Slovak Ham & Vegetable Soup

Submitted by littleturtle

"Pennsylvania Slovak (Carpatho-Rusyn) recipe. Tasty and filling. Serve with rye bread. This soup tastes even better the next day."

 

• Ready In: 7hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 10-12

ingredients

• 1 (3 lb) smoked pork shoulder, washed (cottage ham)
• water
• 2 onions, finely chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 cup dried lima beans or (14 ounce) can lima beans
• 3⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 -5 sprigs parsley
• 1⁄4 cup barley
• 3 (20 ounce) packages frozen mixed vegetables (if you prefer you can use bags of individual vegetables, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrot)
• 1 small cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup

• Steranka

• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 4 teaspoons water

directions

1. Place ham in an 8 quart stock pot and add water to 1-inch below the top.
2. Add onions, beans (if using dry beans), pepper, and parsley.
3. Let simmer 5-6 hours.
4. To prepare steranka: mix together egg, flour, and water and knead until smooth (dough should be very stiff).
5. Pinch off bits of dough (about the size of a pea) onto a lightly floured board.
6. When all of the pieces have been pinched off, drop into boiling water slowly so that the water doesn't stop boiling.
7. Boil until all of the pieces come to the surface (3-5 minutes).
8. Rinse with cold water and drain.
9. Remove ham from the soup, and chip into bite sized pieces.
10. Discard fat and bones, and return meat to soup.
11. Add steranka and barley, and cook for 15 minutes.
12. Add all vegetables (if using canned beans add with the vegetables instead of with the onions and seasonings), and simmer for 45 minutes.
13. Add tomato soup, and simmer 15-20 minutes longer.

Reviews

[JavaBird]

Good tasting base soup, but not highly seasoned. If you like mild things, this will satisfy. Otherwise, you'll need to doctor it up to a savory/spicy level you like.

 

[Annacia]

Delicious is the best word for this soup. I made it for dinned and it supplied a full meal in a bowl. I loved the wee dumplings and as was suggested in the other review I made them in a separate pot and added them at the soup at serving. This is a comforting and nourishing soup that fills and warms you from the inside. The only change I made was to use mushroom soup in place of tomato as we don't care for canned tomato soup. The barley, beans and veggies with ham make this a meal in a bowl.

 

[Pastryismybiz]

This is a delicous soup. I had a ham bone with about 1# of meat and added 4 cans of unsalted chicken broth to a large pot instead of the water. I added the onions and fresh thyme,basil, rosemary and parsley. After 2 hours I removed the ham bone and ham, chopped the ham and added back to the pot. Bringing the pot to a medium boil I added about 8 cups of chopped fresh vegetables; celery, carrots, cabbage and the barley. I also added l can of corn and 1 can of butter beans and 2 cans tomatoe soup. I tasted before salting and added grated pepper. The little dumplings were boiled in a separate pot before adding to the soup. They are a worthwhile addition; the kids loved them. The recipe would be easier of course with frozen vegys but I had an afternoon to kill and I had fun. Highly recommend spoiling the family with this soup. Served with my homemade sourdough bread.