Cats On The Homestead: hash browns

Sunday, December 29, 2013

What To Do With Leftover Ham - 5 Recipes

For Christmas we baked a wonderful yummy ham.

(Picture from Honeybaked Ham... yummmmy!)

But since there is only three of us, and one is pint-sized, we have a lot of leftover ham. Good thing I have a set of leftover ham recipes that go beyond the basic ham sandwich. There are not a lot of pictures with this post so you will have to use your imagination a bit. I hope these recipes and ideas inspire you to use up the rest of your leftover ham!

Ham and Egg Scramble

This is another one of those use what you have on hand recipes. We had this for breakfast this morning but I didn't even think of taking pictures. But it did inspire this post. For my egg scramble I use:

1 cup chopped leftover ham
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup mined onion
6 eggs
salt to taste
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter

In a skillet add the olive oil and chopped veggies. You do not have to use the vegetables listed above but can throw in any combination you happen to have on hand. Once the veggies are softened, add the chopped ham and cook until the ham is warm.

While cooking, put the eggs and salt in a bowl and beat with a whisk or fork until well combined. Move the veggies and ham to one half of the pan. Add the butter to the now clear half of the pan. Spread the melting butter around to coat that half of the pan. Add the eggs to the clear, now butter coated half of the pan. Use a spatula to continuously scramble eggs in the pan. Once about half of the egg is cooked, combine the eggs and the veggie/ham mixture and continue to scramble another minute or two. Do not over cook the egg. Transfer to a plates and serve immediately. Scrambled eggs, contrary to every restaurant buffet, do not sit well.

Ham and Egg Bake

My egg bake recipe is here. Instead of using sausage, use ham. Super yummy! This recipe does not need to have the hash brown crust. It can be cooked directly in a greased pan instead.

Ham and Potatoes Au Gratin

I made this the other night. Again I wish I had thought to take pictures. Blogging is going to drive me to capture pix of everything I cook, just in case. Well my family seems to understand... or they are afraid and don't want to startle me in someway.

You will need:
6 cups water (boiling in a sauce pan)
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 medium sized potatoes, peeled
2 cups chopped ham
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or 1/4 cup onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt (this is in addition to the salt listed above)
1-1/2 shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Bring your 6 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt to a boil in a medium sauce pan. While the water is heating, wash and peel the potatoes. Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Then cut all the slices in half. Once the water is boiling carefully add the potatoes to the boiling water (please wait until boiling). Reduce heat to a simmer to prevent bubbling over. Gently boil potatoes about 10 minutes. This will significantly cut down on the oven cooking time. It drives me crazy that every Au Gratin potato recipe has a 50 to 60 minute cook time when it really is more like 1-3/4 hours to get the center potatoes truly soft and cooked through.

Drain the potatoes into a colander in the sink. Let them sit a few minutes to really drain off the water.

While waiting, in a bowl whisk together the milk, cream, salt, and garlic or onion. You can add pepper to this mix too if you like.

Butter the bottom of your baking pan. Take about half of the potatoes and add them to the pan then layer with about half of the chopped ham. On top of that add about half of the milk and cream mixture. Then repeat with the remainder of the potatoes, chopped ham, and mix and cream mixture.

Put in the oven for 30 minutes, uncovered. After 30 minutes, add the shredded cheese and cook another 20 minutes until browned and bubbly. Let set about 5 minutes before serving.

Ham and Bean Soup

This is one of my favorites. We make a big pot and freeze it into many meals for the long and way too cold winter. (Did I mention tomorrow our high is supposed to be -10?)

I mention this here as a place holder. I will be making this later this week and will post the recipe specifically. And will take pictures this time!

Update: This recipe has been posted. Find it here.

Ham and Pasta Alfredo Bake (Also Known as Ham Mac and Cheese)

This is super simple recipe. And again is one I throw together with what I have on hand. Generally you will need:

1 box of pasta, any shape will do

salt

4 Tablespoons butter

1 cup cream

1 cup milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 cup shredded cheese (I like to use 1/2 Gruyere and 1/2 cheddar but any combination will work)

2 cups chopped ham

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare pasta until cooked al dente (in other words until not quite done and still chewy). Drain in a colander over the sink. Let sit a few minutes to drain well.

While pasta is cooking in a sauce pan melt butter then add garlic to cook 2 or 3 minutes. Add milk and cream and whisk together then cook until just simmering. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and remove from heat.

Grease a baking pan. Add cooked pasta and ham then cover with cream sauce you made above. Last top with the shredded cheese. Bake 30 minutes until top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Classic comfort food!

Happy eating. Please follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Bloglovin.

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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Baked Hash Browns

As you may recall, we grown our own potatoes. And when you grow and store a couple hundred pounds of potatoes, you need to eat them. One of my favorite potato recipes is simple hash browns.

I have made hash browns in a number of different ways and have found baking them in the oven to be the absolutely best way to make them.

You will need:

1 to 1.5 pounds of potatoes
1/4 cup onion, minced
Small amount of olive oil or cooking spray (see my cooking spray note below)
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 tsp paprika or other seasoning

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Wash, peel and shred the potatoes. You can use a cheese grater or a mandolin. You can also use pre-shredded, fresh or frozen, potatoes. However, look at the ingredients on that prepackaged shredded potato sometime. Yuck! It is only an extra 10 minutes of your day to shred your own potatoes. Take the time and do it yourself.

Once shredded, squeeze the potatoes to drain off some of their liquid. You can use a fine mesh strainer and push the potatoes down against the mesh. You can also gather up the potato shreds a handful at a time in some paper towels and squeeze. I like the paper towel method. A clean tea towel also works great and you just toss it in the wash rather than toss it in the trash when you are done. Either way do it over the sink because there will be a lot of dripping. The drier the potato the better they will crisp on the outside. Wet potatoes steam while cooking giving you more of a baked potato texture which is fine but not what we are aiming for here.

In a bowl, mix the potatoes, minced onion, salt (and pepper which my daughter will not eat so I leave it out), and cheese if you are using it. We love the cheese. I used cheddar in these pictures. Gruyere works great too.

I think the best method for cooking is to spread parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Spray the parchment paper with a little oil. You could also use a basting brush and brush a thin layer of oil on the parchment paper. The oil helps the potatoes brown nicely.

Here is my cooking spray note. Don't buy it. It is a toxic mess. Instead get a refillable oil spray bottle like my Mr. Mister Oil Sprayer (you can buy it on Amazon). This little baby is awesome. Fill it part way with olive oil then pump the top a few times to create pressure. Take off the top and push down on the nozzle to spray the oil just like a can of Pam without the chemical mess needed to make that Pam can spray.

Scoop about 1/3 cup of the potato mixture onto the parchment paper at a time and form into little potato patties. The space between the patties helps the potatoes cook faster. It also makes turning them over to cook both sides easier.

Put the cookie sheet into the oven and cook for about 20 minutes.

After cooking for 20 minutes before being flipped

Flip each hash brown over, return to the oven and cook another 15 minutes or until done. Your oven may take more or less time. You want golden brown, but not burned, on both sides.

Remove the hash browns from the parchment paper and either serve right away or put on a rack to cool.

These hash browns freeze great! Once cool, put a piece of wax paper between the hash browns and store in a ziptop bag in the freezer. You can warm them up in an oven or on the stove top. Yes, you can use the microwave too, but try not to when you can avoid it. The microwave destroys nutrients in the food. And food should be about both nutrition and enjoyment.

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