Tag Archives: ham

Easy to Prepare, Low Brow Treats, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Sandwiches

Ham Salad

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Ham salad or deviled ham is seemingly pedestrian, but man, is it good.  Just as a rotisserie chicken can be transformed by dijon mustard, tarragon and apples, into sumptuous chicken salad, so too can baked ham be blended into deliciousness with rosemary, shallots and mayonnaise.  To truly make this some devilish goodness, add some paprika and cayenne to make things a little more fiery.  We used to make this after Easter with the tons of leftover ham from the feast the day before.  It kept incredibly well in the fridge for quick sandwiches and was always a treat…for as long as it lasted.

This recipe makes a pretty dry salad, like I like it, but if you want things a little more moist, add a few more tablespoons of mayo to smooth things out.

Recipe for

Ham Salad

Ingredients
1 lb. of ham (leftover baked ham or deli ham works fine)
1/4 tsp. of white pepper
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1 tbs. of dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 tbs. of minced shallots
1/2 tbs. of dijon mustard
3 tbs. of mayo

In a food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth.  Spread on crackers or eat as a sandwich spread on crusty bread.

Breakfast and Brunch, Cheese Dishes, Egg Dishes, Low Brow Treats, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Easy Western Scramble

When I was a kid, on Saturday mornings or Sundays after church, my parents would occasionally take us to Bob’s Big Boy for their breakfast buffet. A veritable smorgasbord of all things bad for you, I used to tuck into the absolute same dish every single time – a big plate of fluffy scrambled eggs, home fries (the deep fried square kind), a mixture of cooked ham, peppers and onions, and cheese sauce over all. It was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Like taste bud good and cholestoral bad news. But whatever – I was a kid and as much as I didn’t care about 401Ks and Roth IRAs, I wasn’t really invested in wholesome ingredients at the breakfast buffet. It was Big Boys for goodness sakes.

Easy Western Scramble © Spice or Die

I’m older and wiser now, with (at least I like to think) a more discriminating palette. The equivalent of breakfast cheese fries and eggs (which were probably dehydrated for all I know) don’t have the same appeal. And yet, the strange combination of peppers, onions and ham has stuck with me all these years. It was odd – the diced ingredients were kept warm in a broth of sorts, keeping the ham moist and the onion mellow. In an effort to recreate some atavistic memory of my childhood, I set upon a method of recreating this Western blend for a breakfast of my past. Served atop delicately scrambled eggs and sharp cheddar cheese, it may not be the low-brow brunch of my yester-years, but it still manages to make me smile.  And given the wholesome ingredients, your arteries are not at risk 😉

Easy Western Scramble

1/2 c. of diced onion
1/2 c. of diced green bell pepper
1/2 c. of canadian bacon, diced
1 c. of water
1 tsp. of salt
pinch of finely cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp. of olive oil
4 eggs
splash of whole milk
1/4 c. of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tbs. of butter

To a small pot, add the onion, bell pepper, canadian bacon, water, salt, pepper and olive oil.  Bring contents to a boil, and then immediately turn off the heat.  Let sit while you prep your eggs.

In a shallow dish, scramble eggs and milk together, making sure not to overbeat.  Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  When warm, turn heat to low and add butter to the pan.  Swirl butter around the pan to slick the bottom and then add the eggs.  As the eggs slowly cook, use your spatula to push the curds to opposite sides of the pan and allow the uncooked egg to run across the surface of the hot pan.  Continue gently pushing the egg around until it is all cooked and just set – I like mine still a bit glossy and wet, but cook to your liking.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and allow to melt from the heat of the warm eggs.  With a slotted spoon, scoop up some of the ham, pepper and onion mix and top a portion of the eggs.  Dig in to straight up breakfast comfort.

Meat Dishes, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Truffled Potato Soup with Chives

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Just as I take true joy in debunking the myth that real men don’t eat quiche, the same goes for soup.  A dish of champions, soup can be hearty and nourishing, but also light and luxe, all at the same time.  I love this soup because it’s the proverbial king of the aforementioned paradox – earthy potatoes are simmered with a homey stock, but then whipped to a smooth majesty of a soup.  The top is kissed with truffle oil – again, another fabulous palette paradox – the earthiness of the truffle essence is delivered via the clarity of the oil.  It’s all glorious, grand and a reminder that we shouldn’t waste a single second dining on anything less than awesome.

