SOUP NUMBER FIVE:  Ham and Cheddar Soup

This soup started from leftover ham.  Since I have been making so many things into soup – this of course was a natural assumption when that beautiful ham first arrived at our house.  Most people would chose to make pea soup with leftover ham and a ham bone — and I could have also done that, but it’s not a favorite in our house and this one looked so much more appealing.

This recipe originated at Taste of Home Site (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheddar-Ham-Soup) – and has been minimally modified (no peas, for example).

This soup is a little different in preparation from the others I have made and posted about, but I chose it to use because it still looked fast and easy and of course it used up that all important ingredient – the leftover ham.

So I started with chopping, dicing and slicing so I’d be ready to add these ingredients once the roux was ready.  Yes, I said roux and yes, this is the first time that I posted a soup using one.  I have tried to avoid using flour and butter as a thickening agent (using instead mostly olive oil for the butter, and using potatoes to thicken my soups – but sometimes you need a change). 

This soup has potatoes, but we aren’t going to cook this soup long enough to use the potatoes for the thickening, nor are we going to use the blender in any way. This soup is meant to be creamy and chunky!

2 1/2 cups or so of peeled and diced red potatoes (used these because I happen to have them on hand)
2 cups water
1/2 cup or so sliced carrot
1/4 cup or so chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
salt
pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups cooked cubed ham

 

As you can see, in my ingredients picture above, I don’t always use exact measurements when making soup – for one thing, the soup is forgiving, and for the other, there is no way I am going to not add the entire potato (for example) once I have peeled and diced it.

Note: I always place my potatoes in water after I’ve peeled and diced them – my mother always said it would help them from darkening in color – and who I am to question her wisdom.

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine potatoes, water, carrot and onion. Bring to boil then reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender.

While that is cooking:

2. In another saucepan (large enough to hold the entire batch of soup) – Make the roux.  Roux is simply butter and flour that will be used as the thickening agent in this soup.  It’s not difficult…. basically you …  melt the butter and then stir in the flour until smooth.

3. Once your roux looks smooth – gradually add in the milk, salt and pepper – bring to a boil and let that boil for about two minutes or until thickened.

4. Stir in the cheese until melted. Stir in undrained potato mixture.  Then add the ham… and heat it throughly. 

It’ll look something like this, and I can say without a doubt – it was delicious.

SOUP NUMBER FOUR ~ Tuscany Soup – Version 2

These two recipes (Soups number 3 & 4)  are my own variations for a Tuscany Style Soup.  This version used ingredients I had on hand and I almost didn’t get any to even taste!  This was definitely the favorite of the two versions I have made so far!

And as a reminder, most of my soups are “fashioned” to use up ingredients that I happen to have on hand.  I do sometimes have to buy something to make a specific soup but my overall goal in making these soups is to “use up” what might be sitting on my shelf or in my refrigerator. To that end, you should feel free to substitute some items and make your own variations.  I am currently making these soups for either dinner with my homemade breads or as a carry to the office lunch (or both).  I feel good about these meals because they are made with fresh ingredients.

 **This picture is from my phone, and so sorry it’s blurry!**

Ingredients:

4 Slices of Bacon, cut into small pieces –  again  I used a kitchen scissor to cut the bacon

1 lb. Hot Breakfast Sausage

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon each of Oregano, Basil and Parsley

1 large yellow onion, diced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

4 cups of chicken broth or stock

3 cups of Russet Potatoes Cubed

salt, pepper to taste

1 cup of heavy cream

Parmesan cheese, grated for garnish

 

**Changes in the ingredients from Tuscany Soup – Version 1 are in red.

 

 The overall method to making this variation of Tuscany Soup is the same.  In a large soup pot cook bacon until crispy, then add the sausage and break it apart as it cooks.  Once the sausage is browned and crumbled, drain off the majority of the grease, leaving just a little (tablespoon or two) to use to saute the onion.  I added the oregano, basil and parsley at this point because the breakfast sausage wasn’t “Italian” smelling at all.  It smelled like breakfast sausage and that was not what I had in mind for this soup.  You may adjust these spices to your own taste.  I added these slowly (stirring the meat mixture after each addition) till I went from a breakfast sausage smell to an Italian smell.  Then just like in version 1, I pushed the sausage/bacon mixture again to the edges of the pot and left a space in the center to add and saute the onion until it is translucent.  Next I added the garlic and sauteed it till fragrant. 

 Once you are done with that you will want to add the broth and potatoes and season with some salt and pepper (about 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 of pepper – you can always add more later).  Simmer till your potatoes are done, or longer.  I let this mixture simmer about an hour, because I was waiting for my dinner guests to arrive – and when it was apparent that they might not arrive soon, I finished up the soup  by adding the heavy cream, and slowly stirring it in.  Bring the entire mixture again to a simmer after adding the cream and simmering it again for another 10-25 minutes to mix the flavors. 

Again my company hadn’t arrived, so I did let it cool down and refrigerated it.  I reheated it for my guests – and since I was making alfredo sauce and someone else was serving the soup for me, I almost didn’t even get to taste it!  They did however think about me (yeah!) and saved me a bowl.  It was delicious.  There is no “ready to serve picture” because I was just so happy everyone had arrived and we were finally eating  that I didn’t even come close to remembering to take a picture!

This soup was gone in 30 seconds, but everyone  (aka my dinner guests) voted this one a keeper.  It was spicy but not as overwhelmingly as it was when using the ground hot Italian sausage (Version 1) and it was “thicker” because  I used less potatoes and the potatoes cooked down more than in the first one.  It also was simmered so much longer,  that it actually thickened the soup.  I have to almost thank my guests for being late – as this soup is now a family keeper!

