Ham - a Lot!

We are finally finishing up the last of the second ham.

As I didn't wish to bore you this time around

with a blow by blow description of every ham dish,

I thought I would just do a round up of the different

ham dishes that I made this time.

Besides ham sandwiches and ham salad - a lot of it,

I made a few different dishes using ham.

 One evening for dinner

I made a frittata with some of the ham.

 Since I've done this before,

I'll skip the steps this time.

You can check the steps out here.

 Pair this with a salad and this is a nice dinner.

 Another evening I decided to make ham two ways.

I made the standard Harvest Potato recipe,

but I added some ham to the mix.

Then I sliced some of the ham,

added some canned pineapple,

and mixed the syrup with an equal amount of 

brown sugar.

After pouring the mixture over the ham,

I covered the baking dish with foil

and put this in the oven with the potatoes

for the last half hour.

The remaining ham was trimmed of all the fat

and skin and then chopped and made into

ham salad.

As the ham was rather salty,

I added a bit of sugar to the ham salad

to counteract the saltiness.

Only three cups of ham salad left

and then we can finally say good bye to this ham!

 

The Eight Days of Ham

- The Wrap-Up?

This year it seemed as if the Eight Days of Ham

would never end.

Perhaps that is because after eleven days

we still have ham left?

Yeah, that could be it.

 I was left alone on New Year's Eve,

so I had a ham loaf sandwich

on the Seventh Day of Ham.

(We had ham sandwiches for lunch

and we went out to eat for dinner

on the Sixth Day of Ham.)

 On the Eighth Day of Ham

I stuffed some ham in boneless pork loin chops.

 First I cut slits in the pork loin chops

and then placed a bit of the ham and some

honey mustard in the slit.

 Then the pork loin chops were seasoned with 

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

These were sauteed in a bit of olive oil 

over medium high heat until the internal temperature

reaches 140 degrees.

Remove from the heat and cover with foil.

Allow to rest and to bring the temperature 

up 5 to 10 degrees.

If desired, deglaze the pan with a bit

of white wine or sherry.

Pour over the pork loin chops.

Moist and tender and perfectly cooked.

Served with coleslaw and this is my take

on the traditional German good luck

New Year's meal.

I was asked to make ham salad

with the remaining ham.

And so I did.

By this time I was so tired of ham

that I neglected to take pictures.

But by now you know

what the ham salad looks like.

We still have ham salad left.

Hopefully, someone else

with eat that ham salad for me.

The Eight Days of Ham

Day Four

On the Fourth Day of Ham

we had more ham salad

and Chunky Potato Soup.

The ingredients for the chunky potato soup are:

2 slices bacon

¼ cup onion, diced

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups turkey stock

2 cups mashed potatoes

Dash hot sauce

½ teaspoon dry thyme

¼ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

Salt and Pepper to taste

3 medium potatoes

½ cup Half-and-Half

Cheddar cheese, grated, for garnish

Fresh chives, chopped, for garnish

Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes, about 1 centimeter in size.  Place in a microwave-safe dish and add a splash of water before covering and microwaving on high for about 5 minutes.

Dice the bacon and sauté over medium-high heat in a large pot.  Remove the cooked bacon and set aside to drain on a paper towel.  

Leave about two tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pot and sauté the diced onion over medium heat until softened.  Add the flour to the pot and stir while cooking.

Add the turkey stock to the mix. Stir well.

Next, add the mashed potatoes, hot sauce, dry thyme, Old Bay Seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.

Then add the cooked, diced potatoes to the pot and pour in Half-and-Half.  Allow soup to slowly cook over low heat for about 30 minutes.

Garnish the soup with some grated sharp cheddar cheese, crisp bacon and chopped green onion if desired.

At this point I was too busy trying to multi-task to take pictures, as I had to make the mashed potatoes from scratch while I was working on the rest of the ingredients for the soup. At any rate, the soup was finished and the peasants danced for joy.

 Garnish with grated cheddar, chopped chives

and the cooked, diced bacon.

Pair with a ham salad sandwich

and this is a hearty meal for a cold

winter's evening.

The Eight Days of Ham

On the third day of ha-am, my true love gave to me,

a lovely ha-am salad.

Thank you. 

I won't quit my day job.

And no it doesn't pay anything.

Thanks for asking.

Now I'm depressed.

Happy now?

Into a container, mix:

4 cups minced ham

1/4 cup diced onion

1 rib celery, diced

4 tablespoons pickle relish

1 teaspoon honey mustard

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 teaspoons sugar

Mix well and adjust seasonings o taste.

Ham salad sandwich with Grippo's Bar-B-Q potato chips.

I'm a happy girl.  

Even if I do have to order the chips on line.

The Eight Days of Ham - The Eighth Day

And on the Eighth Day of Ham there is still ham left.

Sigh.

Did I mention that we are tired of eating ham by now?

It is good ham.

It really is.

It's just that too much of a good thing

is just too much.

And as ham suffers if refrozen,

well, you can see the problem.

I did my part and had some ham salad for lunch.

I think I will pass on ham for a few months now.

The Eight Days of Ham - Day Five

On the Fifth Day of Ham I conscripted

Foodie Daughter and Foodie Boyfriend's help

with the remaining ham.

Between the three of us,

we sliced about 3 cups of ham,

set aside a pound of ham for another ham loaf,

made 4.8 pounds of ham loaf

and had six cups of the trimmings of the ham

left over per the Foodie Boyfriend's request.

As a quick reminder,

my easy and tasty recipe for ham salad is:

ham, cut in small dice

celery, minced

carrot, minced

onion, minced

mayonnaise

relish

sugar

I give no measurements as I don't measure,

but I usually use at least one celery rib

and about 1/2 carrot

and about 2 or 3 tablespoons of sweet pickle relish.

