Ham Stock
As I’ve griped about before, the local markets in my new neighborhood are Muslim owned, which makes it difficult for me to purchase pork. I don’t feel right about purchasing pork from the corporate chains (if for no other reason than because it’s poorly cut) so for the most part, I’ve been abstaining for the last couple of months. The exception has been with ham. Every once in a while, Provigo will have picnic hams on sale for 99 cents a pound, which means I can pick through and find a ham suitable to feed us for a week for about eight dollars.
I like to boil the ham instead of bake them because it renders it significantly less salty and rewards me with a nice pot of ham stock to use as I please afterward. Ham stock is lovely commodity, reconstituting pretty much any humdrum dried starch into something delicious. Here are two simple recipes for use of said ham stock, one for black eyed peas and another for split peas.
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 red chili, seeded and minced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 cups ham stock
- 1 cup black eyed peas
- 8 ounces cooked ham, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch (4-5 ounces) spinach or collard greens, washed
- 2 tablespoons cooking cream
- salt and pepper
- Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, chili and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Add the bay leaf, black eyed peas and ham and cover with ham stock. Raise the heat to high to bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the beans are tender, about an hour to an hour and a half.
- Add the spinach and cook for several minutes, just a bit passed wilted. Remove from the heat and add the cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or (preferably) lard
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 cup yellow split peas
- 1 cup cooked ham, diced
- 6 cups ham stock
- salt and pepper
- Heat vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Add the split peas and ham and cover with ham stock. Raise the heat to high to bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the peas are tender and falling apart, about an hour.
- Stir the peas until they fall apart, mash or puree them to your desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.
The preference to use yellow split peas is purely aesthetic. There is a taste difference between the two, but I find the yellow more apealing. Ahem.
testing…yep it works. Both soups look yummy!