Minestrone Soup with ham bone and pig skin

A neapolitan friend of mine gave me this recipe some years ago. I liked it very much, so, in the winter, when outside the weather is very cold, I always make this very rich soup. Hoping you enjoy Cheers Pandora

Note: if you can't find "Caciocavallo" cheese; you can put "Provolone piccante" cheese.

Minestrone with ham bone and pig skin

Category: Soup Nb persons: 6

1 ham bone 300g pig skin - (ham skin) 250g salami (better hot) 3 sausages 300g pork ribs 100g pig fat 100 g caciocavallo cheese - seasoned 100 g parmigiano cheese - grated 1 big onion 1 big carrot 1 stalk celery 2 bay leaves 1 hot chili pepper salt 1-2 cup parsley - minced 1 cup basil 400 gr cauliflower - cut in tips (not too much small) 300 gr broccoletti 800 g chicory and escarole 450 g savoy cabbage

Early in the morning put the ham bone and the pig skin in the water for some hours (two, at least). Then put the pan over the fire and boil the skin and the bone for 15 minutes. Drain and put them in another big pan with: pork ribs, onion, carrot, celery,parsley, basil, bay leaves and about 5 litres of water (or more if the pan is big): cook for about 2 hour . Spent this time, drain pig skin and separate the bone from the meat: cut pig skin and ham in little cubes (about 1 1-2 cm) . Put the cubes in another large saucepan; filter the broth where they were cooked before. Cut salami, sausages, and pig fat in cubes and put them in the same saucepan, then cover with the broth (it must cover all the meat) and bring to boil. Let boil some minutes then turn off the fire e let it cool. When the soup is cold, you can throw away the fat that you can see on the surface. At this point wash the vegetables (cauliflower, broccoletti, escarole, etc) and cook it in a saucepan with few salted water. When they are withered, drain and cut in large pieces. Put 1 1-2 lt of filterd broth in a terracotta saucepan; add vegetables, hot chili pepper and cubes of caciocavallo cheese: cook for about 15-20 minutes (add salt if need). At the end: warm the meat in the broth where it rested , and add it to the vegetables : cook for other 10 minutes. When it is ready , put in dish and serve with grated parmigiano cheese over.

Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 290kcal Protein 21g (42%) Total Fat 19g (29%) Sat. 7g (33%) Chol. 65mg (22%) Carb. 10g (3%) Fiber 3g (13%) Sugars 3g Calcium 57mg (6%) Iron 2mg (11%)

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