Ham and Potato Soup

This soup was another in a long line of "it's freezing outside and I will never be warm again" Christmas break necessities. Like split pea soup calls for a leftover ham bone (this one came from the extended family Christmas party). I've noticed a pattern that when people find out you can cook, they give you all sorts of leftovers figuring you can do miracles with it. I will admit, I've waxed a little creative in my day with a few random leftovers, and this soup was one of them. It's probably not the most creative thing in the world, but it was warm, and it cleared room in the fridge. We didn't have any frozen peas, but throwing in a few right at the end probably would have been amazing. Carrots would probably be good, too.



Ham and Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 garlic clove, minced
  
• 1 ham bone with some meat still attached
• 2 large potatoes, peeled or not, cut up
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• about 1 heaping tablespoon diced fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• a few tablespoons flour, to thicken if necessary

Heat the water and broth in a large pot, and add the garlic and ham bone. Simmer for 40 minutes to an hour, until the meat starts to get very tender. Add the vegetables, and continue to simmer until soft. Remove the ham bone, and cut off and chop the usable meat. With an immersion blender, pulse the soup a few times to break up some of the potato pieces (you don't want to puree at all, just thicken it a little bit). Add the herbs, salt, pepper, and ham. Heat through, and season to taste. If it needs a little thickening, whisk a few tablespoons of flour in a few tablespoons cold water, then add to the soup and stir until thickened.