This version also happens to be less expensive to prepare.  The roll of hot breakfast sausage was $2.50 less than the package of ground hot Italian sausage.  It also was, believe it or not, less oily and fatty.   The other plus was that the breakfast sausage didn’t add that “red” color to the soup. 

So if you decide to actually make this soup, try version 2 first! 

UPDATE: I have since made this soup two additional times by request and both times it was a hit!

SOUP NUMBER THREE ~  Tuscany Soup – Version 1

These recipes are my own variation of a recipe that I have seen for a Tuscany Style Soup.  So far I have made this soup twice (and will post both versions) and each time I adjusted ingredients and things based on what I had on hand.  Both times it was well received by my family, but each soup was different in flavor, and texture and I’ll share their comments.

Ingredients:

4 Slices of Bacon, cut into small pieces –  I used a kitchen scissor to cut the bacon, and I cut all 4 slices at one time — and for me that was much easier than trying to dice it with a knife.

1 lb. of hot Italian Sausage – I used the ground package for this soup

1 large yellow onion, diced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

6 cups of chicken broth or stock

4 cups of Russet Potatoes Cubed

salt, pepper to taste

1 cup of heavy cream

Parmesan cheese, grated for garnish

 

In a large soup pot cook bacon until crispy, then add the sausage and break it apart as it cooks.  Once the sausage is browned and crumbled, drain off the majority of the grease, leaving just a little (tablespoon or two) to use to saute the onion.  Push the sausage/bacon mixture to the edges of the pot and leave a space in the center to add and saute the onion until it is translucent – then add the garlic and saute it till fragrant.  This does make a wonderful smell and everyone in the family came to see what I was making.

Once you are done with that you will want to add the broth and potatoes and season with some salt and pepper (about 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 of pepper – you can always add more later).  Simmer till your potatoes are done, this will take about 20 -40 minutes depending on the size of your diced potatoes.

When the potatoes are done, you can add the heavy cream – I added mine slowly and while stirring.  Bring the entire mixture to a simmer and simmer for another 10-20 minutes to mix the flavors.  Serve with a grated parmesan garnish.

Comments:  This soup was much more spicy and liquid than the Version 2 will be.  As such it was a totally different taste/texture experience than Version 2.  Hubby liked this one more because of the spicy-ness, one of my sons said this version was a thinner soup (than version 2) with sausage and potatoes although he did like the flavor.

SOUP NUMBER TWO – Creamy Stuffed Baked Potato and Leek Soup. 

This soup was so very different from what I expected.  And as usual, I varied from the recipes that I read online. 

6-8 small to medium baked potatoes
1 Tbs of butter
3 medium leeks
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken broth
kosher salt (it was already on my potato skins)
pepper to taste
6 slices of thick bacon (eventually diced)
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheese

 

I baked my potatoes earlier in the week.  I actually planned on trying this soup – and I especially wanted to see how different this recipe was from the creamy potato soup of the week before.

So I started my prep with making sure I had all my ingredients ready. I peeled and cubed the potatoes, I diced up about 1/3 of the potato skins (discarding the rest to the compost pile),  I washed and cleaned my leeks – and sliced them up.  I prepared my garlic slices and then got started.

First, I put my 1tbs of butter into my pan, melted it and then added my 6 slices of thick bacon (doesn’t that look good middle picture below – smelled good too).

Once that was done, I took the bacon out onto a paper towel lined plate  and added in the garlic, onions to the bacon drippings ~  and re-washed leeks.  I used all three of the leeks that I purchased. They were organic and I had to wash – slice and then rewash,  but I used them all because the other recipes I had read said people couldn’t taste them in the soup and I definitely wanted the onion like flavor of the leeks in the soup. 

Add and cook your sliced leeks with the onions and garlic until the leeks are soft  – about 10 minutes, then add the chicken broth and cook for about 20 minutes longer to really get the leeks very tender.
Next you’ll add the potatoes and chopped skins – I simmered this for about 10 more minutes – while I thought of how I would “cream” my potatoes.  

I finally decided on two almost even batches in my kitchen aid mixer – as I could not find my blender (which is the usual way I would do this).  Once I got them to the consistency I wanted, I returned them to the pot.  You can chose your own consistency here — but the thickness does depend on the starch from the potatoes, so you will want to break some down to get the soup thickness you desire, as well as a creamy texture.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and then stir into pot with about 1/2 the cheese.  I didn’t have cheddar cheese that I could actually use (it turned out to be moldy), so I used  a 4 cheese blend.  I have read of people using all sorts of odds and ends of cheese in this soup and I don’t think it can hurt it.  My soup would have had a stronger cheese flavor with the cheddar, but it also might have lessened the flavor of the leeks.  You taste buds must be your guide when choosing.

I cooked mine down  (about 30-40 minutes on simmer, stirring regularly), and then stirring in the remainder of the cheese right before I served it.  I will say it retained the leek flavor and was definitely not as creamy as it could have been had I used the blender, or if I added cream cheese instead of the sour cream.  But it was good, hot and hearty and we definitely enjoyed it with the poppy seed homemade bread that I made earlier in the day.  I think though if I had to choose, I’d go with the easier and faster creamy potato next time.  Much less work and definitely richer tasting.

Don’t forget to garnish with those bacon bits — and extra cheese  ~ and if you like it ~  some sour cream!