Sunday, January 3, 2010

3 Great Recipes Using Leftover Ham

This past Christmas my daughter requested that we have ham for Christmas dinner. I was happy to honor her request and we had a delicious dinner of baked ham, sweet potato souffle (yum!), and green beans. This year there were only 5 of us for Christmas dinner so we had a lot of leftover ham. I sliced off some and stored it in a ziploc freezer bag for a future meal, but I still had a lot of ham left. So I had myself a little "leftover ham festival" and experimented with a few recipes. I made split pea soup with ham (and stored lots of that in the freezer for a future winter dinner), corn chowder with ham, and quiche with ham and gruyere. The recipes are below. The split pea soup was my favorite, but all were good. I highly recommend using leftovers in recipes and would love for you to share any of your favorite recipes which take advantage of leftovers.

SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH HAM


1 leftover ham bone with several inches of ham remaining on the bone

2 lbs dried split peas*, rinsed

4 cups chicken broth

10 cups water

2 onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 baking potatoes, peeled and diced

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

  • Coat the bottom of a large stock pot with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.
  • Cook the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes, until softened.
  • Stir in the carrots and potatoes.
  • Add the dried peas and ham bone.
  • Add the chicken broth and water.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Lower heat and cover.
  • Simmer for two hours.
  • Remove the ham bone from the soup. Cut off the ham and chop into bite-sized pieces.
  • Return the ham to the soup.
  • The soup should have a fairly smooth, yet chunky consistency. If you prefer a completely smooth consistency, put the soup through the blender in batches (either before or after you add the ham, depending on your preference).
  • This recipe yields a large amount of soup, but it freezes very well if you won’t be eating it all in one sitting.
*I like Goya brand the best.


CORN CHOWDER WITH HAM


2 cans (15 ounce) cream-style corn

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup chopped cooked ham

1 cup 2% milk


  • Mix the corn, chicken broth, and ham in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat.
  • Stir occasionally.
  • Stir in the milk and heat through.


Serves 6.



HAM AND GRUYERE QUICHE


1 prepared refrigerated pie crust*

1 cup cooked ham, chopped

4 large eggs

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup Gruyere cheese**, shredded


  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Unroll pie crust into a 9 inch pie plate.
  • Spread ham on the bottom of the prepared pie crust.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, and salt.
  • Stir in cheese.
  • Pour cream mixture over ham.
  • Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
  • Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.
  • Bake for 35 minutes longer, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.


Serves 6.


*I like Pillsbury brand the best.

**can substitute swiss or cheddar



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