Black Bean Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 c. water
4 oz. dried black beans (1/2 c.)
1 ham bone
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 medium celery stalk, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 hot pepper, chopped
1 small bay leaf
1/2 tsp. salt
3 lemon slices
3 hard-cooked eggs, shredded
2 Tbsp. chopped red onion
dry white wine (optional)

Preparation

Heat water and beans to boiling in 2-quart saucepan.
Boil 2 minutes; remove from heat.
Cover and let stand 1 hour.
Add ham bone; heat to boiling and reduce heat.
Cover and simmer until beans are tender, about 2 hours (do not boil or beans will burst).
Stir in carrot, celery, yellow onion, garlic, hot pepper, bay leaf and salt.
Cover and simmer 1 hour.
Remove ham bone and bay leaf.
Soup can be pressed through food mill or placed in blender container and blended until uniform consistency.
Trim ham bone and stir meat into soup.
Serve with lemon slice, shredded eggs and chopped red onion.
Stir in wine, if desired.
Serves 6 (one cup servings).