Ingredients

• 75g (unsalted) butter
• 1 onion
  • Diced
• 2 – 3 (large) carrots
  • Chopped
• 2 sticks of celery
  • Chopped
• 3 – 5 potatoes
  • Peeled and chopped into ~1cm cubes
• ¼ – ½ gammon joint
  • Pre-cooked and cooled
  • Cut into ~1cm cubes
• 4 cloves of garlic
  • Crushed or finely chopped
• 40g plain flour
• 750ml chicken stock
• 500ml (single) cream
• ½ tsp onion salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp dried basil
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp dried rosemary
• ¼ tsp ground (white) pepper

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onion, carrot, and celery, and sauté until beginning to soften. (~5m)
2. Add the gammon and potatoes and continued to cook for another couple of minutes.
3. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. (~30s)
4. Sprinkle over the flour and mix thoroughly. Cook the flour out for about 2 minutes.
   • This may become quite difficult to stir, but persevere!
5. Stir in the stock and seasoning, and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender (easy to eat but still with some firmness and integrity).
6. Reduce the heat and stir in the cream. Continue stirring until thickened.

Serve with fresh bread to accompany.

Advice

This does freeze, although the gammon can go a little tough of reheating, so it’s best fresh. When reheating, remember to add a couple tbsp water.

This is a very thick and creamy soup, very warming. If you prefer a thinner (and less calorific) soup, you can use milk instead of cream.

Pre-cooked gammon is needed for this, as much as you have really. I tend to have somewhere between a half and a quarter gammon joint left after I’ve served it.

You can throw a lot of different veg into this, if you have it. Sweet potatoes, parsnips, etc would all work very well.

Before now, I’ve cooked a gammon joint for the express purpose of cooking this soup. I make no apologies for this.