As usual, my latest cooking adventure began when my wife sent me this photo: it’s ham hock and white bean soup, and she thought it looked good.

“Cacio e Pepe” is a classic, simple Roman pasta dish whose name literally translates to “cheese and pepper“. It is made with just a few core ingredients: pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper…the recipe I found switched out the pasta for white beans – but makes sure the parmesan rind remains an important part of the dish!

That’s all I needed to give it a go!

There’s a look at the ingredients for the dish:

1 yellow onion

2 large celery stalks, diced

12 baby carrots, diced

10 garlic cloves, diced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 ham hock

6 oz. pancetta

4 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese + the rind!

4 thyme sprigs or dried thyme

8 cups chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper, plus more for serving

1 -1/2 cups dried white beans (such as Great Northern beans or cannellini beans), soaked – or use a can of beans like I did!

Dice the onion, celery stalks and carrots. Smash 6 garlic cloves. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium. Add chopped vegetables and smashed garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes.

Make sure to add lots of pepper as well.

Here’s how easy it is:

Next up, I cooked the pancetta in olive oil, then added the ham hock and moved it around to get color on it:

Now, bring the two elements together: add the pancetta and ham hock to the vegetables, and then add a large hunk of parmesan rind!

Pour in the chicken stock, season again to make sure the pepper stands out, and reduce heat to low; simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally (to prevent cheese rind from sticking to bottom of pot) for about a half-hour.

I used a knife to cut a bit of the meat from the ham hock, then removed it from the soup, dished it up and shaved more parmesan over the top!

Here’s how it all came together:

The best part is always when you shave more parmesan over the soup and set it down on the table!

Crusty bread is a perfect side dish: the soup is rich with flavor, thanks not only to the pancetta and ham, but the parmesan rind, which really amps up the flavor!

It’s a nutricious and healthy dish – I mean, there is very little actual ham meat in the soup: it’s mostly white beans and vegetables, and the pancetta is so finely diced it’s also not much meat…I loved it and more importantly, so did Alex!

As a big proponent of “Wet food”, soup is one of my favorite dishes to make, like this one from Tuscany:

This “Tuscan Kale Butter Bean” soup is delicious and fun to make as well – click here for the recipe!

I love soups that look appealing when plated, like this one:

I have fallen in love with fresh peas, using them in cauliflower rice and this soup, which was bright, fresh and healthy! Click on the story for the recipe:

Soups are one of my favorite things to make – and since I love seafood of all kinds as well, I made this:

This Squid/Calamari Stew is also easy and delicious – see the recipe and step-by-step directions here:

If you want something even more substantial, but still healthy, what about some chili?

This Turkey Chili recipe is packed with flavor but not calories – see it here:

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