Bacon & Bean Soup

Bacon & Bean Soup

- 1 cup dried navy beans

- 1 cup dried baby lima beans

Pick over and rinse the beans. Soak in a covered pot overnight in cold water.

--Next Day--

Drain the beans and wipe the water out of the big pot. Toss in

- 3 slices bacon (each slice should be about 3/4 of an inch thick (if you can't get uncut bacon, use a whole package of sliced bacon, the thicker the better)) in 1cm dice

and fry until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is crisp and browned. Then add

- 1 onion, roughly chopped

- 1/2 of a fresh hot chili pepper, seeded, deveined and diced

and fry with the bacon until the onion has gone brown and almost disappeared (if some sticks to the bottom of the pot, not to worry, when you add the liquid, you can scrape it into the soup). Add the soaked beans and

- 1 bottle of good IPA (I used a bottle of Harpoon)

- enough water to cover the beans

and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of hours until the beans are tender. Then add

- 2 onions, diced

- 1 green pepper, seeded, deveined and diced

- 1 bunch celery, chopped, with as many dark green leaves as possible

- 1 tablespoon dried thyme

- 1 tablespoon kosher salt (the kosher part pisses some theists off, so. . . )

and simmer until the veggies are cooked.

Serve with a good crusty sourdough and some good beer.