This year the responsibility of buying the Christmas Ham fell to me, a task I didn't take lightly. Knowing the number of people due to come and the healthy appetite of the clan I bought a decent sized smoked ham leg for $60.
As is usual with Christmas dinners there was a lot of leftovers. My ham was returned to me with less than a quarter of it gone. Enter Project Use-Up-The-Ham!
PROJECT USE-UP-THE-HAM
Objective:
To use up the entire remainder of the Christmas ham in exciting and different ways (i.e. not ham sandwiches every day for a month).
Important Information:
Ham will keep for some time given it is stored correctly. One of the best ways to store ham is in a ham bag (a.k.a a calico bag) which has been soaked in a mixture of 1L of water and a cup of white vinegar. The vinegar acts as an antiseptic while the soaked bag stops the ham from drying out.
The ham bag needs to be re-soaked every few days.
Progress so far:
To date the ham has been used for a number of meals including:
- ham and salad rolls.
- homemade pizza with ham, capsicum, onion and tomato toppings.
- diced ham included in a bento box for lunch
- other, more exciting, options below.
Boxing Day Soup
Don't be fooled by the curious name. It is pretty much just a variation on pea and ham soup.
It uses:
- whatever mix of pulses and grains are in your pantry in the place of the split green peas. (I had split green peas, some red lentils and brown rice).
- whatever soup vegetables such as carrots, celery, leek, turnip, swede etc. you have available.
- Salt, pepper, a bay leaf and some dried herbs. (I used whole peppercorns, thyme and basil.) either vegetable or chicken stock.
- Smoked ham diced in the stead of the usual ham bone scraps.
I put all of these ingredients cold into the slow cooker and let it stink my house up for half a day. And there you have Boxing Day Soup.
Italian Omelette
(adjusted from a Family Circle Recipe- Pasta Cookbook)
Bad photo of excellent food. Italian Omelette went so quickly this is the only shot I got of it.Again, this recipe has a deceiving name. This is nothing like a traditional omelette. It is closer to a frittata.
- 2 tab olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 125g ham diced finely
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 cups cooked spiral (or other short) pasta.
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
- 1 tab fresh basil chopped
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese.
Add the ham and cook over low heat for a few minutes. Transfer to a plate.
In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, s&p together. Add the cooked pasta, parmesan and gruyere cheese, herbs and onion/ham mixture.
Return the omelette mixture to the same fry-pan, top with cheddar cheese and cook over low to medium heat until it has started to set. Put the fry-pan under a grill to set the top of the omelette.
The mix of the three cheeses really made this dish sing. The photo doesn't do it justice at all. Dan and I both went back for seconds and I ended up with no leftovers!
Honeyed Ham For Breakfast
Honeyed ham is, in one word, delicious.
Honeyed ham for breakfast is just plain decadent.
Cut off chunks of ham.
Heat either olive oil or butter in a saucepan.
Add the ham and a generous dollop or two of honey.
Fry the ham in the honey mixture until golden brown.
Best served with toast and egg with a cup of tea on the side. Oh yeah!
Ham and Vegie Fritters
When my mum heard of Project Use-Up-The-Ham she offered her suggestion of fritters. This is a family favorite to make use of leftover roast and I can't count the number of times I had fritters for dinner as a child.
- 1 egg
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 onion finely chopped
- pinch salt
- 125g ham diced finely
- 1/3 cup peas
- 1/3 cup corn kernals
- oil for frying.
In a frypan, heat olive or vegetable oil over high heat. Once sufficiently heated, drop two to three tablespoons of the fritter mixture into the oil. Fry each side until golden.
It is imperative that these are served with an emoticon (smiley face etc.) of tomato sauce.
I failed at frying the first batch because I didn't have the temperature high enough or wait until the oil was ready before adding the batter to the frypan. My second batch was more successful. Remember that you are frying these.... they should be golden and crispy and not the consistency of pancakes (though they taste pretty good that way too!)
End report:
With a large amount of the ham now gone I am still looking for ways to use up the last of it.
Suggestions so far have been a ham-based carbonara and fried rice.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for completing Project Use-Up-The-Ham?
