Tonight I made a soup of my own making, borrowing snippets of other recipes as a base, then adding my own ingredients to come up with something new to us. This is a wonderful soup that is much different from the traditional lamb stew recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 lamb shank
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• Parmesan cheese heel (the hard end from a block of the cheese)
• Prosciutto end (or meaty bacon end) – you can ask the deli for the end piece
• 1 can chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt/pepper to taste
• 2 cups kale, chopped

Directions:

Place lamb shank (with bone), chicken stock and water in a large pot. Bundle the parsley, thyme, parmesan cheese heel, and prosciutto end in cheese cloth. Add it and garlic, onion. Bring to a low boil slowly….should take about an hour…you don’t want it to boil too fast/quickly, or broth will become cloudy. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 2 hours at a minimum (alternatively, you can cook this in a crock pot on low heat all day). Remove the cheese cloth bundle.

Toss cherry tomatoes with olive oil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the tomatoes on the paper, spread them out, and broil until slightly blistered.
Remove bone from pot and cut meat into bite-sized pieces (or, just allow it to pull apart with a fork). Stir in chickpeas, tomatoes and kale. Simmer until kale is wilted, but still bright green, about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.