In 2019 I was on tour in Paris with a swedish pop artist. We played the L’Olympia theater and that evening for dinner the local catering chef made a stew that I believe we all went back for seconds of (and some of us went back for thirds…).

I asked the chef for the recipe and since then it’s been my favorite dish to make, especially after Christmas presuming you made a holiday ham for Christmas dinner (and perhaps even still have the carcass).

Like all stews, the proportions and the “how much of’s” is completely up to you and your own personal preference. When I make this soup, I make about 5 quarts worth which can feed about 5 people (because they’ll all be wanting seconds). Feel free to adjust as needed.

What you will need:

• large soup pot, 8-12 qts

• 6-7 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1-2 shallots, minced

• 1 large white onion, diced

• ham steak or leftover ham roast cut up into pieces

• 3-4 large carrots, peeled and chopped

• a bundle of fingerling potatoes (cubed and then washed)

• 1 bottle of dry Prosecco (don’t go for the good stuff, Andre is fine)

• 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced without stems

• 4 cups of water

• 2 cans of pinto chili beans*

• salt to taste (shouldn’t need much)

• half stick of butter (salted or unsalted)

• If you want to make your own chili beans you will need:

  • 2 cups of pinto beans, cooked fully (can do more if you please; this should be done some time in advance)

  • paprika

  • onion powder

  • garlic powder

  • 1-2 scoops of tomato paste

  • a dash of chili powder (go light on this or just leave it out, it’s not meant to be a spicy dish)

Cooking Instructions (all in with chopping it should take 1hr-1.5hrs:

1. Chop all of your ingredients that need chopping — start with the GARLIC, SHALLOTS, ROSEMARY, HAM.

2. Throw those four ingredients into the soup pot with 1/4 of a stick of BUTTER (save the other 1/4 for later).

3. Cover and stir occasionally while you chop the CARROTS, POTATOS, ONION. In between, add in the rest of the BUTTER.

4. Throw those four ingredients in and add the whole bottle of PROSECCO. Cover and stir occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.

5. Add in the four cups of water and let simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender.

6. If you’re making your own chili beans, add in the TOMATO PASTE and SPICES now and save the beans for the end. Otherwise add in the CHILI BEANS.

7. Simmer until your heart’s content and salt to taste. The soup only gets better in the days after if you’ve got any leftovers.

Enjoy!