioned
     years  was a strong impression that the government was  full
     of  beans. One day on a school visit to my senator I learned
     just how it was that the government got to  be  so  full  of
     beans,  and  I came away with the recipe. This is one of the
     best soups I have ever tasted. Serve it with a big  loaf  of
     fresh hot homemade whole-wheat bread, from which people just
     tear the bread with their fingers.
     The House of Representatives serves a  version  without  the
     onions and garlic and mashed potatoes.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 6)

     500 g     dried Navy beans
     1         ham bone (get one with plenty of meat on it)
     3 l       water
     3         medium onions, chopped fine.
     3 cloves  fresh garlic, minced.
     3         celery stalks, chopped fine.
     10 g      fresh parsley, (chopped fine)
     250 ml    mashed potatoes
     5 ml      salt (or less to taste)
     1 ml      pepper
     20 g      chopped fresh chives

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Wash the beans and remove those that float in  the
               wash  water.  Soak beans overnight in enough water
               to cover them by several inches.  Drain.
          (2)  In a large kettle, place 3 liters of  cold  water.
               Add  the drained beans and the ham bone, and bring
               to a  boil.  Reduce  heat  and  simmer,  partially
               covered,  for  2  hours. If scum forms on the sur-
               face, skim it off.
          (3)  Chop the onions, garlic, celery, and parsley.  Add
               to the pot. Add the mashed potato to the pot. Sim-
               mer 1 more hour. Check the beans. If they are  not
               yet tender, then simmer some more.
          (4)  Add salt and pepper. Remove the ham bone and  pull
               the  meat from it. Cut the meat into small chunks,
               and toss them back into the soup.
          (5)  Serve  piping  hot  into  preheated   bowls,   and
               sprinkle chopped fresh chives atop each.

NOTES

     Great Northern beans are an  adequate  substitute  for  Navy
     beans.  If  you forgot to soak them overnight and still want
     to make the soup, you can simmer them for an hour  and  then
     discard that water. The beans end up with slightly more fla-
     vor if you cold-soak them.
     You can almost certainly get away with using instant  mashed
     potato  flakes to acquire the 250 ml of mashed potatoes that
     this recipe calls for.

RATING

     Difficulty:  easy.   Time:  8  hours  soaking,  10   minutes
     preparation,  3  hours cooking.  Precision: no need to meas-
     ure.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Brian Reid
     DEC Western Research, Palo Alto, California
     reid@decwrl.dec.com      {ihnp4,decvax}!decwrl!reid