Chicken Ham Bone Dish - Very unique and universally approved Southern delicacy
 

If you've never had a ham bone dish, you're in for a treat. The centerpiece of the recipe is a whole ham bone, from a previously cooked ham with some meat still left on the bone. You might have to call around to find a place that sells one if you don't cook a ham yourself.

I can buy one for about $10 from a local deli that also sells meat. You can freeze it and it works just fine, but I usually just go buy one fresh when I'm ready to make this recipe.

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken cut up into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces (I like to use thighs only for this recipe- if so, get about 4-5 lbs of thighs)
Ham bone with leftover ham still on the bone
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz macaroni noodles
8 cups water (that's a half-gallon)

Brown the chicken in a pot, then push it to one side. Saute the onion in the middle of the pot for a few minutes.

Add the 8 cups of water, the ham bone with the ham, and seasoning. Simmer for one hour.

Remove the meat from the ham bone (it will pretty much just fall off). Cook the noodles in the liquid for about 20 minutes. Then add the meat back in the pot and serve.

It's one of those dishes that's even better the second day.

Be prepared to serve a bunch of really hungry people, or give about half of it away. It's enough to feed an army.

I usually give about half to very grateful neighbors and I feast on the other half for about a week.

Sounds really good. My wife made soup with a ham bone and 15 bean mix. It was great. I like the idea of using a chicken with it.

And that sounds good too.

I'll bet a split pea soup would also rock.