One of my favorite parts of holiday dinners is the leftovers. I love the challenge of creating interesting dishes that reimagine the protein into something new and different. At Easter, we usually make ham and have lots of fun with the leftovers. But, since I was in Portland last week, I left the leftover Easter ham with my sister. (“Left the leftovers”? I may have to work on my writing a bit!) So, I made a baked spiral sliced ham last night. Yes, on a Thursday night. It’s actually a pretty easy meal, and we have about 10 pounds left! So, I’m looking around for things to do with it.
Of course, we’ll have ham sandwiches, and fry slices for dinner, and chop some up to throw in scrambled eggs, but that’s going to get pretty HO HUM after a very short while. So, I need some new recipes.
I always use the ham bone for soup, usually split pea. It’s a super simple and tastes very good. I make a big pot and then freeze it for quick dinners later. Next time I make it I’ll share the recipe here.
I also have been making homemade baked beans in the crockpot – super easy and a lot less sodium than the canned kind. I plan to freeze some of the ham into portions to throw into the bean recipe when I’m making that.
But I want something new too. Ham is pretty salty, so I’m looking for recipes that are a bit different (no more beans or potato recipes), and not too salty on their own. I know I’ll be cooking for quite a few meals to use this meat up. Here are some of the ideas that inspire me:
- Pati’s Mexican Table has a recipe for Ham and Cheese Sincronizadas with Flour Tortillas. I wasn’t sure what a sincronizada is, and the recipe looked very similar to quesadillas. But, according to Wikipedia, a sincronizada is a grilled sandwich with flour tortillas, ham and usually beans. Turns out, a quesadilla is made with one flour tortilla folded in half. If you use two tortillas, it’s a sincronizada, especially if it has ham in it.
- Tesco Real Food has a delicious looking recipe for Broccoli and Ham Risotto. The recipe works with arborio rice, which is the traditional rice for risotto, or brown rice, with adds fiber and negates the need to stir it constantly while cooking. I love the creaminess of traditional risotto, so I’ll probably splurge and try it with arborio rice.
- Speaking of risotto, Food Network published a recipe for Barley Risotto with Ham and Mushrooms. I love the hearty nuttiness of barley, but Gabriel isn’t a huge fan of mushrooms, so I may play around with this one, trying a different vegetable. Any suggestions?
- Chow had a great slideshow of ideas for holiday leftovers, and I found two that I liked. The first is the French Ham and Cheese Quick Bread. I love the idea of quick breads, they’re great for breakfast, snacks, and eating on the go.
- Chow also featured a Ham and Camembert Baquette Sandwich with Fig Jam – different and delicious.
- Tablespoon has a great looking recipe for Sour Cream-Ham Enchiladas. I love Mexican style food, and I don’t typically see meals like enchiladas and tacos made with ham, so I’m excited to try this.
What are your favorite ways to use ham? Let me know in the comments.
