What do you usually do with leftover ham? Thinly slice the ham and turn it into a sandwich or perhaps with an Asian approach by making fried rice?
I know using ham for soup is one of the common approaches, but since I haven't written any recipes about it before, here's my take on (leftover) ham and potato soup.
Ham and potato soup -
Ingredients (for a big pot)?
- 3 1/2 cups cubed ham
- 1 medium small onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup peeled and diced carrot
- 3 cups peeled and diced potato
- 4 garlic clove
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 to 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- Some salt
- Some black pepper
How?
Use small or the most medium sized onion, peel and dice to small chunks. Peel and dice the carrot. Trim-off the stems and dice the celery. Peel and dice the potatoes. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Cube the ham.
Use a big pot or a Dutch oven, add in butter and turn to medium heat. Once melted, add in onion, celery, carrot along with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick stir and cook for few minutes, or till these veggies softened.
Add in chopped garlic and continue to cook for another minute or so.
Transfer cubed ham and potatoes over. Give it a quick mix and cook for couple more minutes.
Mix in flour, stir and cook till no more raw floury smell, about 2 minutes.
Pour in chicken stock, use 5 cups for a thicker texture, 6 cups the most. Give it a stir. Bring up the heat and keep it at a light bubbling stage. Continue to cook it till the potatoes reach desired texture. I like my potatoes on the softer side, meaning they can be easily smashed using the back of the spoon. To achieve that, it took me about 20 minutes.
Now switch the heat to keep the entire pot at a simmer. Pour in milk and cook till the consistency became slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Taste and see if the soup needs more salt, and adjust accordingly. I actually added 1 more teaspoon of salt later on. My advice is not to begin with too much salt, especially the ham can be quite salty towards the end. It's better to wait till the ham has been cooked in stock for some time, then you do the final seasoning adjustment.
Scoop the soup to serving bowls and add some more freshly ground black pepper on top.
If you can't finish all the soup at once and need to reheat it for future meals, note that the soup can turn thicker as time goes by. One way to do it is by adding some milk before heating up the soup. This will help to dilute the soup without sacrificing the creamy taste.
Other western soup recipes:
No comments:
Post a Comment