Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Ham Hock and Cabbage Soup

With the weather cooling down, it's nice to warm your innards with some delicious fall soup.



6-8 small servings or 3-4 large servings

ingredients:
* 4 tablespoons bacon grease
* 1 nitrate-free ham hock (about 1 pound)
* 1/2 a large onion, chopped
* 3 celery stalks, chopped
* 1/2 a small-to-medium head of green cabbage, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
* 3-4 cups Chicken Broth
* 3-4 cups peeled and cubed pumpkin (or other winter squash)

Heat the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add the celery and onions and cook til they start to wilt. Add the ham hock.

Add the cabbage, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, salt, and cayenne. Stir and cook until cabbage is slightly wilted, 3-4 minutes.

Pour the broth in, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Add the pumpkin, cover, and simmer 1 hour.

Remove the ham hock from the pot and remove the meat from the bone. Shred the meat and stir it back into the soup. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

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This makes great leftovers and I think the taste even improves with age.

Goes well with a side salad for dinner.

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I adapted this recipe from Emeril Lagasse's Ham Hock and Cabbage Soup: http://www.emerils.com/recipe/2775/Ham-Hock-and-Cabbage-Soup

10 comments:

P Diddy said...

This looks like a great alternative to other recipes of Cabbage Soup. I think that by adding in the Ham it will greatly improve the taste of this soup.

Thanks for the post!!

EnchantedMusing said...

This looks like a great stew! We've made a version of it with smoked turkey and white potatoes, but i've never tried winter squash! sounds yummy!

Thanks for sharing.
pmking11 (via swapbot)

PaulaG said...

Any tips for storing bacon grease? I love cooking my eggs and stuff in it, but I'm not really sure about storing it.

TrailGrrl

Elizabeth said...

I usually pour my bacon grease into a glass jar or a used can that I've cleaned out and I just store it on the counter. If you don't think you'll use it up within a month though, you can store it in the fridge and it'll keep practically forever. Bacon grease is pretty stable, which is one of the things I like about it. :)

Lauren said...

I made this soup for lunch, and it was dee-licious, Elizabeth! Your pan roasted cauliflower was great, too. Keep up the great blogging!

Bryan - oz4caster said...

This looks *really* good! Can't wait to see what you're making for the holidays :)

Anonymous said...

Now, this looks tasty. I'm not usually a fan of cabbage soup, but this looks delicious thanks to the ham!

Anonymous said...

This recipe is outstanding. I am making it for the second time - never exactly as described, I admit, but pretty much - so it must be fool proof.

gapey said...

Loved the recipe. I just made it today. I made a few small modifications to it and posted my version along with some pics on my blog: http://gapey.blogspot.com/2011/11/ham-cabbage-and-squash-soup.html

Anonymous said...

Would using a fresh ham hock work? We just got a 1/2 hog and I forgot to ask them to smoke the hocks.