Pumpkin Hominy Soup – good for what ails you
I’m a leftover kind of guy; let me rephrase that, I like leftovers. Some days, my dinner plate resembles a puupuu platter of the week’s greatest kitchen hits. And on the very tip-top of my leftover food group pyramid (in addition to pie) resides soup, the pot of homemade goodness that ladles up its best flavors the next day.
My Australian butter squash was beginning to spoil down under.
This soup recipe was born out of my determination to use things on hand (and my aversion to leaving the house). The pumpkin, an Australian butter squash, was beginning to blemish, soften and go the way of the compost heap. It would have been a real tragedy to let it spoil, so I cut out the soft spots and put it to good use in this soup. The ham bone hailed from the fridge and a spiral cut (and recently devoured) ham, while the hominy and creamed corn called to me from the pantry, “Dude, do you ever check expiration dates?” So I did, and invited those aging canned champs to join the mix. The result, an exceptionally delicious soup, nice on texture, rich in flavor, and easy as it gets to make. From one ham bone to another, here’s the recipe:
Recipe: Ham-Bone Pumpkin Hominy Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ham bone/shank (too good to toss)
- small pumpkin (or acorn/delicata squash)
- 1 can of whole hominy
- 1 can of creamed corned
Preparation
- Place ham bone in stock pot
- Add pan drippings (optional)
- Cover bone with water or chicken stock
- Simmer until meat falls off bone, usually a couple hours
- Add 1 can of rinsed whole hominy kernels
- Add 1 can of creamed corned, stir
- De-seed and remove pumpkin skin
- Cut pumpkin in to bite size cubes, add to soup
- Simmer for about 20 minutes, lidded
- Remove lid and simmer for another ten minutes
Soup is on at my house, and while I like my leftovers and love this soup, I’ll freeze the remainder of the soup after day three on the menu. I do have my limits.
Slurp and sop it up , soup divine.
This is my kind of cooking and the usual way I make soup… ‘what can I use up?’!
I’m glad that pumpkin didn’t go to waste! That looks delicious.
Sometimes leftovers get a bad rap! But I have always looked forward to eating one more time
of something so yummy 😛
And some of the most delectable dishes come from what one has on hand to make up one savory meal!
Love your soup it looks so delish!
Tom, this sounds wonderful! I can’t bear to throw out good food…and I too will use whatever is left over in the fridge. Ham bones add such great flavor…by the way…what is canned whole hominy?
Oh, by the way Tom…just had to write another comment to your previous post…write anything..anything your sweet heart desires. Seriously, I would not care what you wrote a book about…you will have me on your door step a knocking..well, maybe banging, although I will try to keep it down for the puppies sake! (just kidding, well, kind of) But seriously…your words are heart warming, so it does not matter what your book is about, so long as you write. Please?..Pretty Please and Soon?
Ina, hominy, a staple of Southern and Latin cooking, is corn basically, but worked over ;-). I think you’ll love it for your gluten free dishes. Here’s a link with more info: http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry/?id=2966
Thanks for the info Tom. It is time I found me some grits! 🙂
Excellent! My philosophy as well; hate wasting and it is a challenge to make something good out of leftovers/great soup!
I never would have thought to mix homny with corn & pumpking & ham. You clever man, you!
Since ham bone’s coming up Christmas day (obviously meat & all), I’m book marking this pronto.
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
What a divine & comforting good for you soup to keep warm!
Thanks for introducing hominy to me!
Yum! My poor pumpkins got coated in kids paint for Halloween and left on the covered porch… Time to save them!! One is a curry coconut soup for dinner tonight- this ham variation is definitely going on the docket for one of the remaining specimens!
I love anything with creamed corn! Have never cooked with hominy.