Leftover Holiday Ham and Barley Soup

Here’s a good recipe for using up that leftover holiday ham. The original – which I pretty much followed – can be found here.

Ingredients

10 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken stock base
1 ham bone with meat, plus extra ham, diced (or 3 pounds smoked ham hocks)
3/4 pound russet potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled, diced
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
1 celeriac/celery root bulb, diced, or 1 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup pearl barley, rinsed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup frozen green beans

Directions

Bring water and ham hocks to boil in large pot. Add chicken soup base and stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes. Add diced potatoes, tomatoes with juices, onion, carrots, celery root, barley, and oregano. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered until meat and barley are tender, about 1 hour.

Using tongs, remove ham hocks from soup. Cut meat off bones and chop coarsely. Return meat to soup; discard bones. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.) Add green beans; simmer until beans are tender, about 15 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.