...Perhaps Some Ham?

When I was a kid, I LOVED Faerie Tale Theatre (produced by Shelley Duvall). One of my favorites was Cinderella (starring Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Beals). As a kid, I loved that episode because I loved the story of Cinderella. But when I got older, I loved that episode even more because the writing is just so silly!

At one point, the step-sisters answer the door to discover a royal page who is delivering the invitation to the ball. The step-sisters become more than welcoming and at one point, one of the step-sisters offers him something to drink as follows: "Would you like something to drink? Perhaps some ham?" Even as a kid, I could appreciate the absolute wackiness of that line. We would quote that line all the time. Perhaps one of the reasons I liked that line was because of my Mom's penchant for screwing up orders at any and all fast food drive through windows. For instance, one time my mother ordered from Arby's as follows: "I would like a roaf beast sandwich with fries to drink." The employee's response was classic "Sure, but I don't think you'll be able to drink your fries." Ha ha!

Anyway, back to ham. I really like ham. It just screams Easter and springtime to me. I usually only have it (and the inevitable leftovers) once a year. It's pretty rich and it makes a ton, so I don't make it more often than that. But I make good use of the leftovers in my other dinners over the next week or so. It also freezes well, so if you get burned out, just freeze what you can't eat now and save it for later.

I'm going to share some great glaze recipes and ideas, as well as a recipe for pasta salad that is one of my favorite ways to utilize leftover ham.

In addition to what I am sharing below, here are some of my favorite uses for leftover ham:

• Ham and cheese calzones/hot pockets: using frozen dough (such as Rhodes Dough), thaw the dough and let rise. Divide into individual portions and roll out. Fill with desired amount of ham and shredded cheddar cheese. Fold over and pinch edges. Bake at 350 degrees until bread is nicely browned (about 20 minutes). You can also use refrigerated pizza dough, refrigerated biscuits, refrigerated crescents, phyllo dough, puff pastry, etc. to achieve the same thing. Eat plain, or dip in your favorite mustard.
• Ham and cheese sandwiches: ham, favorite cheese (cheddar or Swiss are great), favorite mustard (honey mustard, Dijon, spicy brown, horseradish, are tasty choices), and bread (white or wheat). Serve deli style or toasted so that the ham is warmed and the cheese is melted.
• Monte Cristo Sandwiches: I have some recipes planned for posting in the near future. But basically, these sandwiches have a sweet and salty twist: ham, turkey, cheese, strawberry jam, and powdered sugar!
• Hawaiian pizza: use the ham as a topping for a Hawaiian pizza (just pizza dough, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pineapple tidbits, and ham).
• Breakfast burritos: tortillas, scrambled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, ham, and salsa.
• Breakfast bakes: use your ham in breakfast bakes, such as this Do-Ahead Breakfast Bake or Canadian Bacon Strata (use ham in place of the Canadian Bacon).
• Soup: You can reserve the ham bone as a base to make split-pea soup or any other favorite soup with ham. You can also dice leftover ham to put into the soup.

Apricot-Brown Sugar Ham

Ingredients:

1 jar (8 oz) apricot jam
1-2 cups brown sugar

Directions:

Place ham in baking dish, flat side down. Cover ham with aluminum foil. Bake ham according to package directions (usually 12-15 minutes at 275 degrees for every pound of ham--so a 12 pound ham would cook for about 3 hours at 275 degrees).

Once the ham is done baking, pour jam over the ham and sprinkle with brown sugar. Increase heat to 425 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve.

Source: I got this simple recipe from a co-worker's wife. Thanks to the Feld family!

Notes: You can spoon additional glaze on top of your ham slices, if you like. I find that salad, rolls, veggies, potato salad, or roasted new potatoes make good sides when you are serving ham.

Orange Baked Ham (the original version that inspired me)

Ingredients:

1 (14-16 pound) fully cooked spiral-cut smoked ham on the bone
6 garlic cloves
8 1/2 ounces orange marmalade
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 orange, zested
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham in a heavy roasting pan.

Mince the garlic in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the marmalade, mustard, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice and process until smooth. Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 1 hour, until the ham is fully heated and the glaze is well browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Source: Food Network recipe by Ina Garten, 2008.

Notes: I was inspired by this recipe since I had some of the ingredients on hand...but in the end, I decided to improvise, so I can't say that I followed this recipe exactly, but it was my main influence.

Orange Baked Ham (my version)

Ingredients:

1 fully cooked spiral-cut smoked ham on the bone (mine was almost 12 pounds)
8 1/2 ounces orange marmalade
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
Ham Glaze Packet included with the ham (or, 1 cup light brown sugar, packed, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, and 2 tbsp honey)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place the ham in a heavy roasting pan, flat side down. Cover with aluminum foil to keep the ham from drying out.

