Senate Navy Bean Soup With a Hint of Clove

Tessa Morales's Note:

Caution: don't use too much clove powder, but please don't leave it out. I found this recipe in "Beans" by Alize Green, but the directions are my own. This can be made on the stove top, or made in a pressure cooker, using less water, and having lightly salted the soaking beans, so that the pressure cooker doesn't turn beans to absolute mush. If your beans are older, this is probably not a problem.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 lb dried navy beans
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1 ham hock
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery , including leaves
• 1 cup peeled and finely diced potato
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• ¼ teaspoon clove powder
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

Directions:

1. Combine drained navy beans with water and ham hock, and bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat and simmer until the beans are tender. This can take 1 1/2 hours or more, if you forgot the beans in the back of the cabinet, like I did :).
2. Take out the ham bone, picking any meat off the bones. Throw out the bone. Add meat to pot, with the rest of the ingredients, except for parsley.
3. Bring soup back to a boil, then simmer until ingredients are soft.
4. Take out a cup of the beans, then with a hand blender, blend the soup. Add the cup of beans back inches Salt and pepper, then serve.