Ham Bone Soup with Kidney Beans and Potatoes
The only thing wrong with having a ham bone with meat in your freezer is only having ONE ham bone with meat in your freezer.
I had forgotten that I left a couple of big chunks of ham in with the ham bone the last time I cooked a big smoked shoulder/picnic ham. BONUS!!
A ham bone is an invaluable flavour addition to many different soups. Besides the well know green/yellow split pea and cannellini or other white bean soups, there are combinations with potato and greens like leeks or kale. Today's soup is another pantry (freezer) clearance soup and let me clear out a container of red kidney beans and the ham bone, of course, from my freezer, as well as a can of diced tomatoes bought on sale some time ago and pushed to the back of the shelves.
The soup was very tasty and filling though I could have left out the extra diced ham and used it in another recipe. If not for the fact that I've been looking for an excuse to start keeping an eye out on picnic hams on sale at the grocery store, and that the bone/ham were in my freezer for some time, I would have done that and gotten 16-20 servings of soup from the contents of that package.
Ham Bone Soup with Kidney Beans and Potatoes - serves 8 to 10
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 cup (2 stalks) diced celery
1 cup (1 medium) diced carrot
1 cup corn kernels
3 cups chicken stock
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups cooked kidney beans with cooking liquid
3 cups (1x 796 ml can) diced tomatoes with juice**
1 ham bone and 2 cups diced ham
pinch dried thyme
2 cups (1 large) diced potatoes
water as needed
salt and pepper as needed
** The diced tomatoes had added salt so no additional salt was needed. There was also salt in the bouillon cube used as well as the ham.
Peel and dice potato and keep it covered in water until needed so it doesn't discolour.
In a large stock or soup pot, saute the onion and garlic in the vegetable oil until they start getting some colour.
Add carrots, celery and corn and saute for another minute or so and then add the chicken stock, bouillon cubes, kidney beans with liquid, diced tomatoes, ham bone and dried thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for one hour.
Remove the ham bone to a large platter and trim off any meat. Dice meat into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the stock pot. Discard the bone. Add the diced potatoes and the rest of the diced ham to the pot, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add additional water as needed to adjust the consistency of the soup. Add salt and pepper as needed.
Serve with some buttered crusty bread, toasted or not is your choice. With a nice salad, it's a filling lunch.
I had forgotten that I left a couple of big chunks of ham in with the ham bone the last time I cooked a big smoked shoulder/picnic ham. BONUS!!
A ham bone is an invaluable flavour addition to many different soups. Besides the well know green/yellow split pea and cannellini or other white bean soups, there are combinations with potato and greens like leeks or kale. Today's soup is another pantry (freezer) clearance soup and let me clear out a container of red kidney beans and the ham bone, of course, from my freezer, as well as a can of diced tomatoes bought on sale some time ago and pushed to the back of the shelves.
The soup was very tasty and filling though I could have left out the extra diced ham and used it in another recipe. If not for the fact that I've been looking for an excuse to start keeping an eye out on picnic hams on sale at the grocery store, and that the bone/ham were in my freezer for some time, I would have done that and gotten 16-20 servings of soup from the contents of that package.
Ham Bone Soup with Kidney Beans and Potatoes - serves 8 to 10
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 cup (2 stalks) diced celery
1 cup (1 medium) diced carrot
1 cup corn kernels
3 cups chicken stock
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups cooked kidney beans with cooking liquid
3 cups (1x 796 ml can) diced tomatoes with juice**
1 ham bone and 2 cups diced ham
pinch dried thyme
2 cups (1 large) diced potatoes
water as needed
salt and pepper as needed
** The diced tomatoes had added salt so no additional salt was needed. There was also salt in the bouillon cube used as well as the ham.
Peel and dice potato and keep it covered in water until needed so it doesn't discolour.
In a large stock or soup pot, saute the onion and garlic in the vegetable oil until they start getting some colour.
Add carrots, celery and corn and saute for another minute or so and then add the chicken stock, bouillon cubes, kidney beans with liquid, diced tomatoes, ham bone and dried thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for one hour.
Remove the ham bone to a large platter and trim off any meat. Dice meat into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the stock pot. Discard the bone. Add the diced potatoes and the rest of the diced ham to the pot, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add additional water as needed to adjust the consistency of the soup. Add salt and pepper as needed.
Serve with some buttered crusty bread, toasted or not is your choice. With a nice salad, it's a filling lunch.