Potato Chowder/Corn Chowder

Potato Chowder/ Corn Chowder
You say POE-TAY-TOE and I say PA-TA-TOE, actually in this case, you say corn. My sister calls this Corn Chowder and I call it Potato Chowder. It has both veggies, so call it whatever you want. This is Mosiah's FAVORITE dinner.

I recently typed directions for this up for my son-in-law and I copying straight from the e-mail I sent him. For you expert cooks, these directions might seem a bit simplified, but Lochsley tried to make this in college and it didn't work so when I sent these to her husband I made sure to explain everything in detail.

You'll need.

1 onion chopped into little pieces
3 potatoes cut into bite size cubes
2 TBS butter
First you saute the onion in butter in a skillet. (I don't know how experienced of a cook you are, so please forgive me if I over explain something. To saute, melt the butter in a fry pan or wok, put in your chopped onions and cook them by moving them around a lot, and they are done when they are kind of transparent. If they turn brown, they are cooked too much.) Add your potatoes in (don't saute the potatoes) and pour water on them until they are just covered (make sure your fry pan is deep enough for this or use the wok) add 1 tsp salt, and boil the potatoes until they are tender. Check by running the back of a kitchen knife through the potato, if it slices through easily, they are done. Turn off heat. DO NOT dump out water.

Make white sauce.

In a 4 cup sauce pan over med to med-high heat

melt 4 TBS of butter,
4 TBS of flour,
2 or 3 shakes of pepper and
1/2 tsp salt
Stir with whisk

Add 2 cups of milk all at once (you are going to want to have the milk pre measured in a liquid measuring cup so you don't burn the butter while you're trying to get the milk measured)

Stir with whisk until the mixture starts to thicken and bubbles (like a volcano- think of the magma not a roiling boil like water)

Then stir and cook for 2 more minutes.

Be warned it take FOREVER for white sauce to bubble to be prepared to stand there and stir. You can't stop stirring except for a second to see if it is bubbling, other wise it will burn.)

After it is cooked, turn off the heat. You can add some shredded orange cheese (cheddar, colby jack, colby) to the white sauce for a little more flavor.

You need to have ham cut into small pieces
1 can of corn
1 can cream corn.
In a large soup pot, combine- the potatoes and onions with the water you boiled them in, the white sauce, the can of cream corn, the can of corn (drained) and the ham. Stir them all together and heat at low heat until the ham is hot. (Don't boil and stir every couple of minutes so the bottom doesn't burn.)