Black Bean Soup With Rum

• 2 cups dried black beans
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 6 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 Turkish bay leaf (or 1/2 California)
• 1 large ham hock
• 6 cups beef stock or broth
• 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup dark rum
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

1. soak beans in cold water to cover by 2 inches for at least 8 hours; drain
2. Melt butter in a 6-8 quart heavy pot over moderately low heat. Add onions, celery, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf, and cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes. Add ham hock, beans, stock, water, and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, adding more water if necessary to keep beans covered, until beans are very tender, about 3 hours.
3. Remove bay leaf, and cut meat from the ham hock into bite size pieces, then return to soup.

black beans, butter, onions, celery, flatleaf, thyme, turkish, ham hock, beef stock, water, dark rum, lemon juice, salt

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/black-bean-soup-with-rum-50147491 (may not work)