This is a somewhat (completely?) uncommon personal family recipe that I thought I'd share.Bean Soup - source Barbara Knipf
Serves 8 or more as a main course -
Ingredients
1 smoked, old fashioned ham half or cottage roll (approx 800g)
1 cup White Navy Beans
1/2c red lentils (optional - you can use other colored lentils if you like, I use a mixture)
1 lg jumbo cooking Onion or 2 medium, quartered
water
4 cups Chicken Broth (I use a 1L mason jar of home made chicken stock but a bought 1L carton will do)
4 cups Ham stock (TOTALLY optional I only use it rarely IF I have some home made on hand which isn't that often but it does make this extra delicious otherwise just use water or more chicken stock)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
small Bag Baby Carrots (or 6-7 large raw carrots, sliced)
2 Tbsp Bacon fat or alternative (butter, lard etc)
2 tbsp all purpose flour, heaping
2 tbsp paprika, heaping
Chicken flavoured Bovril or Better than Chicken Bouillon (optional to taste)
1 Package Broad or extra Broad EGG noodles (you need a hearty noodle to stand up to this soup store bought Catelli/Unico are fine but make sure they are egg noodles and use the whole bag.)
Directions:
Starting the night before or early in the morning soak the beans and lentils in a large dutch oven style soup pot, covered on the counter, using enough water to just cover the beans and then a bit more to allow for expansion. If you omit the red lentils add a few more navy beans to make up the difference. Note: I have done this soup without this step and it works just fine because of the long cooking time but if time permits I do this to help the soften the beans as well as to allow them to de-gas ... and because .. that's how my grandmother did it
After soaking do not drain the beans just add the ham, rough chopped onions, chicken broth (and an extra Mason Jar of Ham stock if I have it) and garlic to the beans in their soaking water and top it up with enough additional water (and/or stock) to fill the dutch oven/soup pot and simmer UNCOVERED to let gases escape for about 6 hrs, stirring occasionally, and adding water as needed to keep the meat covered. Liquid level is usually kept about 1 1/2 inches below the rim of the large dutch oven, enough to keep the ham covered, it's not an exact science
The time is somewhat approximate, I generally start mid or late morning and let this simmer all afternoon. Just keeping a light eye on it to top up as needed with water.About 1 1/2 hrs before serving remove meat from soup and reserve.
After removing the meat puree the soup using an immersion blender to emulsify the beans, onions and garlic making a smooth pure soup base. My grandmother did not have an immersion blender so she would sometimes strain the beans out of the soup and mash them with a fork before returning them (or most of them) to the soup, it gave more "texture" to the soup, more of a rustic feel but I really like the immersion blender method and it's easier,less messy, and imo makes a better soup.
After blending, continue to simmer the soup while you make your Roue.
In a separate small sauce pot make a roue by melting fat (bacon fat is best but butter will work or even lard) in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and hot, add the flour and paprika stirring constantly to make a very thick paste and cook about a minute or so to get get rid of the *raw* taste. Remove the pan from heat and SLOWLY (it will bind at first) add water (about a cup or more) a little at a time stirring constantly until you have added enough water to make a pourable sauce.
Pour the roue sauce into soup, stir, and add your carrots to the soup.
Meanwhile take the reserved meat, place face down on a cutting board and trim off the outer rind by slicing down from the top all the way around the ham. Discard rind and dice remaining meat into small 1/2" pieces then return meat to soup. Continue to simmer til carrots are done adding water as needed to keep the soup topped up to within 1 1/2" from the top of the soup pot/dutch oven. Make sure to leave room for adding the noodles at the very end.
Taste the soup at this point and season with a little bouillon if you like. I usually end up adding 1-2 Tbsp of Better than Bouillon, Chicken flavour but Chicken bovril is nice too ...
Meanwhile prepare broad or extra broad egg noodles in salted water as per package instructions. When cooked, strain and add to thickened soup. Viola ... soup's on!
Enjoy.
Up until recently I did not have a crockpot ... and not sure my current one is big enough but it might be. For the most part with the pre soaking and long slow cook time most of the bean do indeed dissolve or at least become mush, the lentils virtually disappear even before pureeing but the onions not so much ... I also like the pureed texture of this soup when blended and my husband positively despises anything that even remotely reminds him of split pea soup. When I first made this I had a hard time getting him to try it, after that he curled up his nose every time I made it, until he tucked in, that is ... now he loves it and requests it although I still can't get him within a mile of any split pea soup 
