Ham & Potato Soup

Gluten Free Ham & Potato Soup
ok, and regular gluten soup, too

In our house, we love this soup so much! It’s varied over the years only slightly.  It originally came from a New London, CT family we knew when we were stationed there.  But the roux portion of the dish was all messed up, adding the flour straight to the hot liquid, and expecting this to thicken up correctly.  By the way, a roux is an equal mixture of flour (wheat flour) to fat ratio, usually butter in French cooking, adding before the liquid as seen in this recipe, with the exception of this being a gluten free recipe, so I substituted rice flour for all purpose (wheat) flour.  But you could follow this recipe exactly if you don’t mind gluten, and adjust as mentioned in ingredients list.

Ingredients:

2 lbs red new potatoes, bite sized cubes, about 1/2 inch on all sides (don't take too much time to make them perfect, just enough so they're close in size, and can fit in yo' mouth good)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

6 Tbsp butter

9 Tbsp white rice flour *For gluten lovers ;) use 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour

4 cups potato reserved potato liquid

4 cups low-fat milk

1 Smoked Ham Steak, at least 2 lbs, cubed into bite size

1 bay leaf                

½ tsp dried ground thyme

¼ tsp dried ground sage

Salt & Pepper to taste

Hot sauce, optional

Shredded cheese, suggested

Directions:

1)      Mise en place all ingredients (chop & measure all before-hand), which includes potatoes, placing them in a bowl full of cold water while cutting, this will stop them from turning grey (an oxidation process, not to pretty); onion, garlic, ham, etc.

2)      In a large 6 quart sauce pot or Dutch oven, place diced potatoes with just enough cold water to coat potatoes.  Bring them to a boil, then turn the temperature to where they still simmer, approximately medium to medium high.  anyCook til just tender, not waiting for full doneness since they will continue to cook in the soup.  This should only take 6 minutes from the time you turn down the temperature.  Check one to see if a paring knife just barely's able to pierce a piece of potato; there should be a slight resistance to the knife still.  It is important not to over cook them, so if you're worried just pull them off earlier rather than later.  They can always cook more, in the subsequent steps.

3)   Place a colander inside a large bowl, and carefully strain the par-cooked potatoes while collecting the potato water, setting aside for a later step.
4)   Place pot back onto burner and turn back to medium-low heat, then add the oil and heat for around 30 seconds.  This will give the oil and the pan a moment to reach the proper temperature.
5)   Add the onions and sprinkle with the salt (the salt is important at this point becuase it helps draw away moisture from the onion, which will help it cook more quickly without boiling in its own liquid).  
6)   Sweat (is to cook at a lower temperature than a saute so as to prevent browning from taking place) the onions for a minimum of 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent the onions from browning.  If at any point the onions become slightly brown, this won't kill anyone ;) but will add a slight tint to the final product.
7)   Add garlic, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds.  Don't burn the garlic, it will taste very bitter.

Below, is what the onions and garlic should look like once we're at this point...

9)  Add butter to pot, allowing it to melt completely, but remember not to burn it ;)

10)  Sprinkle in your preferred flour to onion/garlic/butter mixture....

11) ...and, using a whisk or large spoon, start to incorporate the flour.  Continue to constantly stir for 2-3 minutes.  You'll smell a nice, nutty flavor once it's time to add the liquid.  Immediately add liquid as in next photo.

12) Beginning with potato liquid, add a half a cup at time, constantly stirring and incorporating all the ingredients.

13)  After the first water add-in, you will want the mixture to be well incorporated; enough so that when you wipe the bottom of your pot with your spoon/whisk, it will come clean, as in photo.

14)  Continue to add another 1/2 of a cup, stirring to prevent clumps of flour.  Add another 1/2 cup of liquid once this turns to a paste.  Then add one of liquid, stirring as you go.  At this point you can turn up your temperature to medium high.  Finish up adding the remaining pot water. 

15) At this point, you can add all of the milk at the same time, stirring to prevent any clumps.  You will see the onions of course, but we're looking for a semi-creamy texture.  Don't worry, once your liquid begins to boil, the remaining small clumps will work themselves out.  

16)  Add the ham *notice how my large dice aren't perfectly uniform.  This is a wonderful,-if I may say so-way to add a hint of texture to your food, which will  secretly stimulate the nerves of your mouth and tongue to unconsciously give you a more pleasurable experience!  Who knew, odd cuts could be so sensual ;) j/k

17) Add potatoes back to the pot.  FINALLY!  We're almost done with the active portion of this recipe ;)

18) Add the resto fo the ingredients, except cheese.
19)  After a few minutes, taste to adjust seasonings, including salt & pepper.
If wanting a spice pot, add hot sauce a few tablespoons at a time, if each person wants differing heat, just pass around the bottle at meal time, along with the cheese.
20) Once your liquid gold starts to bubble, turn down to a medium-low, allowing it to simmer for a total of 30 minutes.
21)  Stir soup every 10 minutes, making sure to "clean" the bottom of your pot with the stir spoon.  If you feel any resistance, turn down your temp by one notch, and check again in a few minutes, stirring again.
22) By now, you're probably fighting off the masses, so let 'em at it, just remember to have a ladle, and a paddle for those who don't want to share!