Truffled Potato Soup with Chives © Spice or Die

This soup, given that it is thick and hearty, is an excellent base for braised short ribs as well.  I first tried this soup in this manner at the Southern France-focused restaurant, Marseille, as a special plate to cut through the winter chill of the city.  You can still eat it as they served it – a soup with a few shreds of the glorious meat on top.  Or you can give in to your carnivorous proclivities and treat the soup like a pomme puree or elegant sauce to accompany the beef.  I guarantee that either which way you decide to go, you’ll have a rib-sticking meal for even the manliest of men.

Truffled Potato Soup with Chives

1 ham bone
2 stalks of celery
1 onion chopped
2 bay leaves
12 c. of water
4 tbs. of butter
3 tbs. of flour

7 c. of stock (from recipe above)
3 lbs. of yukon gold potatoes
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 c. of cream
small bunch of chives
truffle oil

Begin by adding your ham bone, stalks of celery (tops and all), chopped onion, bay leaves and water to a large pot. Bring to a rolling boil and then lower heat to medium-high. Allow to cook away until the ham has completely fallen off the bone and the stock has reduced to about 7 cups of liquid – about 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Strain stock and discard all of the solids. Taste for salt and pepper and season accordingly. Set stock aside.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook roux for about a minute. Slowly whisk in strained stock so as to prevent lumps. Bring pot of liquid to a simmer.

While stock is simmering away, peel your potatoes and chop into cubes. Add your potatoes to the stock and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the white pepper and nutmeg. Cook until potatoes are incredibly tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. For a chunky soup, mash the potatoes with a potato masher. For a smooth soup, puree with a hand mixer or in a blender. If you use the blender, make sure to do so in batches and always put a kitchen towel over the lid. This’ll keep you from splattering hot soup all over yourself, which is never ever a good thing.

If you’ve blended your soup, return it to the pot. Stir in the cream and taste for salt and pepper one last time. Snip half of the chives into the soup and stir.  Ladle out the soup and top with additional snipped chives and a drizzle of truffle oil – white or black depending on what you can get your hands on.

Note

I call for yukon golds in this recipe, but plain old russets will do the trick as well.  For a real treat, try an heirloom potato – Marx Foods sells them in all colors and textures, many of which would be so very well-suited for this recipe.  Num num!

Cheese Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This potato soup recipe is a lot like a couple of the deluxe salad recipes that I’ve previously posted (see Sesame Mandarin Salad or Thai Chopped Salad) – it’s something that you’d expect to see at a family chain restaurant, but so much better because it has none of the chemicals and preservatives.  Just good ole homemade soup with a bevy of delicious accompaniments all to your liking.  If you love your comfort food without prepackaging, dyes and additives, then this recipe is for you!

The richness of this soup comes from a made-from-scratch, slow-simmered stock that utilizes a leftover ham bone and some savory veggies.  It’s a simple stock to make and is a wonderful use of that bone that folks so often chuck.  What a waste!  The depth of flavor is excellent, and the stock itself can be used in all sorts of recipes – pots of beans, split peas, and cajun dishes like gumbo are all vastly improved with the use of this stock.  Because ham tends to be a bit salty, I recommend that you check the stock for salt after it’s simmered down.

Making the stock is truly the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but nothing is labor intensive at all.  You basically let the stock boil away and go about your business.  Same with the potatoes – they cook on their own until velvety, requiring no additional assistance from you.  Good stuff!  The hardest thing you’ll have to do is decide how chunky or smooth you want it all to be – soooooooo hard, I know.  Speaking of smooth, for a high-brow version of this recipe, try out this Truffled Potato Soup.  Same process, only you’ll feel like you are riding in the car with the dude who requests Grey Poupon.  Bentleys and truffles for everyone!

