When the leaves start to turn red, orange and yellow and the air takes on a frosty chill I look for warm, comfort food like soup. Today I’m sharing a new soup recipe that I developed called “Ham & Asparagus Soup”. This recipe contains all of my favorite ingredients; ham, asparagus, yellow bell peppers and mushrooms in a creamy white broth. It’s the kind of soup you can leave simmering on the stovetop or in the crockpot while you are busy raking leaves and carving pumpkins. It’s fairly easy to prep the vegetables and sauté them with the ham in a skillet while the broth simmers with the asparagus. You can finish the soup with a cup of heavy cream or just put in another cup of milk in the basic recipe. I think your family will enjoy this tasty, hearty soup with a loaf of crusty bread. Happy Cooking!
Ingredients
Instructions
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Rinse all vegetables under cool running water. Place the mushrooms in a colander and run under cool water to remove any residue. Place vegetables on cutting board and begin to prep them with a sharp knife. First, dice up onion, yellow bell pepper, and mushrooms into small bite-sized pieces. Then, cut asparagus into small chunks. To finish up, chop up ham steak into little squares.
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Place a large dutch oven pan or stockpot on the stovetop and pour in the 32 ounce container of chicken broth. Heat over high heat until broth comes to a rolling boil. Then, add the asparagus to the pot and turn the heat down to low or simmer. Let simmer for 6 minutes on low heat.
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Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat up 2 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the onion, peppers, mushrooms, bacon slices, ham steak and salt & pepper to the skillet. Sauté on medium heat until the vegetables are softened up and ham and bacon start to brown nicely, around 5 minutes. Then, pour the mixture from the skillet into the stockpot. Stir until smooth and well blended. Turn to low heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
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Make a roux In the empty skillet on medium heat by melting 4 Tablespoons of butter with 4 Tablespoons of flour, and whisking until smooth. Once it's well blended, stir in 2 cups of the milk using a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until milk mixture begins to thicken and starts to bubble. Pour the roux into the stockpot and stir until well blended. Cover with a lid and simmer for 30 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Once the soup is finished simmering, add another cup of milk or heavy cream. Stir until well mixed and let simmer for 5 more minutes. Let soup cool for 5 minutes before serving. Top with cheddar cheese & ham chunks.
