I have a metric ton of ham, you have the recipes...

Cafe Society
1

…Give?

So, I went through the freezer the other day, and located a ham that’d been there a while. I cooked 'er up and SpouseO and I ate like kings yesterday, but what do I do now? It was a 10 pound ham, so I’ve got tons left, but not many ideas on how to use it up. (Well, I have one: tortellini alfredo. And that’s it.) We like ham, but I know it’ll just go to waste if I don’t include it in a bunch of dinners and such (that’s what happened to the last one).

Ideas? Recipes? Give me ways that I can use it all up. And thanks!

2

Split pea or navy bean soup.

Ham salad.

Ham and cheese omelet.

BBQ ham sandwiches.

More soup.

3

Mix it in with mac n’ cheese.
The following is the best mac n’ cheese I ever had, and it doesn’t start with a bechamel sauce. (Bonus: it’s high protein!)

2C Barilla Plus elbow noodles
2C whole milk
10oz Velveeta
2C shredded mild cheddar
4 slices white American cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. Boil noodles in well-salted, boiling water for 7 minutes. Drain noodles, rinse in cold water. In same pot, add milk and cubed Velveeta. Stir until Velveeta is almost melted, add cheddar. Stir until cheddar is completely melted. Add white American, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until cheese sauce is smooth. Add pasta back into pot and stir well.

Pour into 2qt. casserole dish, bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until top begins to brown nicely.

For ham leftovers, mix about 2C of diced cooked ham in before pouring into casserole.

4

It is awesome accompanied by scalloped potatoes. Yum.

Another one of my favorite uses for ham is in split pea soup, which for me also includes onions, cabbage, and potatoes. When it’s done stir in some chopped chipotle chiles and top with monterrey jack cheese. More yum.

5

The Rath packing company was once one of the biggest pork houses in America. Other companies gradually took over, and Rath closed in 1985. Before then, a talented cook could use up most of a whole ham, then coarsely chop a mess of onions and fresh basil. In a while, you’d have an unbelievable Basil Rathbone Soup.

6

Considers going to the store tomorrow and buying a ten pound ham just so he can smack AskNott across the back of the head with it.

7

Ham fried rice
Croque Monsiur
Tossed with pasta
Cobb salad
Ham and eggs
Added to grits and cheese
Ham and pineapple pizza
Ham biscuits
Carrot raisin salad

One of my own creations, using leftover ham last Easter…cornbread with a thin slice of baked ham, several spears of steamed asparagus and topped with hollandaise sauce…awesome, but not something your arteries should have everyday.

Think of breakfast, lunch and dinner menus…works for any and all.

8

Two slices of bread + ham = tasty sandwich

9

Harriet’s got a great point. Another idea is this: next time you make scalloped potatoes, layer the ham with the potatoes. This combination freezes wonderfully.

Love, Phil

10

Ham Stir Fry with Couscous. Delicious!

Skillet Ham, Cabbage, and Potatoes. I like this one because it’s cheap and doesn’t make a lot of dirty dishes. It’s not as dull as it sounds, very spicy and good.

11

Pasta salad

Cook 1 lb of tri-color rotini and rinse with cold water. And add cubed ham, sliced green/red pepper, minced or silvered red onion, celery, seedless cucumber, sliced mushrooms - or whatever veggies you care for. Then just dress it with some good vinaigrette (I sometimes just use creamy Italian dressing right from the grocery store) and cracked black pepper.

Quick, easy, tasty, and is even better the next day from the 'fridge.

12

You put HAM in your CARROT RAISIN SALAD? You’re a sick, twisted human being.

13

Or ham biscuits, which is my favorite thing to do with leftover ham after Thanksgiving.

Make yourself some southern-style biscuits, split 'em in half, layer on a slice or two of the ham, some cheese, a dab of mustard or mayo, and whatever else you’d like. So. Good.

You can also include ham in a breakfast casserole, or make a quiche.

