Smoky Bean Stew

This a relatively simple dish to make. Here's what you'll need for about 4 servings:

3/4 to 1 lb of cottage ham or and ham slices, for that matter, cut into small chunks, and the ham needs to be smoked, not just cured, in order to give the proper taste to the stew, or you could use smoked bacon
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 medium potatoes, diced (peeled or for extra nutrition with the skin on, but thoroughly washed)
3/4 cup water
1 cup beef broth
1 15.5 oz. can cannellini beans (or you could use Great Northern beans or navy beans), well rinsed
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of ham soup base
3 tablespoons flour + 3 tablespoons butter (or oil) to make a roux, but I like stew extremely thickened, so you might want to only use 2 tablespoons of each

Put the water and carrots into a medium sauce pan, let cook over medium heat for just a couple of minutes and then add the potatoes. Once both the carrots and potatoes begin to soften, add the beef broth, then the ham. Bring to a simmer and add the ham soup base, stirring well. Let gently simmer for about 4 or 5 minutes, then add the beans and season to taste with pepper. Simmer a further couple of minutes to heat the beans. Check to be sure the potatoes and carrots are tender, and you are ready to serve. You will not need to add salt, as the beef broth and ham base will add the necessary salt, as will the beans to some extent, although they should be well rinsed.

WORD HISTORY: 
Ham-This word goes back to Indo European "konemo/kanema," which meant "shin, shinbone." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hamma/hammo," which meant "back of the knee, hollow area behind the knee." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hamm," with the same meaning, but also a further development of just "a part of the leg." Later the second "m" was dropped and the meaning altered more to be applied to part of the leg of an animal, most often of a swine. While the other Germanic languages once had forms of the word, many eventually replaced those words with forms related to English "shank," as their word for ham, although, "shank" is often used, at least in the U.S., for a type of ham. Dutch still has "ham," and some German dialect has "Hamme," and some Low German dialect has "hame," although it may now be little used.