2-3 cups dried pinto beans
1 ham bone (leave a lot of ham on)
1 quart water
3 ripe tomatoes
1 can tomatoe-paste
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chicken stock
3 onions, chopped
1 eggplant, chopped in cubes
3 carrot, sliced
3 small potatoes, cubed with skin
2 big squash (yellow or zucchini)
3-10 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped roasted green chili
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp chilipowder
2 small bay leaves
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, ground (German: Kreuzkuemmel)
1/2 tsp rosemary leaves, crushed
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp paprica
1 tbsp lemonpepper
1 tbsp McCormic Keylime Seasoning
4 whole cloves
1 cup sherry (or celery)
Serves 10-12 guests
The next day add the ham-bone and let the beans and the bone slowcook until the beans are creamy and the meat fell off the bone (throw the bone away or give to your puppy).
In a big frying pan glaze the onions, garlic and add then the dry seasonings (besides the bay leafs).
Add to the onion-mix the tomato-paste and stirr well until everything is well coated. Add a cup of the vegetable broth. Put everything into the Bean-pot.
Add now all other ingredients and let simmer on middle heat for around 2 hours until the vegetables are no longer raw.
Serve in generous soup bowls topped with chopped green onion or chives, croutons and Parmesan cheese, if desired.
This soup is also nice to freeze in portions for later.
I love veggie's, so I usually throw everything in my soup that I can find. I love it as well spicy and here in New Mexico any meal "cries out" for roasted green Chili. If you are living in a region, where you do not have access to fresh roasted chili, try this instead: Add Jalopeno-Chili or any hot Asian chili peppers (taste them first very carefully, so you know how hot they are). You can also simply add cayenne pepper or Tabasco to the soup to give it a little "kick". If you do not like it hot and spicy just add green peppers instead of the "hot stuff".
Instead of Pinto-beans you can use any other dry bean.
History of "Tiffany's Bean Pot Soup": This soup propably was the best known item served at Tiffany's Saloon in Cerillos, N.M. This saloon, operating in the Territorial Period, was one block east of the hotel where Governor Lew Wallace completed the writing of his famous "Ben Hur". Tiffany's burned to the ground on March 15, 1977. The original recipe was made public by the restaurant.
