Meg O'malley's Irish Parliament Bean Soup

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 12-13
• 2 lbs navy beans (dried)
• 1 mutton bone
• 1 gallon water
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 4 stalks celery, diced small
• 2 carrots, diced small
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf

Recipe

• Rinse beans in cool water and soak overnight.
• in a 6-quart stock pot, add drained beans, mutton bone, water, and seasonings and bring to a simmer.
• Continue to simmer over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until beans are soft (about 1 1/2 hours). 
• Add vegetables and cook until tender and soup has thickened. remove muttun bone, adjust seasonings and enjoy with Irish brown bread or you favorite crackers.
• notes: i first cooked a bone-in mutton by rubbing the surface with ground ginger and cloves; put in a "brown-n-bag" and pour in a small bottle of ginger ale.
• seal and place in a 325* oven for 3 hours. to the soup, i add an extra carrot, more salt and pepper, an extra teaspoon of thyme and some of the mutton that i have diced. 
• You can use ham instead of mutton.