You'll love this brothy, smoky, richly satisfying homemade soup. It's made with a leftover ham bone (or ham hock) and everyday ingredients like canned chick peas, pasta and greens for a big pot of ham bone soup to feed the whole family.
2cupsdiced hamplus whatever else you can pull off of the bone after simmering.
2teaspoonsolive oil
1medium oniondiced
3stalks celerydiced
3medium carrotspeeled and chopped
2tablespoonstomato paste
1 ½teaspoonsdried oregano
¼teaspooncrushed red pepper flakes
1bay leaf
8cups chicken stock preferably low sodium
15ouncescanned chick peas with their liquid
½headescarole lettucechopped, about 4 cups
½cuppastina or other mini pasta
Instructions
heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion, celery and carrots. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften and the onion and celery become slightly translucent.
Stir in the tomato paste to coat the vegetables well and add a little color (Maillard reaction) to the paste, 2-3 minutes.
Add the oregano, and red pepper flakes and stir well to combine.
Stir in the chicken stock garbanzo beans with their liquid and the bay leaf. Place the ham bone in the dutch oven, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and place the lid slightly askew to allow steam to escape. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Use a pair of tongs to remove the ham bone and transfer to a rimmed sheet pan to cool.
Stir in the diced ham and pastina pasta to the soup and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add the escarole and cook for 2-3 minutes to wilt the vegetable.
When the ham bone is cool enough to touch, remove any excess meat and add it to the pot of soup.
Taste for seasonings and adjust as necessary with salt and pepper. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.