Purple Rain and Potato Soup

It’s been a rough few weeks if you live in Minnesota. First, Mother Nature decides to forget it is spring and drops her mid-60s to high-40s. I had to turn my damn heat back on after having the air conditioner on last week. I shouldn’t complain too much since according to my Facebook, On This Day, it was snowing around this time two and three years ago. However, I have two four year-olds who have become accustomed to spending hours at a time digging in the garden and playing at the park. I don’t know who is going stir crazy faster, me or them?

Secondly, and significantly more tragic than Mother Nature’s inability to understand the seasons, Prince died. It doesn’t matter if you like his music. His impact on the industry is undeniable. I will even be as bold as to state, Prince was greater than Michael Jackson. I know. I know. My Minnesota bias is showing. Don’t get me wrong, as a child of the 80s, I love me some Michael Jackson. As a child of the 80s, who grew up in Minnesota, Prince is better. End of argument. Purple Rain was the theme song of end of summer camp dances. I can tell snot nose kids I partied like it was 1999 when it was actually 1999. I would have never know there are 23 positions in a one night stand without Prince.

Side note, my mother is quick to point out that Purple Rain came out the same year I was born and therefore, the movie’s impact on my life should be minimal. I am quick to respond with Dirty Dancing was released when I was two and it will forever be my favorite movie. Singing in the Rain is my mother’s favorite movie and that movie came out well before she was born. I can claim victory over this argument right?

So while I have been trapped inside watching the rain pour down listening to When Doves Cry on repeat, I had to come up with something to make me feel better. The solution came from my grandma. The woman has been dead for nearly three years and yet somehow she never fails to make me feel better. How exactly did my grandma make me feel better from the great beyond? Through food, of course.

Everyone has a grandma who makes the best something. That something might be chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, Thanksgiving dinner, etc. My grandma made the best potato salad. Her bread machine produced the most amazing loaves of bread I have ever eaten. The most amazing thing that ever came out of that woman’s kitchen was her ham and bean soup. Now, I’m not a big fan of ham but when my grandma made ham, it was the most exciting event of that week. There was the one time grandpa and I were banned from making ham after we set the oven to broil instead of bake. Anyway, when grandma made ham it meant leftovers. The only thing more excited than seeing leftover ham was seeing the bowl of beans soaking in the refrigerator the next day. It was better than Christmas.

I can’t match grandma’s potato salad but I am fairly confident that my soup is as good, maybe even better than grandma’s. That might seem blasphemous but my mom has had my soup on several occasions and she says it’s pretty good.

Now this featured soup does not have any beans but that’s only because I had so many potatoes that I thought beans would be overkill. Even without the beans, the concept is the same.

Ham and Bean Soup (or Ham and Potato Soup)

Warning: This will make A LOT of soup. I LOVE the leftovers and I almost always end up giving most of them away to my father-in-law.

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cups chopped carrot

2 cups chopped celery

4 cups chopped potato (Note- I never use this much potato in this soup because I usually have beans. This is the amount of potato I had for this particular batch of soup. I had one potato that gave me two and a half cups of chopped potato. Normally I would only add two cups of potato and two cans of cannellini beans. Apologies to my grandma for my use of canned beans instead of dry beans. I do on occasion use dry beans. Usually if I am making soup it’s a last minute decision and I don’t have time to let the beans rinse like they should.)

4 cups chopped ham (The ham I was using for this batch was a boneless ham. If you have a ham bone, adjust the ham to suit your needs. Personally, I would not add as much chopped ham if I had a ham bone.)

6 cups of broth (More notes: This is quite a bit of broth but at my house, we like our soup to have some extra broth. It tends to make for better leftovers)

2-3 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste (Yet another note: The amount of salt I add all depends on the ham used. No two hams cook the same.)

1.) Heat pan over medium-high heat. I have an 8-quart Dutch oven that is my go-to soup pan. My best friend bought it for me for Christmas one year. If your best friend doesn’t buy you kitchen supplies, she probably isn’t really your best friend. Add olive oil to pan and allow to heat.

2.) Add onions to pan. Cook until translucent (2-3 minutes). Add garlic. Cook another minute. Add carrots and celery. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Cook an additional 5-6 minutes or until veggies start to tender.

3.) Add potatoes, ham and broth. At this point I like to bring the heat up and let everything come to a boil. After giving everything a good stir and letting everyone boil for a minute or two, I drop the heat to simmer and toss in my bay leaves. Let everything simmer. Stir occasionally. When the potatoes have reached desired levels of mushy, soup is done. For me that takes about 20 minutes of simmer time. Dig out the bay leaves before serving and if you want, throw some oyster crackers over the top.

I don’t have a picture of soup in a fancy bowl. One because we don’t eat soup out of bowls. We eat soup out of over-sized coffee mugs from IKEA. Two, once my food gets into a bowl, I don’t have time for a picture. I need to eat it while it’s hot. Hot food is like a beacon to children. “I need more milk.” “Can I have a napkin?” “I spilled.” “She has more crackers than I do.”

Originally Published on April 27, 2016

2017 Edit: Can we all just agree that 2016 was a pretty crummy year in terms of celebrity losses? And that was hardly even the shittiest part of 2016. If you were a child of the 80s, you childhood was nearly wiped out. I spent all of Christmas night listing to "Last Christmas" on repeat. I taught my eight year old to sing "Well I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body. I know not every body has got a body like you." I then ended the year watching Star Wars, Blues Brothers, and Singing in the Rain. Here's to a livelier 2017.