Ham and Corn Chowder with Potato

1. I used leftover Christmas leg ham. You can easily substitute with store bought ham. Use thick sliced ham - shaved ham will be difficult to pan fry.

2. Use potatoes around the size of a tennis ball. Any potatoes will work for this recipe. I am in Australia and I use the potatoes you buy that have dirt on them (Sebago). Russet is a good all rounder in the US that is perfect for this.

3. Small diced potatoes would only take a couple of minutes to cook in water. They take much longer in this soup because they are being cooked in soup that has been thickened with flour.

See Note 5 for a faster way to make this soup.

4. You could brown the ham in the saucepan before you sauté the onion. You will need to wipe the saucepan clean after cooking the ham otherwise your soup will end up with a brownish tinge from the brown bits stuck on the saucepan from cooking the ham. When I am feeling particularly lazy and I want a one-pot soup, I will make the soup this way.

5. Alternative Method: A much faster way of making this is to "par boil" the potatoes in the microwave. Just place scrubbed (but not peeled) whole potatoes in the microwave on high for 2 minutes, then turn over and microwave for a further 2 minutes. Use oven mitts or a dishcloth to remove the potatoes from the microwave, then peel and dice.

You can then omit most of the water from the recipe because when you add the potato into the soup, it only needs a couple of minutes to cook instead of 10 minutes (so you don't need the water to thin the soup out which then thickens in the time it takes to cook the potato). Just use a bit of water to get the soup to the consistency you want.

6. The soup thickens ALOT and quickly when it cools. Use water or milk to achieve your desired consistency when reheating.

7. Nutrition per serving.