The soup gets its name from the fact that once it’s finished, you get to embellish it just as you would a baked potato.  Bacon or ham, cheeses of all kinds, scallions and chives, even a dollop of sour cream – all make delicious toppings.  Choose what suits you and tuck in to a hearty bowl of deliciousity.  Yup, deliciousity.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

1 ham bone
2 stalks of celery
1 onion chopped
2 bay leaves
12 c. of water

4 tbs. of butter
3 tbs. of flour
7 c. of stock (from recipe above)
3 lbs. of russet potatoes
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 c. of cream
1 c. of sharp cheddar
1 tbs. of caraway seeds

1/4 of cheese for sprinkling
sliced scallions (optional)
croutons (optional)
crumbled bacon or chunks of ham (optional)
dollop of sour cream (optional)

Begin by adding your ham bone, stalks of celery (tops and all), chopped onion, bay leaves and water to a large pot.  Bring to a rolling boil and then lower heat to medium-high.  Allow to cook away until the ham has completely fallen off the bone and the stock has reduced to about 7 cups of liquid – about 2 – 2 1/2 hours.  Strain stock and discard all of the solids.  Taste for salt and pepper and season accordingly.  Set stock aside.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.  Whisk in flour and cook roux for about a minute.  Slowly whisk in strained stock so as to prevent lumps.  Bring pot of liquid to a simmer.

While stock is simmering away, peel your potatoes and chop into cubes.  Add your potatoes to the stock and bring it to a rolling boil.  Add the white pepper and nutmeg.  Cook until potatoes are incredibly tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.  For a chunky soup, mash the potatoes with a potato masher.  For a smooth soup, puree with a hand mixer or in a blender.  If you use the blender, make sure to do so in batches and always put a kitchen towel over the lid.  This’ll keep you from splattering hot soup all over yourself, which is never ever a good thing.

If you’ve blended your soup, return it to the pot.  Stir in the cream, sharp cheddar and caraway seeds.  Once cheese has melted into the soup, taste for salt and pepper one last time.  Serve with your toppings of choice.

 

Note

For those looking to save time, use premade chicken stock and start cooking at the point where you make a roux from the butter and flour.  Just make sure to warm your stock in a separate pot before adding to the roux.  For vegetarians, leave out the ham stock and replace with vegetable stock (homemade or store-bought), making sure to follow the same process as for the chicken broth just mentioned.

Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Pasta Dishes, Recipes, Salads

Simple Pasta Salad with Roasted Peppers, Ham and Peas

When I teach web and print design, I always talk about KISS – keep it simple, stupid. I think that some of the finest recipes are those that follow the same ideal.  You don’t need a lot of garbage amassed in a pot to make deliciousness – just a few choice ingredients well played off of each other and you are done.  Even better, with these few components in action, chances are you won’t have to do a whole lot of cooking.

Simple Pasta Salad with Roasted Peppers, Ham and Peas © Spice or Die

My sister Lexi refuses to eat mayo based cold salads, or as she likes to say, questionable sauces.  This recipe is anything but questionable – the familiar flavors of rosemary, mustard and ham elevate this pasta salad to another level, giving savory zing to where else there might be bland mayo.  You’ve got roasted peppers and peas for both sweetness and color, and a few choice spices to round things out.  Done and done.   This is my ultimate make on a Sunday and leisurely eat throughout the week kind of recipe – it keeps well, is portable, and works as lunch, dinner, side dish, late night bite, or a way to extend a meal with impromptu guests.

I use ham because I love the taste with the rosemary, but vegetarians can leave it out for an equally delicious salad.  Also worth trying is cooled, poached chicken in place of the ham.  You can follow the recipe for preparing the chicken on my recipe for Chicken Salad.

Simple Pasta Salad with Roasted Peppers, Ham and Peas

1/2 c. of low-fat or fat-free mayo
2 tbs. of dijon mustard
1 tbs. of chopped rosemary
1/4 c. of roasted red peppers, diced
1 c. of frozen peas
1 1/2 c. of diced ham
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1 tsp. of salt
pinch of paprika
1 lbs. of pasta (penne, farfalle, orechiete, whatever you have around)

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil.  When the water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook.  In the last 4 minutes of cooking time, add peas to the pasta water.  Drain pasta and peas and cool under running water.

Add rosemary, roasted red peppers, ham, black pepper, salt and paprika to a large bowl.  Dump in pasta and peas and stir.  Add the mayo and dijon and stir.  Refrigerate and then eat at your leisure.

