But is all hope lost if you cannot locate a big ol’ meaty hambone? Absolutely not! You can get a small ham, save the hambones and their attached meat from your holiday dinners that featured a spiral-sliced ham, or buy a few ham steaks that have pieces of bone still in the center. There’s always more than one way to get ham off a hog (to paraphrase)!

Cabbage is one of those veggies that seems to fly under the radar of most people most of the time. You just don’t automatically think of it when it comes time to choose a veggie. It is good just eaten on its own, but it can really bring out the earthy goodness of soups.

 

INGREDIENTS

1 meaty hambone

12 cups water

1 celery stalk

1 whole carrot

½ onion

2 tsp. beef base

½ Tbsp. chili powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

1 small onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

½ cup shredded carrot

1 small head cabbage, cored and shredded

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Get out your largest stockpot. Put the hambone in the pot, together with the celery stalk, the whole carrot and the onion half. Now submerge the hambone in the water. If 12 cups don’t cover it, add more. Bring this mixture to a boil and keep it at a low boil for about 30 minutes, until the meat is falling off the bone. Remove the bone and the veggies from the ham stock you have made. Pull the meat off the bone in shreds and set the meat aside. Discard the bone and the veggies.

Stir the beef base (you can use bouillon if you cannot find this in your local market, but the flavor will not be as rich-tasting), chili powder, salt and pepper into the ham stock. Bring it to a simmer and add the onion, shredded carrot, bell pepper, cabbage and potatoes. Keep it simmering until the potatoes are cooked through and the cabbage is tender. Now stir the shredded ham back into the soup and let it heat through. Serve immediately.

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Quick Tip:  For those of you unfamiliar with beef base, it is bouillon in paste form, with a more intense flavor. It dissolves more easily than bouillon.

Recipe and image courtesy of Jodie at Two Lucky Spoons