Bake the ham for 12-15 minutes per pound at 275 degrees.

Prepare glaze by stirring orange marmalade, Dijon mustard, and glaze packet (or brown sugar, ground cloves, and honey) together until well blended.

Once the ham is finished baking, pour the glaze over the top and increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake for another 15 minutes and remove from the oven. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Source: Me...inspired by the Food Network recipe by Ina Garten, 2008.

Notes: I just can't ever throw away a glaze packet. I don't know why. I always end up incorporating it into my own glaze. This time, I had marmalade and Dijon mustard and really wanted to try that combination. I looked at the ingredients list on my glaze packet. The ingredients are as follows: sugar, brown sugar, spices, and honey powder.

So, I decided that I would use the glaze mix packet in lieu of the brown sugar called for in Ina Garten's recipe. I meant to add the garlic...but I forgot. :)

At any rate, the combination I used worked great and tasted fantastic.

Balsamic-Maple Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Kraft Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
1/4 cup maple-flavored or pancake syrup
1 tbsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1 bone-in skinless smoked ham, shank or butt end portion (7 lbs.)
2 lbs. parsnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch wide spears
1-1/2 lb. baby carrots
3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix dressing, syrup, and mustard. Place ham, fat-side up (flat side down), in roasting pan. Diagonally score ham; cover with foil. Bake 1 hour.

Remove foil. Brush ham with 1/3 of the glaze. Bake, uncovered, 1 hour or until heated through (140 degrees F), brushing with remaining glaze every 20 min. Meanwhile, toss parsnips and carrots with oil in large shallow pan. Add to oven with ham the last 45 minutes of the ham baking time, turning vegetables every time ham is brushed with glaze.

Remove ham from oven; transfer to cutting board. Tend with foil; let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Continue to roast vegetables 15 min., turning every 5 minutes. Serve with ham.

How to score a ham: Using a sharp knife, make 1/4 inch deep parallel cuts, about 1 inch apart, in top surface of ham. make additional scores at right angles to form diamond shapes.

Makes 20 servings (270 calories each).

Source: recipe found at www.kraftrecipes.com

Notes: We skipped the vegetables portion of this recipe. While the scoring made the ham really pretty, I thought it also made it a little harder to carve at times. The more shallow the scoring, the easier it will be to carve. But the scoring allows the glaze to flavor the ham, so don't score it too shallow! Ahhh, such a fine line.

Above: We made the Balsamic-Maple Glazed Ham for Easter again in 2013. We used a spiral cut ham instead. It was fantastic!

And as a bonus, here are some glaze recipes that were included with my ham. They look like great ideas/suggestions and I'll have to try them in the future!

Ham Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp water (for other flavors, you can substitute orange juice, cranberry juice, or apple cider for the water)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a small saucepan.

Heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.

To prepare in microwave oven, combine all ingredients in a 1 1/2 quart bowl. Microwave on high (100%) power about 1 minute or until glaze comes to a boil, stirring every 30 seconds.

When ham is ready, pour glaze over ham and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Source: This recipe is from the instructions that came with my Kirkland Signature Spiral Sliced Ham.

Apricot Glaze

Ingredients:

1 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 tbsp orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

Mix all ingredients until smooth and use as a glaze for ham (prepared according to package directions).

Source: Another recipe from the instruction booklet that came with my ham.

Sweet Curry-Orange Glaze

Ingredients:

2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon grated orange peel

Directions:

Mix all ingredients until smooth and use as a glaze for ham (prepared according to package directions).
Source: Another recipe from the instruction booklet that came with my ham.

December 2013 Update:

You can make pretty much anything in a slow cooker these days. "Baked" potatoes? Yup. Bread? Check. Ham? You bet! Slow cooker ham couldn't be easier. Check out the recipe below. My apologies though, it appears that I forgot to take a picture! However, everyone knows what sliced ham looks like...so, just imagine that.

Slow Cooker Ham

Ingredients:

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 (8 pound) cured, bone-in picnic ham

Directions:

Spread about 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar on the bottom of the slow cooker crock. Place the ham flat side down into the slow cooker--you might have to trim it a little to make it fit. Use your hands to rub the remaining brown sugar onto the ham. Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by LITTLEMSTXTHANG. You can find it here.

Notes: This was really tender. A great, and easy way to make ham!

Spaghetti Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb. package spaghetti
4 medium tomatoes, diced
2 medium cucumbers, diced
Cubed ham (amount is according to taste)
1 sweet red onion, finely diced
1 bottle favorite Italian salad dressing
1/2 bottle Salad Supreme


Directions:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain. Rinse. Add other ingredients and let set 6-8 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Source: from an old ward cookbook. Recipe submitted by Naomi Telford.

