Easter Ham Four Ways
Happy Easter, everyone! It’s hard to believe it’s already April 1st! Our average temperature here in Minnesota should be around 46 degrees, but instead, we woke up to a blustery 10. The pups had to put on their winter jackets, which caused some rather snarky behavior throughout the morning. Mother Nature showed her humor yesterday by giving us about three more inches of snow. Eggs for the Annual North St. Paul Easter Egg Hunt were hidden under a fresh covering of snow. I think it’s a fair statement to say that we are all ready for Spring, and ready to kiss this Winter season goodbye, adios, arrivedercci, ciao, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, bon voyage and sayonara.
Easter in our household, and growing up, always meant ham as the star ingredient for the meal. The Payaso loves ham and I love making it for him. No, really, he could eat it every single day of his life. You know those giant turkey wings you can buy at the state fair? I’ve caught him many a time eating ham from the bone in a similar fashion. Ham is one of those meats that already has a lot of flavor, and I always have debates in my head about whether or not to use the sugar packet that comes with the ham, but even with all the debating, I usually throw the packet away, and make a glaze out of honey and whole grain mustard. This year I wanted to try something different. I also knew that I wanted the ham to be versatile enough to go into a number of different dishes throughout the weekend (I cheated and made my ham for Good Friday dinner). I love when something you make can be used several times in different recipes. Brace yourself, this post is about to get long winded…
I adopted a recipe I found online at www.tasteofhome.com. What I loved about this glaze was that it was sweet, and worked perfectly with the saltiness from the ham, but there’s a little kick of heat at the very end from the red pepper flakes. I used a generous pinch when I made the glaze, and had no regrets. Use more of less based on your spice tolerance.
Root Beer Glazed Ham
Ingredients:
- 1 bone-in, fully cooked, spiral sliced ham (7-9 pounds)
- 3 cups root beer
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup steak sauce
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground gloves
- crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Add foil to the bottom of a shallow roasting pan.
- Add ham, cut side down, on a rack; add rack to roasting pan.
- Loosely cover ham with foil and bake for 2 hours.
- In a large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Occasionally stir for approximately 30 minutes or until the mixture is reduced by half.
- Remove ham from oven and remove foil. Slowly brush glaze mixture on ham ensuring glaze gets in between each slice of ham.
- Return ham to oven and cook an additional 15 minutes.
- Repeat Step 6. Then repeat Step 7. Then repeat Step 6 again. Let ham rest, covered in foil, for about 10-15 minutes.
This recipe may become my go-to whenever I cook ham. See all those little flecks of crushed red pepper? Flavor bombs waiting to explode in your mouth. The ham had such a beautiful color from the caramelization of the brown sugar and sugar from the root beer. I’d guess that the actual amount of time you’ll be tending to the ham is less than 30 minutes. It’s one of those recipes that will allow you to do things outside the kitchen. To go along with the ham, I made scalloped potatoes, another staple to the table whenever ham is served. These potatoes were super cheesy, and I ain’t complaining. I haven’t found my go-to scalloped potato recipe yet, but this one is very close to being a top contender. Potatoes deliciously covered in a cheese sauce, but there was something missing, and I’m not sure what it is. I may need to play around with this recipe a little more, but it’s one I would recommend if anyone asked for a scalloped potato recipe suggestion.
Scalloped Potatoes Gringo Style
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 flour
- 1 tablespoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1.5 cups cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
- 1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Wash – don’t peel – potatoes and slice thin OR use a mandolin slicer for conformity.
- Saute onions in butter until translucent over medium heat. Add flour and cook for approximately 1 or 2 minutes.
- Slowly add milk and whisk until there are no lumps remaining.
- Add mustard, thyme, paprika and stir until well combined.
- Turn off the heat and add 1 cup of cheddar cheese and the gruyere and Parmesan cheese to the milk. Stir until well combined.
- Layer half of the potatoes into the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add half of the cheese sauce and shake pan to distribute.
- Layer the remaining potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add remaining cheese sauce. Top with 1/2 cup of remaining cheddar cheese.
- Cover pan and cook in oven for one hour. Remove foil from casserole dish and bake an additional 30 minutes. Potatoes should be fork tender.
- Let dish set for approximately 10 minutes before serving.
