Ham Bone Soup -- The Holloway Tradition Keeps on Giving

Christmas week. The countdown vibration is at its annual peak. I'm cooking Christmas Eve dinner — ham, as always, the Holloway tradition absorbed into the Holloway-Weber tradition, glazed with brown sugar and Dijon. Scalloped potatoes. Green beans from the canning. Rolls from Mom's recipe. Phyllis's Jello salad, made by Dale from her notes, the green Jello with cottage cheese that nobody eats and everybody includes because inclusion is the point, not consumption.

Mom is bringing the cinnamon roll dough for Christmas morning. The rolls are the constant. Administrations change, wars end, technology evolves, but Marlene Weber's cinnamon rolls arrive on Christmas morning in a cooler, already risen, ready for the oven, and they will be frosted with cream cheese glaze so thick it borders on structural engineering, and they will be eaten by everyone in the house before anyone opens a single present, because in the Weber-Holloway household, you eat before you unwrap. Fuel before festivity. That's the rule.

I made a beef tenderloin for a pre-Christmas dinner party with the neighbors — Dave and Karen, back from her sister's trip, plus another couple from the block. This is new for me — entertaining beyond family, cooking for people who didn't grow up eating my food. The tenderloin was rubbed with garlic, rosemary, and cracked pepper, seared on all sides, then roasted to a perfect medium-rare. Sliced thin, served with horseradish cream. Karen said, "You should cater." I said, "I'm a crop insurance adjuster." She said, "You should reconsider." I laughed. I'm not reconsidering. But the compliment landed in the part of me that knows the food is good — not restaurant good, not Instagram good, but real good, the kind of good that comes from thirty years of standing next to Marlene Weber and learning that food is not about technique, it's about paying attention.

Jack wrapped his presents in newspaper and labeled them with masking tape. Efficient. Unpretentious. Exactly like Roger. Kevin said, "He could use wrapping paper." I said, "He could also be exactly who he is." Kevin wrapped his presents in the garage. I wrapped mine in the kitchen. The tape was shared. The scissors were lost. Christmas approaches.

After the brown sugar and Dijon glaze has done its work and the Christmas Eve plates are cleared, I’m already thinking about what comes next — because the ham bone doesn’t go in the trash, it never has. It goes in the pot. This Ham Bone Soup is the quiet sequel to Christmas Eve dinner: nothing festive about it, nothing fancy, just the deep, smoky reward of a bone that still has something left to say. Marlene taught me you don’t waste what gave a meal its soul, and this soup is proof that she was right.

Ham Bone Soup

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 meaty ham bone (from a cooked ham)
• 2 cups diced leftover ham
• 8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 pound dried navy beans or great northern beans, soaked overnight and drained
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Build the broth. Place the ham bone in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the water or broth and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
2. Add the beans. Stir in the drained soaked beans. Reduce heat to a steady simmer, cover partially, and cook for 1 hour.
3. Add the vegetables. Stir in the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, potatoes, bay leaf, and thyme. Continue simmering, partially covered, for another 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, until the beans are completely tender and the broth is rich and slightly thickened.
4. Remove the bone. Carefully lift the ham bone out of the pot. Let it cool slightly, then pull off any remaining meat and return it to the soup. Discard the bone and bay leaf.
5. Add the ham and season. Stir in the diced leftover ham. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed — the ham bone will have added considerable salt, so season carefully.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread or rolls.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 24g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 9g | Sodium: 680mg