14

You just baked it, right? So slice off as much as you can from the bone, then freeze it in various sized packets. Wrap snugly in cling wrap, pop into freezer bags (label them first), zip bags almost shut then suck remaining air out of the corner through a straw. Quickly snick the bags all the way shut and toss into odd corners of your freezer. Pure gold for future soups, casseroles, quick-thaws for omelets, stir-frys, etc.

Toss the bone into a large pot of cold water, bring to a boil, knock it back to a simmer and forget about it for a few hours. Add more water if it looks like it’s getting low. Use for bean soup, a few good splashes to cook a kettle of greens, you name it.

Honestly, it makes so much more sense than trying to force down all that ham at once.

15

Sliced ham with onion/orange chutney. On bread (possibly on rye with some blue cheese).

You probably can make a spaghetti carbonara type dish with it. Chop up the ham, fry in a bit of butter and olive oil and garlic. Boil pasta. Mix an egg and some rasped cheese (any old, hard, salty cheese will do) with some pepper. Combine everything when the pasta is cooked. The cheese and egg will half-cook from the heat of the pasta and fat.

Actually, lots of pasta will work. Ham + cream + mushrooms.

Club sandwitches! Chicken/turkey + greens + ham + some dressing (mustard, honey, olive oil), pine nuts, 3 slices of lightly toasted bread.

Salads. Any greens + whatever veggies and mushrooms + ham + a little dressing.

edit: one of best meals I ever cooked was sliced spicy ham with orange chutney and boiled potatoes.

16

Ham and green beans:

1# fresh green beans (really doesn’t work well with canned), ends clipped, cut into whatever length suits you
1 clove garlic, smashed (or 1/2 t. from a jar of minced garlic)
Some thick slices of ham
AND a nice sized chunk of the rind/fat if you have any

Put it all into a pot, add water to cover. Bring to a boil then simmer for 8 - 10 minutes until the beans are cooked to your preference.
Here’s a wonderful dish to make, when you’re down to the bone with (hopefully) some bits of ham still clinging to it:
Ham and Boiled Beans (with possible bonus Bean Soup)

1# dried beans. I generally use small whites or navy, but really any beans will do. Put them into a large jar/bowl whatever and add water to several inches above the beans. Soak overnight in the fridge. Whenever you think of it, at least a couple of times, drain off the water and replace with fresh. (This will help reduce any, er, after effects of eating beans.)

Next day, drain the beans again. Put the ham bone into a suitable pot (when I do a whole ham, I use my big roaster), pour the beans around them. If you were a smart girl, you saved the fatty rind as you cut off and used ham – add those pieces of rind to the pot. Add a medium sized onion, ends cut off, peeled, and chopped into pieces. Add about 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Add a few ribs of celery if you have them. (Don’t worry about cutting up the celery, just fish it out and throw it away when the beans are done.) Add water to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer covered until the beans are cooked. Usually between 45 and 75 minutes, mostly depending on which bean variety you chose. Be sure the beans don’t boil dry! If your lid doesn’t fit tightly, add water as needed to keep the beans covered.

Once the beans are cooked, take the pot off the heat. Pull out the ham bone and let it cool. Fish out the celery and bits of ham rind and discard. Once you can handle it, pick off any ham that remained on the bone and return it to the beans. Taste, add more pepper if needed. Also salt, if needed, but I’ve never had to, but maybe if you didn’t have rind to add.
At this point there will be one of two situations: you’ll have beans with just enough liquid so they aren’t dry. Fine. Enjoy!

Otherwise you might have bean with way too much liquid. Great! Use a scoop/slooted spoon/sieve thingy to scoop as much of the beans as you need into a dish. Enjoy!

Afterward, put any uneaten beans back into the pot of beans/liquid. Bean soup for lunch the next day! And it’ll be killer good. If you like smooth bean soup, use an immersion blender or something on some/all of it.

Now I must go buy a ham, because I looooooooove boiled beans/bean soup.

17

Put the Mayo on hold.