Smokey White Bean and Ham Soup

I love a good soup and so does my oldest daughter.  She would eat some sort of homemade soup or chili night and day if I'd make it.  I came across this great recipe on What We're Eating and decided to give it a try.  We made this soup just after Easter to use up some of the ham we had left.  I made a bone broth with the leftover ham bones to use as the broth for this soup, but you can always use water if you don't have bones.  The original recipe calls for water and a ham hock - you can choose which you'd like to do.  I also used canned beans instead of dried.  Just personal preference here!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 lb dried small white beans, rinsed and picked through (you can also use canned, I did)
1 lb ham steak, fat removed then diced
1 smoked ham hock (I didn't use this b/c I used the bone broth)
10 cups of water, plus extra if needed (I used as much bone broth as I could, then water)
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

Place a large pot over medium heat. Add oil to pot. Once the oil is hot, add diced onions, carrots, and celery to the pot. Stir. Saute over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are softened.

Add the dried white beans, garlic, bay leaf, dried oregano & basil to the pot. Stir and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Add the ham hock, diced ham, parsley and rosemary sprig to the pot. Cover the ingredients with about 8 cups of water. Add 1 tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Stir.

Raise heat to high and bring soup to a boil. Once you reach a boil, reduce heat to medium low. Simmer soup over medium low heat for 2 - 2 1/2 hours until the beans are tender. If soup starts to get too thick, add a bit more water.

Once beans are soft, remove the ham hock and rosemary sprig. Taste then season as necessary with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.