Notes: the size of the chopped vegetables and ham is according to your taste. You can cut them into large cubes for a chunkier pasta salad or you can finely dice them. You can also get creative with what type of ham you put into the salad. You can use prosciutto in place of the ham, for instance. The original recipe even states that you can use spam instead of ham, if desired.

To my knowledge, we have never made it with the Salad Supreme. So, it can be omitted, if you like.

Update: For Easter in 2014, we made the following ham recipe.

Citrus Jalepeno Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

One 8- to 10-pound bone-in, smoked, fully-cooked ham, butt or shank portion
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
1/3 cup fresh lilme juice (about 4 lines)
1/2 cup hot pepper jelly
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 jalapeno, halved, seeded, and sliced

Directions:

Let the ham sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Trim off any skin from the ham, if needed. Score the ham through the fat in a diagonal crosshatch pattern with cutting into the meat. Place the ham, flat-side down, on a rack in a roasting pan. Pour 1/4 inch of water into the bottom of the pan. Roast the ham until it reaches an internal temperature of about 130 degrees F, about 2 1/2 hours or 15 minutes per pound.

Meanwhile, whisk together the lemon and lime juices, pepper jelly, Worcestershire sauce, and jalapeno in a small saucepan. Bring toa  simmer and reduce until thickened to about 3/4 cup, about 20 minutes.

Remove the ham from the oven when it has reached 130 degrees F internally. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Spoon or brush half of the glaze all over the ham. Add water as needed to the bottom of the pan. Return the ham to the oven and roast, basting every 10 minutes with the remaining glaze until glossy, glazed, and well browned, about 45 minutes more.

Source: Food Network. You can find the recipe here.

Update 4/5/15: Here's what we did for our Easter ham this year.

 

Honey Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

1 (5 pound) ready-to-eat ham
1/4 cup whole cloves
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
2 cups honey
2/3 cup butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Score ham, and stud with the whole cloves. Place ham in foil lined pan.

In the top half of a double boiler, heat the corn syrup, honey, and butter. Keep glaze warm while baking ham.

Brush glaze over ham, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Baste ham every 10 to 15 minutes with the honey glaze. During the last 4 to 5 minutes of baking, turn on broiler to caramelize the glaze. Remove from oven, and let sit a few minutes before serving.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Colleen. You can find it here.

Notes: We bought a spiral sliced ham and used that instead of scoring our ham. Then we served it with three different ham glazes for everyone to use as dipping sauces instead.

 

Easy Peach-Jalapeno Ham Glaze

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peach jam
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno chiles

Directions:

In small bowl, stir together jam and jalapeno chiles. Brush over ham the last 45 minutes of baking.

Source: Betty Crocker. You can find it here.

Notes: As mentioned above in the notes for the ham recipe, we didn't use this as a glaze. Rather, we used it as a dipping sauce for the ham. It was very tasty!

 

Easy Blueberry-Chipotle Glaze

Ingredients:

1/3 cup blueberry preserves
2 tablespoons finely chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (from 7-oz can)
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

Directions:

In small bowl, mix all ingredients with whisk until well blended.

Brush glaze over ham during last 45 minutes of baking.

Source: Betty Crocker. You can find it here.

Notes: Ditto in the notes above. We didn't use this as a glaze. We used it as a dipping sauce and it was fantastic!

 

Easy Cherry-Lime-Ginger Ham Glaze

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cherry jam
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

In small bowl, beat all ingredients with whisk. Brush over ham the last 45 minutes of baking.

Source: Betty Crocker. You can find it here.

Notes: Again, we didn't use this as a glaze this time around, we used it as a dipping sauce for our ham. Super delicious!

Update 3/27/16: Here's what we did for our Easter ham this year.

Slow-Cooker Maple-Brown Sugar Ham

Ingredients:

1 fully cooked boneless ham (5 to 6 pounds)

1/2 cup honey Dijon mustard

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

Spray 6- to 7-quart oval slow cooker with cooking spray. Make cuts about 1-inch apart and 1/4 inch deep in diamond pattern in top of ham (we opted for a spiral sliced ham instead). Place ham in slow cooker.

In small bowl,s tir together mustard, syrup, and brown sugar with whisk until well blended. Pour mixture over ham.

Cover; cook on Low heat setting 3 to 4 hours or until meat thermometer inserted in ham reads 140 degrees F.

Remove ham from slow cooker. Cover loosely with foil; let stand 10 to 15 minutes. Strain cooking juices. Slice ham; pour strained juices over ham.

Source: Betty Crocker. You can find it here.

Notes: This was really good and so tender. Delicious stuff! As mentioned above, we didn't score our ham because we got a spiral sliced ham instead.