White Beans and Rice with Ham Hock

Here, a nice and hearty, yet simple, autumn/winter recipe.  It's the second Husband recipe for the week (get out the Herbes de Provence!), using two of his favorite ingredients: beans and pork. 

White Beans and Rice with Ham Hock - serves 4

olive oil

2 medium onions, small dice

4 ribs celery, small dice

1 red bell pepper, small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 T Herbes de Provence

4 cans (or 1 pound dried, soaked overnight) white beans

1 ham hock

4 cups beef stock

1 cup red wine

Salt and Black Pepper

In a large (7-8 quart) stock pot, saute the onions, celery and bell pepper in a little olive oil (or bacon fat) over medium heat.  Add the garlic and Herbes de Provence and stir.  Add the ham hock, beef stock and red wine and bring to a simmer.  Add the beans and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has dissolved (and, if using dried beans, the beans are soft); this will take about 40 minutes for canned beans or about 2 hours for dry beans.  Once the beans are soft, season liberally with salt and pepper.  Serve with steamed rice.  We also had some smoked pork loin leftover from our Saturday afternoons with Weiland's BBQ, and added about 1/2 pound of that, cubed.  Also good with remaining bits of duck confit meat sprinkled over.