Baked ham! It’s not just for Easter.

 

As you may have guessed, I have a great affinity for pork products. While on the surface, it may be the decidedly unglamorous staple of a lunchtime sandwich, the lowly ham can occasionally have center stage at Easter, Christmas, or other large gathering. Usually, it’s one of those 10-pound behemoths purchased from a specialty store or super market that come already glazed and ready to go. Yes, they are delicious and convenient, but you can make a cheaper and much more sophisticated version at home, with about the same amount of skill that it takes to go to the store, buy the ham, and pour whatever glaze concoction it comes with.

Another bit of news…You can also buy a mini ham at most grocery stores! Well, why is this exciting, you ask? Well, as it turns out, it is a super easy and fancy looking weeknight dinner with the same minimal effort! It’s especially nice when cooking for two, as you will have leftovers that you can transform into any number of other dishes in the days to come.
I like to re-use in croquetas or gratin aux courgettes.

I usually serve with some mashed potatoes and green peas, but I came across these lemon potatoes from Martha Stewart that paired really nicely as well.

Here is my go-to glaze recipe for a baked ham for two:

1 quarter ham
1/4 cup whole cloves
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/4cup brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon grain mustard
1 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Score the top of the ham and stud all over with the whole cloves. Place on a roasting pan or baking dish and into the oven for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the orange peel, brown sugar, mustard and vinegar together until combined.

When the 30 minutes are up, pour the glaze over the ham and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes:

You can switch out the cider vinegar for orange juice.
If the ham is pre-sliced, you don’t need to score it, but I recommend that you tie it together with some butcher’s twine so that it stays together in the oven.
If you are using a whole (8+pound) ham, increase the ingredients accordingly.

 

 

Deliciously cheap and lazy…

So a few weeks ago, amid a 5-hour Stranger Things binge, my husband started asking about dinner. It was raining and neither one of us really had the motivation to go to the store. I poked around the kitchen and found I had some canned tomatoes and spaghetti, so I went about finding a good sauce with few ingredients. And I found GOLD!

Gold being Marcella Hazan’s tomato and butter sauce. It sounds strange. All you need is butter, tomatoes, onions, and salt. Chop up the tomatoes and onions, throw in the salt and butter, and walk away. It’s delicious as is, but in the few times I have made it since, I’ve thrown in some basil and red pepper flakes as well.

It’s a great recipe for when you’re on a budget and/or just not really in the mood to create anything elaborate. Not to mention, the ingredients are things you normally might have laying around your kitchen.

Happy eating!

That’s a Fancy Looking Chicken…

I have to admit I am late to the party on frozen chicken. Weird. I know. My husband recently introduced me to these giant bags of frozen boneless breasts and I have to say, they are really a lifesaver! They’re cheap and provide a large quantity of individual breasts and they can stay in your freezer pretty much forever. I’ve also learned that you can get thighs, drumsticks, and other bone in cuts too!

Okay, that’s enough of my frozen chicken epiphany. Because they are so convenient, these bags have now made chicken breasts a staple of my weekly dinner menu. After having fried them, steamed them, wrapped them in bacon, made stir fry and lettuce wraps, I was running out of ideas. I was also too lazy to go to the store one day, so I came up with the following super easy, super versatile, and dare I say, pretty fancy looking recipe.

So I had the chicken breasts, red onions, and Israeli couscous. I also had (and still have) more zucchini than I know what to do with, so those are the basic ingredients I used for this version. You can substitute with chicken thighs, sweet onions, butternut squash, pumpkin, mushrooms, or even asparagus, broccoli or cauliflower. Really, whatever you have on hand should work!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1-inch chunks
1 red onion, coarsely chopped
1 large zucchini, diced into 1-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 sachet Lipton Onion Soup
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
Juice of 2 limes or lemons
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

1 cup cooked Israeli couscous, prepared according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all ingredients except the couscous in a 9×13 glass baking pan. Make sure chicken and vegetables are well coated with seasonings and olive oil.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove from oven and combine with the cooked couscous in a large bowl. Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary and serve.

Serves 4.

 

CROQUETA, CROQUETA, CROQUETA!

I love croquetas. Ham, cod, cheese, chicken, and yes, even kale! You can put almost anything in bechamel, bread it and fry it into those wonderful little cylinders of deliciousness. I mean, Pepe Billete even wrote a song about them and whatever the filling, irregardless, they’re delicious!

Now, as much as we Cubans want to claim them as our own, the croqueta or croquette is not a Cuban invention. Older versions can be found across Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and other countries that have been around longer.

Personally, I have always been intimidated by the thought of making them. I had visions of explosions in oil and runny bechamel. The first few times I made them, it was supervised by the watchful eye of my far more talented partner in sandwich-making. More on that later. But now, living so far away from a Carreta or Versailles, I’ve finally found the courage to attempt them on my own. And, surprisingly, they were a success!!!

I used the Three Guys From Miami recipe and it worked beautifully. The only things I did differently were to use white wine instead of sherry and I didn’t have any nutmeg, so I left it out. I also only had half a pound of ham, and it still worked out just fine. If you do attempt this though, be sure your bechamel is THICK. Like the consistency of mashed potatoes thick. It also helps to make the filling one day ahead and refrigerate it overnight.

Buen Provecho!

