Garbanzo Bean and Ham Soup

A comfortable Spanish style soup that is great for a chilly day! 

   
     Garbanzo beans and ham go nicely together.  In Spain, there are many great varieties of ham.  In America, it is difficult to get ham from Spain, but domestic artisan crafted Spanish style ham is available.
     Every culture that has a cuisine that makes use of pork products, has their own style of curing ham.  Many countries have similar cured ham products.  Dry cured ham from the American south compares to many european hams.  Standard salt cured ham for sandwiches compares to Polish style ham.  Louisiana Tasso Ham compares to some of the highly seasoned hams of Spain.  Smoked ham shares similar methods in every country.   The choice of ham for this recipe was a cured roasted standard ham.  I chose this style of ham because the moist meat was easy to tear into bite size chunks by hand.
     There is no tricky techniques or saute cooking involved in this recipe.  This is just an old fashioned soup that is simmered in one pot!
    
     Garbanzo Bean and Ham Soup Recipe: 
     This recipe makes 2 large bowls of soup! 
     Place 3 1/2 cups of vegetable broth in a sauce pot.
     Place the pot over over medium high heat.
     Place 2 cups of rinsed cooked garbanzo beans or rinsed canned garbanzo beans into a mixing bowl.

     Mash half of the garbanzo beans in the bowl with a potato masher or a fork.

     Add the partially mashed garbanzo beans to the soup pot.

     Add 1/3 cup of diced celery.
     Add 1/3 cup of diced carrot.
     Add 1/3 cup of diced onion.
     Add 1/3 cup of diced green bell pepper.
     Add 2 minced garlic cloves.
     Add 1 pinch of cayenne pepper.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.
     Add 2 pinches of oregano.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of ground anatto.
     Add 1/4 teaspoon of cumin.
     Add 1 bay leaf.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Tear 6 ounces of ham into large bite size chunks by hand.
     Add the ham to the soup.
     Bring the soup to a boil.
     Reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Simmer the soup, till the garbanzo beans and vegetables become very tender.  Simmer till the soup becomes a rich medium consistency.  Be sure to stir the soup occasionally as it simmers.
     Remove the bay leaf before serving.
     Ladle the soup onto a bowl and try to expose a few chunks of ham on the surface of the soup.
    
     The Spanish spices give this soup a nice comfortable flavor!.  I have also posted a Spanish Castillo style chorizo and garbanzo soup recipe in this blog.  This is a tasty cold weather soup!  ...  Shawna