Ham Soup

Well during the weekend I made good use of some left over roasted ham. I turned it into a delicious comforting soup. My family and I were all under the weather. It came out great despite the electricity going off and on. Its been raining like crazy here in Texas. Anyway here is the recipe for my tasty soup :

2 pounds left over ham on bone or fresh
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
4 large carrots, washed and roughly cut
1 large potato, chopped into even pieces
3 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup sofrito**
2 Tbsps. Olive Oil
1 1/2- 2 cups of fresh cilantro
1 4oz. can tomato sauce
Spaghetti noodles (to your liking)
2 packets of Goya Ham Flavored concentrate*
2 packets Goya Sazón*
Goya Adobo to taste*
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups of cold water

Directions:

1. Carve the ham off the bone and chop into even pieces, set aside. (Don't throw away the bone!)

2. In a large pot heat 1 Tbsp. of olive oil on medium heat. Add the garlic, onions, cilantro, and carrots and turn up the heat to med high and saute for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.

3. Add the other Tbsp. of olive oil to the pot and add the ham, saute for 3 minutes. Then add the sofrito, tomato sauce, and Goya packets, turn heat down to medium.

4. Add the garlic, onions, cilantro, and carrots back to the pot. Add the ham bone as well. Then add water to pot and adobo, salt and pepper to taste. (NOTE: Do not add too much salt, the ham and Goya products contain salt as well.)

5. Turn heat up to high. Once it starts to boil, reduce heat to medium and cover, let simmer for 1 hour.

6. Once the soup has been simmering for one hour add the potatoes and simmer for 45 minutes longer.

6. When the potatoes are done, add the noodles and turn up heat to med high and cook for 10-13 minutes longer.

7. When soup is finished discard bone and ladle into bowls. Serve with fresh french bread. Enjoy!




* The Goya packets and Adobo can be found in the Spanish isle at your Grocers Market.

** Sofrito

It is a staple in Puerto Rican cooking and the base for nearly all the food. Here is my recipe:

1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 cup green pimento stuffed olives

What I do is stick everything into the food processor until smooth. Others prefer the texture of the chopped sofrito. It has a pungent smell so keep it in a tightly sealed container. I prefer glass because it the smell will permeate and stay with plastic. It keeps in the fridge for a good while.