In the interest
of not being one of those blogs that takes forever to get to the recipe, let's
dive right in! Soup is one of those things that can be really forgiving, so the
quantities I list for things are what I happened to buy or have on hand, and
don't feel like you have to use exactly as much of any one ingredient as I do.
This is just how I like it.
You can omit the ham and sub an unsweetened
non-dairy milk to make it vegan.
Ingredients:
1-2 bulbs of fresh fennel
2-3 lbs of russet potatoes
2-4 oz fresh garlic
1 lb yellow or white onion
1 lb carrots1-2 lb cooked ham, cubed1/4 cup heavy cream1-1.5 qt chicken or vegetable stockoptional - small amount of neutral flavored cooking oil of your choice
Method:
Clean your fennel, mince the fronds and separate them from the fennel bulb. Slice the bulb separately. Clean and peel
potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic.
If you are making this on the stove top, dice your potatoes and carrots into 1/2 inch pieces, mince your onion and garlic.
If you are making this in the instant pot, chop your potatoes and carrots into 1-2 inch pieces, dice your onion into 1/2 inch pieces, and throw the peeled garlic cloves in there whole.
I like to sautee the onion, fennel bulb, ham, and garlic in a little bit of olive oil
before adding other ingredients. You can also saute the ham first until a bit of
the fat has rendered and use that to saute your vegetables without adding any
additional oil. You can do this in your big soup pot on the stove, or in the
instant pot on the saute setting for a couple minutes before adding your stock.
Scrape the bottom of the pot a little as you add the stock so any brown flavor
stuck on there is incorporated into the liquid. After adding the stock, add your
potatoes and carrots.
On the stove top, simmer on med/low heat until the
potatoes and carrots are cooked through.
In the instant pot, set it to high
pressure and medium or high heat for 20 minutes. You can quick or slow release
when time is up, it shouldn't make much diffrence.
Once the potatoes and carrots
are cooked through, add the fennel fronds and cream, stir to incoroporate and
allow to simmer (not boil) gently for a few minutes to incorporate.
Salt to
taste (try smoked salt if you have it) and serve. I like to top this with a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper, and a couple croutons, or serve along side some crusty bread.
The vegetables pictured here made six to eight servings.
We added leftover thin
siced chicken breast to this one night just to add some extra protein and avoid
wasting leftovers, you can see it in this clip.
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