23) Sprinkle with cheese, and ENJOY!

Procrastination is Golden!

Well, it's that time of year, where I'm trying to figure out how much if any, I'll get back from the IRS.  I technically did not work last year (no W-2s etc) and spent most of my time laid up with back & neck pain.  Still, I don't usually procrastinate, but this year, I didn't feel any hurry to do them, thinking we wouldn't really have any type of refund, since we my daughter turned 18 in February last year.  But, lo and behold, we ARE getting a small sum back, so that's good.  Who knows when we'll get it back of course, since I waited til today to complete the e-file, but whatev's.  I've got more important things to worry bout.

I've been going to get different procedures and injections over the past year and a half, trying to get to a point where I feel I can be a full-time chef again.  If this takes much longer, I'm just gonna go back to school, and get my bachelor's and forego the torture of working on my feet, and sweating in front a stove all day/night, working up to 80 hours a week.  Why do we chefs do this?!  We're a little bit crazy I think, but in a good way (for most of us, lol).

Thank GOD I'm getting "fixed" by my wonderful pain doctor, Dr. East in Addison, TX.  He's God's blessing in my life.  I don't think I'd be able to sit and type anything let alone this blog without his expertise and care.  I'm seeing a new dr at the office, Dr. Lavelle, who is also as adept is East.  Both have the best bedside manner.  That's my little plug for them #bestdoctorsever

As a person with #lupus and #fibromyalgia,  I have dealt with so many different days of pain, illness, and general malaise.  I can't even begin to explain how horrible it is when you want to do things, have fun with friends and family, work, get laundry done, jeez, even just take a shower (I'm not kidding, it's embarassing).
Why does God give me these physical and sometimes mental (I have what's called #brainfog ) symptoms, many temporary and a few permanent?  I've delved into this with my hubby, who is a disabled vet, with sleep apnea, asthma, etc.  I feel I'm never alone.  The Holy Spirit is always with me, encouraging me, prompting me to either rest, or push myself & get up, and "deal with" the pain, till it gets better.  God wants me to speak out, speak up, and not tl allow myself to wallow in my irritation, get depressed or feel sorry for myself.   I've also been without my #lupusmedication for like three weeks, which I take when my lupus is active.  It helps keep my immune system working, so I if I come into contact with viruses, bugs, and germs I don't get super sick, just mildly under the weather.  A simple cold or food poisoning can put me down for days, sometimes months!  I've had the flu for three months once, when I wasn't on Plaquenil.  I just have to watch out for my eyes, cause if I get a build up of this med in my system, then I could have it build up in the backs of my eyes, which can cause splotchy vision, or worse.  So I get eye exams often.

The following is my rant on my experiences with our prescription mail order company, you don't have to read, just a public plea for intelligence:  I recently went to my rheumatologist and received refills on my normal meds.  However, none of them were filled, and instead of calling/emailing me, the mail order company decided to just place a hold on these medications.  So I've gone for more than three weeks without any of them, and one is a very sensitive mediation I take so I don't get sick, Plaquenil.  It's so important for me to take this one everyday, I can get sick from just one day without it.  When I finally called them, they told me that they had tried to get my doctor's office to give their correct mailing address and phone #, and they had spoken with someone at the dr's office, but weren't able to receive a call back with the information.  First of all, I was like, "Wait, you just admitted someone called AND spoke with a person at my dr's office, but you weren't able to get any information, including the phone number?!"  What kind of #dumbemployee says this and gets away with this response on the mail order company's note software?  I freaked out a bit, then breathed, and asked if this made any sense to the girl/CSR I was speaking with; she agreed it didn't make any sense.  And so I asked if I could just give them the information, but she said it was policy to not take information from the patient when dealing with a new prescription.  UGH!  #sofrustrating #stoopid #healthcareplan  So, I called and told my dr's office assistant/nurse what the issue was, and she told me should deal with it and call me when it was taken care of.  That was Thursday.  Today is Monday, since I didn't hear back, I called her and asked if it was done, since my mail order company still didn't have it down on their website as processing.  She informed me she never called them cause they called her before our conversation, and they were given the address & #.  Duh,, gurl, I told you I spoke with them right before I called YOU on Thursday!  What does it take for a patient to get the needed meds so she can stay alive?!  I'm praying this will be the last of my frustrations with mail order prescriptions.  I can't go back to buying them at a retail pharmacy.  I spent over $1k last year, and found out our new rates give us FREE mail order prescriptions, so I'm rooting for this mail order thing.  Come on, lets communicate.  Honestly though, just sounds like a customer service rep was just trying to cover their butts by saying they didn't get any information.  Too bad they weren't smart enough not to mention the name of the nurse when they called. #craziness #doctorsoffice #expressscripts.

I obviously haven't been feeling so great, so I made a couple of different dishes which are pretty simple and are on our family menu often.  There's a ham & potato soup and some stuffed peppers.  Check out the next two blogs for recipes.  As usual, thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing well!