Winter Bean Soup

I bought a piece of smoked gammon the other day, even though I've never cooked it before. So after reading about gammon on the internet, I decided to boil it with some carrots and onions before roasting it. While it was roasting, I was pondering what to do with the lovely broth in my pot, so I used an immersion blender and whizzed it all up into a pretty orange colored silky soup. Some cannelini beans and herbs were thrown in, and voila, a tasty soup was born!

Winter Bean Soup

500g smoked gammon
2 carrots
1 large onion
1 small potato
2 tins of cannelini beans
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp ground black pepper
salt

1. Boil gammon, carrots, onion and potato with enough water to cover for 30 minutes. Remove gammon and use it for a different dish. Blend liquid and vegetables until smooth.

2. Add beans, basil, black pepper and salt to taste (make sure you try it before you salt it since the gammon may have left quite a bit of salt behind).  Simmer for another 15-20 minutes and then serve.