Ham and Potato Soup

I hosted Christmas Eve for my family this year and bought about twice as much ham as we needed so we had lots (and lots!) of leftovers. While I love a good ol' ham sandwich as much as the next guy, I wanted to make a soup with some of the meat. I understand that ham and split pea is the "traditional" but I found a recipe online that people raved about and seemed much more up my alley: ham and potato soup. 


Since the ham was still on the bone, I made some ham stock with it (same method as the chicken stock) that I used as the base of the soup. And despite my concern, it was not pink, but rather a warm yellow colour! Whew!


The result was a thick and rich soup that I topped with cheddar cheese and green onion and enjoyed after an afternoon on an outdoor skating rink. Perfect.


Ham and Potato Soup
Serves 6-8
Printable Recipe


Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup diced cooked ham
• 4 cups stock (ham, chicken or vegetable)
• 5 tbsp butter, plus 1 tbsp
• 5 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• cheddar cheese and green onion for topping

Directions

• In a large stockpot, melt 1 tbsp butter and cook the onions for a few minutes, until translucent. Add potatoes, ham and stock and cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• In a separate saucepan, melt 5 tbsp butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about one minute. Slowly stir in milk, whisking constantly so lumps do not form. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, about 5 minutes.
• Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot and cook soup until heated through.
• Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with cheese and onion.

Recipe adapted from www.allrecipes.com