Chick Pea Smoked Ham and Kale Soup
Yesterday, as I was browsing through my saved Instagram images trying to come up with inspiration for dinner, I came across a recipe from Bon Appetite for this fabulous Chick Pea Ham and Kale soup. Hearty beans with savory ham, and some greens to boot.
Normally I wouldn’t even consider making this soup, my husband is not in love with canned chickpeas. I have hide them in all kinds of dishes, even then he moves them the around the plate, and claims he ate a few? Lucky for me though we had dinner out recently and his fish dish was perched upon chickpeas, and crazy enough he liked them. We came to the conclusion that cooked from their dry form, he likes them. Canned version not so much.
Reading the recipe again, I found it suggests you first cook the chickpeas for about 20 minutes, then add some vegetables, ham hock and spices, cook together 1 – 2 hours checking and stirring every 15 minutes or so. Then add the kale and cooked shredded ham and cook another 45 minutes.
Hmm, I thought to myself, maybe I could just pop it all in the crock pot and let it bubble away all day. No stirring or checking, totally hands free. Yup works for me………
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry chickpeas
- 6 cups of water
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 3 carrots, peeled and quartered
- 4 stalks celery, cut into generous bite sizes
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp kosher salt, or 1/2 teaspoon regular salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes - optional
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Bunch of kale, any variety or other hearty greens
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
Add dry chickpeas, water, olive oil, onion, carrots, celery, ham hock and spices to crockpot.
Set on high and cook 5-6 hours.
Check doneness of chickpeas after 5 hours, mine took closer to 6 hours to cook.
When the beans at to your preference, scoop out a large cup of them along with the onion pieces, carrot and some of the cooking liquid.
Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Remove the ham hock and pick off the meat, discarding the skin,
fat and cartilage.
Add the puree, ham and kale back to soup and let cook another 10 minutes.
Add lemon juice and serve.
https://pamelasglutenfreerecipes.com/gluten-free/chick-pea-smoked-ham-and-kale-soup/
Stephanie 
carla zimmerman-edison