Bean and Leftover Ham Soup - Test 3

https://wonkywonderful.com/ham-and-bean-soup-recipe

1 - with just a little tweaking this made a very serviceable peasant soup that used up the rest of our baked ham. One could add condiments like cheese or hot sauce, but really just per personal preference. Otherwise, it's perfectly good as it is.

2 - This second time, both Ben and I found this soup to be better than just fine but quite good. It was very satisfying. I may be the I upped the flavour by giving a generous pinch of each herb and also using the fat skimmed from boiling a ham to fry the veg in.

3 - This is a very good recipe - being generous with the herbs is essential to carry it off.

4 - That went down really well! Very good. I want to switch up the beans since the Red beans stay pretty firm, how would this go with pinto or cannellini beans that start to fall apart? I'm also standardizing the dry herbs to 1 tsp, I think that's about how much I put in anyway. It was so good I'd really like to graduate this to La Mouffette Gourmande right now, but I'll keep it here to try these changes to see, first.

1 lb dry soup beans (used Mexican Red Beans) (try cannellini)
3 Tbsps oil (leftover fat from the skimming when boiling a ham is choice)
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
5 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6-8 cups chicken stock
OPTIONAL: ham bone
(14oz/398mL) diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Italian spice mix
1 tsp dry oregano

1 tsp dry basil

1 tsp dry thyme 

a generous pinch of hot pepper flakes
Black pepper, to taste
2 cups shredded cabbage or kale
2-3 cups (350-400gr) diced cooked ham
Salt, to taste

1. Soak beans overnight then rinse.
2. In a large soup pot sauté the onion and carrots in the oil for 4-5 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute.
3. Add the beans, the chicken stock, the ham bone, the tomatoes, bay leaf, herbs and pepper. NOTE: if using kale, add at this point.
4. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer, covered lightly, for 90 minutes or until the beans are soft.
5. Add the ham and cabbage (if using) and cook for 15-20 minutes more. Adjust the seasoning. Discard the bay leaf and serve.