Creamy Ham & Leek Soup

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As far as good food goes, there's few things I appreciate more than the marriage of savory with a bit of sweetness. I think finding the balance between the two, without getting things too salty along the way, is where really good flavor comes to life.

That said, this little soup does that for me.

My secret? Well, I'm just going to tell you right up front. Why keep you in suspense? It's way too late in the day for that...

My secret is... Honey.

"Honey in soup?" Yes.

"Are you crazy, woman?" A little bit. But just trust me on this one.

But before we get to the honey portion of this delicious little number, we've got a lot of work to do first. Lots of dicing. Lots of slicing. Lots of chopping. Lots of... What rhymes with chopping?

Let's figure that out later. For now, let's get cookin'...

Ingredient List

• 1 Leek
• 1 # Thick Sliced Ham
• 5 Tbsp. Butter, divided
• 1 Cup Chicken Stock
• 2 Tbsp. Flour
• 3 Large Carrots
• 2 Ribs Celery
• 1 Small Red Onion
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 3 Large Russet Potatoes
• 4 Cups (32 oz.) Chicken Stock
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 tsp. Chicken Boullion Granules
• 1/2 tsp. Dried Thyme
• 2 Tbsp. Honey
• 1 Cup Half-and-Half

Let's start out with this wild and crazy character:

Looks kind of like a gigantic scallion (a.k.a. green onion) doesn't it? Kind of tastes like one too. This is a leek. If you have cooked with leeks, you know how delicious they are. If you haven't cooked with leeks, be not afraid. They're easy to work with and they're yummy.

For this soup I'm only using one leek, and I only want the white part, so I trim away the green part and also lop off that little sprouty-looking nub on the end.

Hey, lop rhymes with chop. I'm not going to go back and correct myself above, because it's already past my bedtime and we've got a fair amount of things to discuss in getting this soup made, but I just wanted to make sure that you know that I know that it rhymes. Thank you. You're welcome.

Like I said... Past my bedtime. Meaningless rambling is bound to crop up in this post.

Hey, crop rhymes with chop too.

O.k., I'm done. Moving on...

Here's what the leek looks like when you slice it up...

  Note the leaning tower of leek rings there on the right. I was bored. And leeks are fun. And that's all I've got to say about that.

See? Fun, right? I feel like I should say a little bit more about what these little buggers actually taste like, for those of you who may be unfamiliar. To me, they taste like a mild onion with a hint of garlic. To me, they are great to cook with because they are distinctive and impart a wonderful flavor while still being rather subtle. To me, they're kind of, like, awesome.

But I am not a chef, nor a food expert, nor professionally trained in the culinary arts whatsoever. All I can tell you is what things taste like to me.

The next step is to dice up the ham...

This is one pound of deli ham. All I did was ask them to slice it thick, about 3/4 inch or so. I chose a maple honey ham, since I like that little bit of sweetness to it. Then I diced it into cubes, like this:

Then I melted 2 Tbsp. of butter in my stock pot on medium heat and added the ham and leeks and sauteed until they just started to brown, looking like this:

Then I took the ham and leeks out of my stock pot for later use. This is because the next step is to begin cooking more vegetables and broth and such that will later be pureed, and I don't want to puree the ham and leeks. I want them to all stay in their happy state of savory sweetness. So we'll just set them aside for awhile.

And whatever you do, do not, I repeat do not snack on these tasty little tidbits while you are preparing the rest of the soup. Just don't do it, because otherwise you will not be able to stop and then you'll have no ham and no leek for your ham & leek soup, and a major gut-ache.

After removing the ham and leeks from the pot, we are going to deglaze the pot. Deglaze is just a fancy word for 'get those tasty bits of brown goodness off the bottom of the pot so that they incorporate into the soup'. To deglaze, all you need to do is add a drizzling of chicken stock to your still hot (the 'still hot' part is important... keep your stock pot on medium-low heat while doing this) and whisk. This will release all the tasty brown bits from the pot.