After adding enough mayonnaise to get the

ham salad to the right consistency,

add sugar until the saltiness is balanced.

You don't want a sweet ham salad

- you just are looking for a balanced flavor.

A quart of the ham salad was sent home

with the Foodie Boyfriend,

leaving the rest for us.

Once again I find that I neglected to take pictures of dinner.

I'm blaming my inner ear infection on this.

Suffice it to say that we had sandwiches of

sliced ham or ham salad

and soup from the fridge or pantry,

depending on the diner's choice.

Simple and filling, especially for those of us

who are still trying to get better.

The Eight Days of Ham - Day Two

On the Second Day of Ham we had...

ham salad for lunch.

I made six cups of ham salad.

The remaining two cups will go home with the

Foodie Boyfriend.

For dinner I made Lancaster County Ham Loaf.

I had my suspicions that my Amish ancestors were

behind this dish.



The recipe called for:


1 lb fresh ground turkey*
1 lb ham, ground (or turkey ham)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup milk



*I had ground pork so that is what I used.

In fact many recipes that I found for ham loaf

call for ground pork instead of ground turkey.







The ingredients for the glaze are

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1//2 cup water

14 cup vinegar**



** I used cider vinegar



I also opted to add about 1 tablespoon honey to the mix.



Oh, come on.

You knew I couldn't resist tweaking the recipe.




The ham was chopped up and then put through my

food processor.



I then mixed all the ingredients for the ham loaf

together in a large bowl before shaping the loaf

in a baking dish.



This baked in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.



Then the glaze was poured over the top

and the loaf went back into the oven for another hour.





Time to plate.

The ham loaf is accompanied by a baked potato and

some more of Maxine's Pineapple Casserole.

I think this ham loaf recipe is a keeper,

but next time I will hold off on the glaze until the last

45 minutes of baking.

Thanks again, Rosie, for sharing Maxine's recipe with us.

Next time I think I would quarter the recipe,

as for four people, two who aren't overly fond of pineapple,

it is quite rich and filling.

And at the end of day two,

we are left with 8 pounds, 5-1/4 ounce of ham.

Ham Days

The annual "Eight Days of Ham” (™ the Foodie Daughter) have once again arrived.

Fortunately for us, this time we had reinforcements.

The ham doesn't stand a chance.

My husband received this lovely 18 pound, Petit Jean Meats bone-in, smoked and fully cooked ham for Christmas.

We have never been disappointed by these hams.

The glaze for the ham is simple with a bit of mustard and equal parts pineapple juice and brown sugar.

The Foodie Boyfriend loves pineapple, so I skewered pineapple slices to the ham after I had scored the flesh with a sharp knife.




I baked the ham according to the directions on the wrapping, basting after the first half hour.
Interestingly, the directions that came in the box with the ham gave a shorter cook time.

Next year I will follow the box directions and not cook the ham quite as long.





This was still a lovely ham, though.

And don't worry, there was plenty left over for the remaining
Seven Days of Ham.





See, I told you.
I weighed out 1-1/2 pounds of ham for a ham loaf (front dish).
The remainder will be used for other dishes.




*
The Second Day of Ham
And the Third,
And the Fourth,
And the Fifth,
And the Sixth,
And the Seventh,
And the Eighth.
(It turns out that the Foodie Boyfriend really, really likes ham salad.)


I weighed out (what, me anal?) one pound of ham for ham salad.
I also have:
mayonnaise
honey mustard
sweet relish
celery
red onion.




I cut everything into a nice mince.
A food processor could be used, but then this would be more of a puree,
and that was not the texture that I wanted.

After tasting, I opted to add about a teaspoon of sugar to cut some of the saltiness from the mayonnaise.







Very nice.

I love ham salad on lightly toasted bread with a bit of Swiss cheese.

By the time the Eight Days of Ham had ended I had cut up, by hand,

about 4-1/2 pounds of the ham for ham salad.






*

The Third Day of Ham

Ham Loaf

My mise en place:

ham

eggs

onion

evaporated milk

ground dry mustard

black pepper

Half-and-Half

brown sugar

bread crumbs

The ingredients for the glaze are:

apple jelly

lemon juice

ground dry mustard

brown sugar

The food processor was used this time.

The Foodie Boyfriend suggested adding bacon to the top of the ham loaf, so I chopped up a couple of slices of cooked bacon and sprinkled that on top.


The glaze is added towards the end of the baking time.

This almost makes me sad that we only do this just once a year.

Ham, I Am

Another day, another ham dish. Today I made ham salad for lunch.

Here I have ham, mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, celery and onion.

The first step was to trim the fat and skin from some ham. The cat got the trimmings. See all the ham I still have left? Oh joy.

I quickly chopped the ham in my processor.

Chopped celery, onion and mayonnaise were added to the meat. Then some relish and a touch of mustard were mixed in.

Lunch is ready.

And now, for dinner.

Ham-burger.

All right, I admit it. I am already tired of ham, so I bought some hamburger for tonight's dinner. My daughter requested burgers, so I grated in some onion and a clove of garlic. Salt and black pepper complete the seasonings.

After mixing thoroughly, I divided the meat into four sections.

My handy-dandy hamburger press was put to work.

This is the no-fuss, no-muss way to make hamburger patties.

It was at about this time when my husband told me that he wouldn't not be home for dinner. Oh well. So two patties were packaged for the freezer while the other two went into the fridge to await cooking.

A couple of pieces of bacon, a slice of cheese, onion, pickles and homemade barbecue sauce complete the sandwich. Now, this is a juicy burger. I might even be able to face the next ham dish now.