Ham and bean soup

We had a ham bone and a bunch of meat left over, and so I turned it into a ham and bean soup: I'd usually do a pea and ham soup with split peas, but LOML expressed a preference this time for a whole bunch of different beans: so that's what I did.
Fairly standard construction: saute some finely chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic on fairly high heat until it is beginning to caramelize: simmer the ham bone with the vegetables in water to cover, together with some herbs (thyme, bay leaf, whatever else you wish) and seasonings (crack some peppercorns in for good flavour).
Simmer for a good couple of hours to extract all the hamly goodness.
Remove the bone(s) from the pot, rinse and sort the beans (I used a commercial dried 15 bean mix) and add to the soup. Bring to a low boil and low boil/simmer for a couple of hours. (You can go the route of soaking the beans overnight, and it will improve some things, most notably the jet-propulsive aftereffects!) Keep an eye on it, and make sure that there is enough liquid in it, and stir it fairly frequently to make sure the beans don't stick (and then burn).

Serve with (my) freshly baked bread (or better yet, follow my recipes:-)
Yours, feeling souper,
N.