Next, turning the heat up the medium, I like to add another tablespoon of butter, let it melt, and then add 2 Tbsp. of flour, creating a roux. I then immediately add one cup of chicken stock, and whisk vigorously until it looks like this... 

   

What's that you say? It looks suspiciously like gravy? Well, it kind of is a lot like gravy. Technically I suppose it is gravy. But we're only going to use a little of it, a half cup to be exact. But not until later, so please pour it out of your pot and set it aside for now.

Next we chop up three large peeled carrots, two ribs of celery and one small red onion. Why red onion? Because I have a lot of them on hand and I think they're pretty. But feel free to use yellow or white or cippolini or whatever you have on hand.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in your pot, and once it's just starting to bubble a bit, add the carrots, celery and onion, sprinkle with a half teaspoon of salt, and saute until just barely starting to brown, like this...

Sorry, it's hard to tell in this picture, but they are just barely starting to brown. We don't want to cook them completely through... They'll do that in just a bit. We just want to brown them a bit to bring out their flavor and add a few more of those tasty brown bits to the mix.

While those veggies are cooking, go ahead and peel and chop up three of these bad boys...

Russet potatoes. Much as in the case of the onion, I used these because they're what I had on hand, but if you've got another kind of potato please take the liberty to substitute. Whether you say potAto or potaaato, they all pretty much would work well in this soup. Anyhow, peel and chop them up. I like to chop them in kind of bigger chunks (about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch or even a little bigger) because I want to make sure they don't break down too much while the soup is cooking, leaving me with potato mush instead of bites.

Once the carrots, celery and onion have just started to brown, add to your pot the potatoes, four cups of chicken stock (a 32 oz. box), two cups water, two teaspoons chicken boullion granules, and a half teaspoon dried thyme. Bring this mixture to a slow boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender but not falling apart.

Now comes the part that I really don't enjoy that much. We have to puree some of the soup to give it some added texture, thickness and smoothness. If I had an immersion blender, I would use it for this. But I don't, so I have to use my regular blender.

It really isn't that hard, but I always seem to make a mess when I do this, so that's why I don't like it. But it's worth it. All we need to do is put about 1/3 of the soup (more if you want to) in the blender and puree it until it's smooth, looking like this...

Whew... Good, it's over. And I didn't even spill that much. And see what a pretty orange color it is? That pretty orange color lets me know it was definitely worth it.

Then simply pour your puree back into your soup and stir.

Now is where the honey comes in... The touch of sweetness... The little 'something' that adds another layer of flavor, and really compliments all of the other flavors going on...

Add two tablespoons of this stuff to your soup and stir to combine. I've got a little trick to share with you as well. So that your honey doesn't stick to your measuring spoon, simply spray the spoon with cooking spray before you pour the honey into it, and it will slide right out. I know, I know... Not rocket science, and you may already know this trick, but if not, it really is helpful.

Remember this stuff? This 'soup gravy'?

Measure out a half cup and add this back to your soup as well. Again, just adding another layer of flavor.

Now, stir the soup to mix in these new additions and allow soup to again come just to a simmer. Then turn off heat and add a cup of half-and-half. I mean, I didn't put the word creamy in the title for nothing, right? No, I did not.

Just thank your lucky stars that I didn't get back on the heavy cream band wagon and use that instead. Because I totally could have. And maybe someday I will. And if you want to, feel free. I just didn't because I've been on sort of a dairy kick lately -- I mean the really fattening kind of dairy like whipping cream and egg nog -- and I just couldn't bring myself to yet again add it to a recipe.

At long last, our creamy ham and leek soup is complete. Now eat some, and it will make you feel complete. I didn't get all fancy shmancy with my presentation (my past chef coworkers would be so ashamed) because my babies were starting to rouse from their naps, and in all honesty I just wanted to get some of this soup in my belly and call it good, so I apologize for not being more creative in that regard. But just ladle yourself up a big bowl, grab a good book and a soft blanket, take a bight and you will forget all about that, because this little beauty stands up all on its own.

Creamy Ham and Leek Soup 4x6 Recipe Card - Front

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