I make this every month or two. It ends up with enough for at least seven meals for two so I end up freezing individual two serving containers and re-heating for a quick dinner, to be served usually with a kale Caesar salad.
I didn't photograph every step but you start out by taking three cups of dried beans. Could be any combination of white beans, pinto beans, red beans, or whatever. I often use pinto, but this was a combination of an heirloom white bean called Alubia Blanca and some red beans. Soak them in cold water for at least four hours, or even overnight in the refrigerator.
by dicing a whole onion, a couple of leeks and a couple of large celery stalks. Cut four or five carrots into chunks. Mince four or five garlic cloves. First, saute the onion in some olive oil for a few minutes in a large Dutch oven until starting to turn translucent. The add the garlic, and then add the rest of the veggies. Cook until it all starts getting soft.
Onions:
Next, add two cans of diced tomatoes and a large smoked ham shank. Add about a teaspoon of dried thyme and a couple of bay leaves. Add enough water to almost cover the ham shank. Also add a cup of uncooked pearled barley at this point. Cover and simmer for about an hour.
Before the barley:
While all of this is going on, rinse the beans well and put them in a large pot, covered by an inch or two of water. Add some dried onion flakes, some EVOO and a couple of bay leaves. Simmer the beans for about an hour until they are starting to get soft. Be sure to keep enough water in the pot to cover the beans. At about 50 minutes, add some salt - just enough to make them edible on their own.
Beans before adding the water:
After about an hour, pull the ham shank out of the pot. Set it aside to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime chop up a bunch of lacinato (black) kale, and some Italian (flat) green beans, and add them to the pot. You may need to add a little water at this point because the barley will have cooked and expanded a lot. Sometimes I change up the veggies. Almost always use the kale, I only use the Italian beans when I can get good fresh ones at the farmers market. Sometimes I add some mushrooms. Sometimes I use chopped up cabbage.
Pull the ham off the bone and chop it up into small pieces, add back to the pot. Add the beans, with their liquid, to the pot. Sometimes I end up not being able to fit all the beans, but those can be used later by themselves or in a salad. Cook for another 30 minutes or so until the kale is nice and soft. The beans will cook down some more the the whole thing will be kind of thickened by them.
This is with all the ingredients, but before the final 30 minute simmer. There should be plenty of salt from what was added to the beans, and from cooking the ham, that you won't need to salt this anymore at all.
I like to sprinkle on a good shot of red pepper flakes before eating. The wife can't take anything spicy, so she doesn't. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the final product, but will try to add one next time I thaw some out.
