Navy Bean Soup

From James Beard's American Cookery

Reprinted with permission, James Beard's American Cookery, published by Little, Brown & Company

• Servings: 6.

As written by James Beard in his American Cookery, a cookbook that showcases American regional cooking:

This was a soup made in New England from the remains of Saturday's baked beans.  The recipe spread gradually to other parts of the country and now has many different variations.  The original one was made without tomatoes and was not as interesting a soup as the later versions.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cold baked beans
• 6 cups water or stock
• 4 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned tomatoes, strained
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• crisp bacon

Directions

1. Combine the beans, water or stock, and vegetables.
2. Bring to a boil in a heavy saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Put through a food mill season to taste, and return to heat. Stir in the butter and flour, kneaded together, and stir until thickened.
4. Serve topped with crisp crumbled bacon.

Editor's Notes:  You can substitute 3 cups of canned navy, cannellini, or great northern beans that have been drained and rinsed for the cold baked beans.