I grew up in western Pennsylvania, just half a mile from Ohio. Pittsburgh was the nearest big city, albeit almost an hour and a half away. Thirty to forty years ago, when I was a kid, the region was a place of tradition, where ties to the old world never seemed very far away.

My family’s closest connection to Europe was Eastern Europe, like many in the area, which explains the abundance of pierogi around Pittsburgh. Even pierogi pizza is a thing now. Likewise, I had friends whose families strongly identified as Italian, and with the region having a large Amish population, one of my close friends came from a family that had left the Amish community. All of these groups held food traditions close, simple traditions that were very reminiscent of the old country.

Although I don’t know the origin, one dish my family made occasionally was ham and bean soup, usually after we had leftover ham bones. Looking back now, in a world of processed and fast food, there’s something magical about throwing raw ingredients into a pot of water and being rewarded with a deeply flavorful and comforting bowl of warmth.

Now, after decades of learning to cook and exploring lots of different cuisines and levels of complexity, returning to a simple dish that requires minimal effort but yields high levels of nostalgia and deliciousness feels great.

Here’s how I make it: I start by soaking beans overnight, more than I will need. After cooking the beans, I scoop most of them out of the bean broth and freeze them for another time. Then I toss in roughly chopped onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, and a ham bone. This time, I used a ham shank from the freezer section of Whole Foods. I boil everything until the vegetables are soft. Then I remove the bone, cut off the meat, and put the meat back into the soup along with chopped cabbage. I let it cook until the cabbage is soft. The only seasonings I use are salt and pepper.

It’s a dish that takes me back to my childhood, to a place steeped in tradition, to a time when I could still be around my grandparents and even great-grandparents, and to an era that felt a lot simpler than today.