Heaven's Minaste

This is a favorite soup of mine and my family

you'll need a very large stock pot < I always make enough to freeze and to give to neighbors> sharing , what a wonderful thing(:

your base is chicken broth, I use college inn or the store brand get the low sodium kind,

4-64 oz cans of chicken broth

2- smoked ham hocks leave them whole or use the leftovers of a boiled smoked ham, cut into smaller pieces if you have some.

1 package of pork spareribs 8-10 ribs in the pack

1 stick of pepperoni, sliced

1 small pack of Italian pork sausage, I use hot and sweet

3 nice size carrots, sliced

3 nice stalks of celery sliced

1 large head of savoy cabbage

2 bunches of escarole, soaked and rinsed 3 times, this stuff tends to be very dirty, you'll want to get all the grit out.

1 tsp of whole black peppercorn

3 cans of cannolini beans, or white kidney beans or use fresh beans.

Pour chicken broth into stock pot on high heat add all the meats let it boil for a half hour, turn heat down to a medium flame and add carrots and celery and peppercorn let it cook for another half an hour, while it's cooking cut your savoy cabbage into 1/4's then cut the 1/4's into halves so you'll have smaller pieces and break the chunks apart so the cabbage can swim around in the soup, add to pot. then drain your escarole and cut leaves in half and add to pot. then add your beans. taste the soup if it seems too salty add small amounts of water 'til you reach your desired taste, the cabbage may seem a little hard but remember this is a big pot and will retain it's heat for a little while and this will further cook the cabbage, so don't continue to cook it until you have mush. you can add pasta but cook it separately and only add it to the soup you are using for that meal, I wouldn't suggest adding it to the main pot because it will over cook the pasta. add some fresh regiano parmegiano cheese and fresh ground black pepper on the top before serving. Mangia!

Don't forget to get some nice fresh Italian bread to enjoy with it

Let me know if you guys liked it.