Not so secret ingredients

Please don’t, but here are some exceptions….

As a proud food snob, I would like to say that I refuse to take shortcuts when cooking. I’d even like to say that some condiments out of the jar or packet are well, tacky. But tacky can sometimes be delightful and even downright tasty, when in moderation, of course.

One of my favorites is Lipton Onion Soup Mix. It’s really versatile, and no, not as soup. I mix it into ground beef for meatloaf and burgers. I also mix it in with some olive oil and fresh herbs to coat diced potatoes for roasting. I make a seasoning blend for chicken breasts and veggies with it as well. You can really find a million applications for it and it’s especially great when you have to throw something together for dinner after work. Mix it with sour cream and you have the staple potato chip dip of my 1980s childhood.

Heinz Ketchup is another one. Now, please don’t go putting it on your steak or anything like that, but it’s a great starter for easy homemade BBQ sauce. It also goes nicely into the mix for meatloaf and burgers.

Garlic and onion powders used to be the bane of my existence. My parents loved them because it took away the mess and time drain of chopping onions and garlic, so growing up, the contents of those Badia jars seemed like the base for everything. Personally, I like chopping onions and garlic, to me there is something soothing about it. However, I have found that the intensity and saltiness of the powders is absolutely wonderful in marinades for meats and poultry. If you want to try it, adjust the decrease the amount of salt that you would use in the marinade so as not to overdo it. I also like to mix some garlic and onion powders into the flour and breadcrumbs when making fried chicken or fish. The powders also make a nice crust or dry rub when mixed in with other herbs and spices.

Bouillon cubes. I love them. Yes, homemade stock or broth is best. Canned or boxed broth is probably better for you, but I love those cubes. And they take up no space in the cabinet. Drop one in the water when making white rice. Drop one in the meat when you’re making picadillo. Drop one in when you’re boiling the chicken for arroz con pollo.

These are just a few to get you started. You’ll see these and others pop up in my recipes from time to time. Embrace the tacky. It’s delicious!

 

First Attempt: Lomo Saltado

 

There are things about Miami that never occurred to me that I would miss. One of these is Peruvian food. I never really had it that often, but when I did, it was really good!
I came across this recipe by Gaston Acurio. Mr. Acurio is one of Peru’s most famous chefs and owns a number of restaurants across Latin America, Europe and the US.

Lomo saltado closely resembles a stir fry with beef, peppers, potatoes, onions and tomatoes. The finished product has a really flavorful sauce that gets absorbed by the potatoes and rice and gives them this wonderful salty and acidic taste. It’s even better the next day!

I followed the recipe as instructed. I think next time I might add some fresh grated ginger with the garlic. The linked recipe is in Spanish. See below for my translation. Enjoy!

Lomo Saltado de Gaston Acurio:

600gr beef loin, cubed
1/2 cup olive oil
2 medium onions in thick slices
2 yellow bell peppers in thin slices
4 tomatoes in thick, quartered slices
1 tbsp minced garlic or garlic paste
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped culantro leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

For the fried potatoes:
1/2 lb yellow potatoes
vegetable oil

Slice the potatoes into french fry shape.
In a large pan, heat the oil and fry the potatoes until lightly browned and crunchy.
Remove from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the beef and cook until brown on all sides.
Add the onions, tomatoes and peppers. Stir and cook for about 40 seconds.
Add the garlic, soy, vinegar and broth. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds and add the potatoes. Check for seasoning.
Stir in the green onions and culantro leaves.
Serve with white rice.

Notes:
I used tri-tip sirloin which is more inexpensive than the tenderloin.
I did not have culantro leaves so I seasoned the beef with ground coriander in addition to the salt and pepper.
I used a combination of yellow, red and purple potatoes to add more color.

Buen Provecho!

A recipe for ribs in the oven that actually works and other fun stuff

Having more days off means inventing more projects. At least for me. I had a craving for ribs and had never made them from scratch. I came across a recipe from my Food & Wine Annual Cookbook for Mo’s Sticky Ribs and I have to say, it was really easy and really delicious. The only thing I added was a shot of sweet Thai chili sauce to the recipe’s sauce mixture. I might try it with guava jelly instead of apricot next time too.

I couldn’t just eat the ribs alone, so I decided to go with a kind of BBQ theme and made this German-style potato salad from Bobby Flay. His instructions say to use your pans on the grill, but I just did it on the stove. Here, I added some sliced cornichons for some more tang and texture and some snipped chives in addition to the parsley. You’ll see that it says that it should be served warm, but it’s delicious straight out of the fridge.

Finally, because I didn’t seem to get enough sugar, fat and starch, I decided to make baked beans as well. Below is my aunt Nola’s recipe for New England Baked Beans. These are always a hit at family gatherings and a nice item to bring as a side dish to pot-lucks and such.

3 cup Bushes Original Baked Beans

Bacon (a few slices cut in 1 inch pieces to top beans)

1 large onion

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except bacon.
*You can mix them in a  greased 2-quart dish or, when doubling, a 9×13 pan.

Scatter the bacon pieces on top. Cover with lid or foil. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours. Uncover during the second hour.

With this one, take note that you are using the original baked beans. I’ve bought the wrong kind in the past and they have been a bit too sweet for my taste.

Et voila!

Three super tasty recipes to serve together or apart!