ham and potato soup in a jiffy

[bayou girl]

ok, maybe it should be jiffy's ham and potato soup... it's easy but not always quick.  depends on how small you cut your potatoes.  Makes 3 good sized servings  (2 man sized and one for me).  for a full sized pot of soup, i double everything but the butter. that makes 6 servings but not much more. and when i'm feeling health conscious or am low on groceries, i only use half a stick.

1 stick real butter.  you can sub whatever grease/oil you want, but i use salted butter.

1 onion, chopped fine/minced (if using onion flakes, put them in the microwave in some water first)  if you really like onions, or have someone like scott who steals the onions out of the pot as they brown, use a very big one.  if you don't like them so much, use a small one or half a large one.  if you don't have anything but onion powder, sprinkle the onion powder on the ham as you cook it.

1 ham steak or however much sliced ham you want, cut into cubes/chunks (think bite sized or smaller)

4-5 potatoes peeled and diced

enough milk/half and half to cover it all.  sometimes i add a little water.

cook the onions in the butter on medium heat until good and brown.  add the ham and cook some more.  add the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are hot but not done.  add the milk/half and half.  simmer, stirring regularly until the potatoes are done.  serve with bread.  some people serve it with cheese on top.  depends on my mood.

now, here's my notes on timing.

i put the butter on to melt/heat up while i dice the onion.  it doesn't take much time to do the onion as i have one of those "bopper chopper" things that you just whack a few times.  then, i cook the onions as long as i am dicing the ham.  sometimes a few extra minutes if they are not quite brown.  then, i cook the ham and onions as long as it takes me to peel and dice the potatoes.  but, i add the potatoes one at the time as they get diced.  this gives them a slightly roasted flavor and some of them are  more done than others when i add the milk.  i simmer the milk in it all until i can pull 3 or 4 random potato pieces out and they are all done.  then i turn it off completely to dish up.

you can also substitute 3-4 pieces of bacon (or more) for the ham.  if you do, skip the butter and fry the bacon and onions together.  drain about half (or a little more) of the bacon grease off before you add the potatoes.


if you have leftovers to heat, microwave on half power about 3 minutes, stir and microwave again the same way.

i like this recipe because it means that i am not eating potato soup leftovers for a week.  and the boys like it enough to be wiling to eat it twice in a row if need be.

[bayou girl]

ok, here's how i work it when i have ham bone and not so much meat.

i boil the bone until the meat falls off of it, then i lift it out of the pot and add a chopped/minced onion and let it simmer while i finish picking the meat off the bone.   i let it simmer uncovered to cook down the fluid.  then i peel and dice my potatoes, adding the to the pot as i go, stirring with each addition, and sometimes in between if scott walks by.  i add potatoes until the ham broth is totally full of potatoes, usually about half a pot.  i simmer a few minutes, maybe 5 or 10? then when the potatoes are almost done, i add milk or half and half, or both.   i cover it and turn it on warm until we are ready to eat.  this i almost always serve with cheese to add the extra protein because it doesn't have as much meat in it.  my menfolk.

[Tina]

I pretty much call this chowder. And if I add corn it is corn chowder and if clams then clam chowder, etc. I also never peel potatoes any more. That sometimes leaves you with little tater skins floating in there but I like those too. And my hands will no longer peel. I also use my chopper a lot.
Even for mostly just me eating this I can rarely ever make so little. And I would not mind eating it for a week.
This is a good basic. And I love the real butter.

[Dianna]

Thank you, Jennifer. That sounds good...

[Triss]

Does look good and that is generally how I do mine but I add flour to the butter so it will be a thicker soup and add a couple of handfulls of cheddar to melt into the thickened soup.

[bayou girl]

i put the cheese in as i serve it because it tends to scorch on me if i put it in sooner.

[Penny]

Love it!

[duh]

Absolutely love it.  Nothing better than potato and ham soup.