02 December 2007

a week of ham

Once a year, I buy a ham. I'm not really a big fan of ham, but once a year I buy a big ol' ham and go to town. I was beginning to think ham wouldn't go on sale this year in time for us to have one before we went away for Christmas, but yesterday I went to the store and found them super-cheap. The problem is, the smallest ham I could find was seven pounds. And that's a lot of ham for four people, one of whom doesn't love ham (me), and one of whom hardly eats anything anyway (Evan).

So I'm asking for suggestions. What creative uses do you all have for leftover ham? Tonight I'm serving all seven pounds with Jessica's fabulous cider glaze, and we're going to eat all the ham we can stand, but I'm anticipating days of leftovers. As far as real recipes from my collection go, I've got a ham-potato-cheddar soup planned, and ham tetrazzini, a pasta dish my mom used to make. We'll probably do a pizza, and possibly omelets, but those won't use much ham. I want to do as few ham sandwiches as possible. I'm mostly just looking for a way not to eat it straight up for days and days.

So what else can I do with several pounds of ham?

5 comments:

Jessica said...

Quick Carbonara
(You can be very flexible with the amounts)

1/4 lb. bacon
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. butter
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 cups julienne strips of HAM (about 1/2 lb.)
1 8 oz. package of spaghetti
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste (ham is salty - I don't use
any salt)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sliced olives (green or ripe)

Brown bacon in fry pan (I use microwave). Drain.
crumble, and reserve bacon. Pour off fat. Add
butter, oil, garlic, and ham to the pan. Saute
lightly. Add spaghetti, bacon, cheese, parsley, salt,
and pepper; stir well. Turn off heat and pour eggs
over and quickly toss to coat spaghetti evenly. (You
can leave it over low heat until eggs are cooked).
Add olives and toss. Decorate with chopped parsley.
Serve at once. Makes 5-6 servings.

Anonymous said...

Ham salad maybe with some tarragon? Scalloped potatoes with ham. Split pea soup. Calzones. That's about all this veggie lover can come up with.
melissa

Anonymous said...

ps chicken corden bleu (sp)?

Anonymous said...

split pea soup (with ham of course)

Samay said...

you can stir-fry it in some chinese food.