Baked Goods, Breakfast and Brunch, Cakes, Pies and Tarts, Cheese Dishes, Egg Dishes, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Quiche Lorraine

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Real men don’t eat quiche?  Garbage.  Since when do men not like bacon, eggs and cheese in portable form?  Quiche Lorraine is the ultimate symbol of breakfast majesty – it’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night trips to the fridge when you want a bite of a little something savory.  I’m all for serving this quiche with a plate of mixed greens (maybe in some Tarragon Lemon dressing?) but in actuality, I end up eating it still in the kitchen over the pan after it’s cooled to room temperature.  I’ll pass on standing on ceremony – if it’s good, I’m tucking in.

Quiche Lorraine © Spice or Die

This quiche recipe is incredibly versatile – if you’re so inclined, replace the 1 1/2 c. of ham with whatever filling you’d like.  For you vegetarian lovelies out there, try mushrooms, spinach, swiss chard, shallots – anything you put in an omlette can go in a quiche.  In fact, for a vegetarian delight, try my Green and Gold Quiche, a tasty blend of mushrooms, spinach, shallots and sharp white cheddar.  It’s not at all traditional, but equally grubworthy as this Quiche Lorraine. Continue reading Quiche Lorraine →

Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

I’m Pretty Sure the Holiday Ham is Drunk Again

Easter is all about the celebration of Spring (new birth, resurrection, lilies and the like), which is why lamb is such a popular dish.  If you want to go old school, my money is on a classic smoked ham with a sweet, crackling crust.  In fact, I am going to play Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie” as I type this post.  *singing* Bakin’ it sloooooow.

This is straight out of my memories of childhood – Dad would get the Smithfield smoked hams from the grocery for Easter or Christmas and bake them to perfection.  Occasionally, my mom would chuck a few oranges in the baking pan and stud the thing with cloves to keep it spicy and ever so juicy.  Then, after cooking and a good rest on the counter, my Dad would carve with an electric knife (that’s now been upgraded to a super sharp butcher’s knife that he sharpens right before slicing) and give my sister (then a meat eater) and I a slice before serving.  Now, the only ones around clamoring for an early slice of ham are their pug and puggle, Bentley and Chloe.

This ham is straight-forward, but the glaze is a little different.  It gets the name “hurricane” from the Creole-inspired ingredients – it’s the juice and booze that make up the traditional New Orleans drink of the same name.  I add brown mustard, bay leaves, cloves and rosemary and boil the concoction down to a thick syrup that bathes the ham in the last hour of cooking.  I gave you the ingredients for making the glaze as a standalone, but when I do it at home, I double the glaze ingredients and brine the ham in them overnight.  This sweetens the ham and desalts in a bit.  Then, I take the brining liquid and cook it down to make the glaze.  It’s very good this way, but if you don’t feel like wasting that much rum on glaze (as opposed to drinking) just follow the steps as I’ve listed them below.

I serve this ham with the accompaniments of my childhood as well (and this is via our neighbor who usually makes these sides) – scalloped potatoes and spinach salad with red onion and hard-boiled eggs.  Because I need a little more greenery on my plate, I like to roast some asparagus spears as well.  It doesn’t get any more spring-y than that.

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

1 smoked ham (around 8 lbs.)
1 c. of orange juice (blood orange or clementine work well)
1 c. of pineapple juice
1/2 c. of grenadine or hibiscus syrup
1/2 c. of brown sugar
1 c. of rum
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of ground cloves
2 tbs. of brown mustard
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 small bunch of sage
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°.  Fit a v-shaped roasting rack over a roasting pan and line with sage and one sprig of rosemary.  Sit ham on top of herbs and put into the oven.  Plan to bake the ham for about 20-25 minutes per pound (my oven runs hot, so I cook mine closer to 20 minutes per lb. to keep it from drying out)

While the ham is cooking, make your glaze.  Pour the orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, sugar, rum, bay leaves, cloves, mustard, and the rest of the rosemary into a large saucepan (or if you are cooking down the brine that you used on the ham, use a large pot) and bring to a boil.  Continue to cook until the liquid reduces to a cup and a half.  Strain and set aside.

When the ham only has about 45 minutes left to cook, take it out of the oven.  Pour the glaze over the top.  Return the ham to the oven and continue to bake.  When the ham is done, let rest at least 10 minutes before carving so that the juices have time to redistribute.  Slice and serve.