I hope you all had a wonderful new year celebration this past weekend! We went to a friend's party but left at about 11pm, came home, watched the ball drop and then hit the sack. I know we are totally lame.
I thought I'd start off the new year with a special recipe from a friend. That friend is Calvin. He's the one in the green shirt, obvs, and he's there with his lovely wife, Kim. This photo was taken when we went on a fun couples trip with them to Maui last fall (Kim is also the one who showed me how to make the
fabric decor balls!).
Anyway, we went over to Kim & Cal's house last year on New Year's day and he fed us the most delectable soup we had ever tasted. DELECTABLE I say!
Ever since then, my husband has been begging me to get the recipe from Cal so we could have it at home. But here was the "recipe" when I asked him... "so, yeah, it's super easy... you just put your leftover ham in a couple of inches of water, add whatever you've got in your fridge, put in whatever spices you like and boil it for a few hours. Then put it in your fridge overnight, take it out the next day, add some potatoes and that's it!"
Um, wha?
I don't know about you but I need an
ACTUAL RECIPE to make things. So, this year, after more begging, I convinced Cal to TRY and write up an actual recipe that I (and you) could follow. It did NOT disappoint! It does take 2 days (not straight, mind you) but it's super easy.
It's the perfect thing to get rid of that leftover ham you had at Christmas but can't stand to eat plain one more time.
Here is the recipe, as written by Cal.... enjoy!
Cal’s World-Famous Hambone Soup
Ingredients:
- Leftover
(usually from Easter or Christmas) “honey-glazed” smoked, spiral-cut style
hambone with generous amount of ham remaining including (and very
importantly) the sugary juice and any bits of honey glaze. I have always
used HoneyBaked or Costco. The “honey-glazed” style is crucial. If you
don’t have that style, add sugar to a regular ham (about 2/3 C. brown sugar).
- Canned
corn to taste (usually one can)
- Canned
green beans to taste (usually one can)
- Canned
peas to taste (usually one can)
- Canned
diced tomatoes to taste (usually two large or three regular-sized cans)
- Canned
diced green chilies to taste (usually two small cans)
- Fresh
petit or regular carrots to taste (usually 15-20 or so medium sized petit
carrots or 2-3 medium sized regular carrots chopped up)
- Fresh
diced potatoes to taste (usually 2-3 large)
- One
bag of cut frozen okra (not breaded)
- Spices
- Oregano
to taste (I like a lot)
- Seasoned
Salt and pepper to taste
- Sage
to taste
Directions:
1) In
an 8-12 quart stockpot (you will need the lid as well) put the hambone and all
the juice and glazed bits and add about two inches of water to the pot.
2) Add
the diced tomatoes with juice, drained corn, green chilies with juice, drained green
beans, drained peas, carrots and spices.
3) Heat
on low until the above is boiling. Add water as necessary to make sure it is
not too dry. Cut up the ham into bite-sized pieces.
4) After
a few hours of boiling, add the cut frozen okra.
5) Allow
the above to cook for a few hours.
6) Cool
and allow to sit in a refrigerator over night (this is a very important step).
7) The
next day, remove from refrigerator and sit on stovetop for an hour or so to
warm up.
8) Turn
on low heat and allow to come
to a rolling boil, making sure there is enough liquid so that the soup can come
to a rolling boil. If you turn the heat too high, it will scorch the soup on
the bottom and ruin the whole pot.
9) Add
the diced potatoes to the boiling soup about two hours before serving.
10) Remove hambone
(all the meat should have fallen off the bone) so you don’t freak people out
and serve.
Some people like to spice the soup up with Cholula or
Tabasco sauce. Enjoy with homemade rolls or fresh French bread. If you like the
soup, tell me at birddogcal@hotmail.com.
If you don’t, sorry.
Calvin
That last line kills me. And he really does want emails, by the way. :)
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