I made a ham a few nights back, and at the bottom of the pan were about 5 cups of ham-stock. I’ve also got the bone from the ham. I can’t stand the thought of wasting the stuff, but I’ve got a problem as to what to do with it: The two obvious solutions just won’t work for me.
I don’t like split-pea soup at all, and I’m fairly allergic to beans. Any beans. (and peanuts, but ham and peanuts don’t sound like a great combination anyway)
So…some non-pea, non-bean suggestions for ham-broth (which is too strong and salty to just use as broth)?
A leek and potato soup might benefit from a touch of ham broth as perhaps a cream of brocolli could too. Use the ham broth to thin mashed potatoes for fried mashed potato patties. Washed sauerkraut with sliced sausage and boiled potatoes would be well served by a splash of ham broth while it fries. Ham fried rice or a dirty rice with ham bits would work. Same with a red flannel ham hash. You could also moisten the following hash recipe with some as well:
Danish Hash Bixemad
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4-8 People Ingredients:
5-10 Peeled and boiled potatoes
1 Lb. of cooked ham
1-3 Yellow onions
1/2 Cube butter
1/4-1/2 Tsp ground black pepper
Salt to taste Preparation:
Warm a large skillet over low heat.
Chop the potatoes into small cubes.
Melt butter in the pan and add the potatoes.
Cut the onions into small dice and add to the pan.
Cube the ham and add after the onions have cooked.
Add salt to taste and continue to cook the mix.
Add extra butter if the pan dries out.
Hash is finished when potatoes are browned.
Top with poached or fried eggs.
Some grated Monterey Jack cheese is also good.
When I was a wee flodnak my mother used to make a soup/stew of ham stock, leftover bits of ham, potatoes, and green beans. Assuming your allergy includes green beans (they are “true” beans, aren’t they?), I would imagine just about any summery fresh vegetable would do nicely.
There was no recipe, she just put it all together and let it cook until the potatoes were done. I believe the beans went in towards the end of cooking time to prevent cooking them to mush. When you’re choosing how much of what to use, remember that the ham stock is fairly salty, and the potatoes will balance that. Don’t skimp on the taters!
Just remembered - a veggie soup with whatever you’ve got on hand cooked in ham stock is called “betasuppe” in Norway, an old classic. Use any recipe for vegetable soup and just use the ham stock in place of whatever liquid it calls for. And drop the salt!
Ingredients
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 rashers of streaky bacon, rind removed
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 leek, sliced
100g (4oz) white cabbage (shredded)
3 tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and chopped
1 litre (1 3/4 pint) ham stock
To serve
50 (2oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Method
Cook the celery, onion and bacon in the olive oil until beginning to brown. Add the carrot, garlic, leek, cabbage and tomatoes and continue frying for a further 4-5 minutes.
Add the ham stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
Serve in a large soup tureen and the Parmesan cheese separately.
Nutritional info:
Per serving
160 calories
11 g fat, incl. 3g saturates
3 g fibre
Zen. Thanks for the recipe (it sounds great), but regarding your subject…you should be ashamed of yourself. That was a truly horrendous pun.
Floodnak: I don’t think green beans are actually beans…in any case, I can eat 'em in limited amounts, so your recipe sounds good (and I can impress my friends by using the word
“betasuppe”!
Francesca: Thanks for the recipe. Sounds great! (Actually the Plantain and Sweet Potato one sounds even better: Apples, sweet potatos and ham…mmmmmmm…apples ‘n’ ham
