Best Family Ham Bone Soup Recipe

This post is largely for my mom, who enjoys cooking, discovering great food, reading recipes and, like me, has no aversion to pork product. But I hope other ham lovers, soup lovers, cooks and aspiring cooks will also enjoy it.

Recently, I had a ham bone and related ham trimmings left over from a meal. I've learned to use all my dinner bones to make stock - a super-simple task which would have been particularly useful in my "starving" college student days. This time, I decided to go straight to soup with the bone. I also  made use of the broccoli stems no one really likes in any other form. Why waste them?

The end result - a happy family on a cold, rainy night. Served with a side of sourdough bread and butter.

Best Family Ham Bone Soup

1 ham hock/bone with trimmings on
1 qt. vegetable broth (for the sake of time savings)
1 onion, diced
1 T. olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 broccoli stems, diced
1 tsp. Suzie Q seasoning (or other favored seasoning mix)
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
3 healthy twists of the black pepper grinder

In the bottom of your stock pot, saute onion in olive oil until onions are translucent and beginning to brown (or well-browned for sweeter soup). Add garlic and saute another 2 minutes.

To the same pot (we're not big on piles of dishes around here), add the remaining ingredients. Bring nearly to a boil, then allow to simmer for an hour or more.

This soup, like most other homemade soups we've tried, is best after it's been allowed to simmer a good long while, then sit, refrigerated, overnight (or for a couple of days), before being heated for the actual meal. However, we enjoyed it on its first night out nearly as well.

Another note: our bone was quite sparse on meat. Meat lovers might consider leaving extra on the bone at carving time if you're planning to make a soup.

Enjoy!