Lots of cheesy goodness in that pan, let me tell you. If you are worried about the bottom of your oven getting dirty form potential boil over, feel free to add a rimmed baking sheet under the baking dish. Play around with the cheese combinations in this recipe. There’s no hard or fast rules that you have to follow this recipe exactly. These were the cheeses I had in the fridge, but you could use Swiss, mozzarella, fontina, or even Gouda. I bet blue cheese would be amazing, but the Payaso absolutely abhors blue cheese anything. My Easter dinner really resembles what my mom would cook for us three boys every year at Easter: ham, rolls, scalloped potatoes and coleslaw. Isn’t it funny how food can bring back so many memories? Feeling a little nostalgic, I reached for the one photo album I took from my mom’s house (sorry, mom!) and found these little gems from Easters in years past. I wish I could have found a picture of all three of us boys. I may need to ransack my mom’s photo albums when we visit her in Nebraska next.
This is me at my Grandma and Grandpa Friedrich’s house back in 1983. I still remember being a little timid opening the oven because I was worried I’d get burned. It was a genius spot for the Easter Bunny to hide my Easter basket. I think it was the last place I even thought about looking. Is that a turkey in the corner on those orange counter tops? I have such vivid memories of my grandparents house, and those orange counter tops are one of my favorite. It’s fun to look back at these pictures from 30 years ago to reinforce those lovely memories.
Here’s a picture of Easter from 1985 in our then-home in Nebraska. Look at that carpet! That couch! Hello, 1970’s! That’s my brother, Jason, with the wonky glasses to my right (he’s two according to the writing on the back of the photo), and my cousin, Matt (8 months). Not pictured, my brother, Jeff, was probably about two months old when this picture was taken. Loved seeing these memories this morning, and it was fun to share with the Payaso. This next recipe is another memory for me as my mom always made it on Christmas morning. It, too, is from Taste of Home, and it’s one that I make for the Payaso throughout the year. We top ours with some hot sauce called “Sonora” and gobble it up every time I make it. I especially love using the Easter ham in this casserole because the flavor of the glaze always adds another depth of flavor to the eggs and cheese.
Wake Up Casserole
Ingredients:
- 8 frozen hash brown patties
- 4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 cups cubed, fully cooked ham
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add hash brown patties to the bottom of baking dish.
- Add cheese and ham.
- Beat together eggs, milk and mustard. Once well combined, add on top of baking dish.
- Cover with foil and bake for one hour.
- Uncover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes.
Gosh, that really is one of my favorite egg bakes. Great flavor, super easy to put together, and always brings back great memories from my childhood. I think you could easily put this casserole together in under 10 minutes. I love making fancy dinners for the Payaso, but I also love easy meals that come together in a pinch. Speaking of easy, these baked Hawaiian bread ham and cheese sliders pack a punch in the flavor department, and take very little time to put together. It’s also the third recipe to use up that left over Easter ham.
Hawaiian Ham & Cheese Sliders
Ingredients:
- 1 package Hawaiian bread sweet rolls
- Sliced ham
- Sliced cheese (Swiss, provolone, mozzarella)
- Mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- Several dashes of worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Lightly spray a 9 x 9 baking dish.
- Carefully slice sweet rolls in half and add bottom half of rolls into the baking dish.
- Spread bottom half of rolls with mayonnaise.
- Layer ham and cheese on top of mayonnaise covered rolls.
- Add top half of rolls to ham and cheese.
- Combine melted butter, onion powder, mustard, poppy seeds and worcestershire sauce in a small bowl.
- Brush mixture on top of sweet rolls.
- Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes.
- Uncover foil and let bake an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from baking dish and carefully slice into individual sliders.
I absolutely love these little sliders. Super bold flavors, and who doesn’t love a sandwich they can walk around the house with? These would be great for upcoming graduation parties or even backyard BBQs and picnics. The fourth and last recipe to use up some of that Easter ham is a ham, cheese and spinach tortellini dish. This is another super easy recipe and, maybe best of all, it’s a one pot recipe and can easily be made within 30 minutes. How great is it when you can cook a meal in one pot? Would anyone object to less clean up? I used an enameled cast iron dish to make this recipe last night, which worked perfectly.
Ham, Cheese & Spinach Tortellini
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 19 ounces fresh or frozen tortelinni
- 8 ounces fresh spinach
- 1.5 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
- .5 cups Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
Directions:
- In a large, oven-proof sauce pan over medium high heat, melt butter and saute onion for approximately 5 minutes.
- Add tortellini, spinach and chicken broth to pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover pan for 15 minutes.
- Uncover pan and add heavy cream. Stir pan to combine all ingredients. Turn off heat.
- Add mozzarella cheese and continue to stir until cheese is melted. Turn broiler to high.
- Add Parmesan cheese and place pan under broiler to melt and slightly brown cheese.
- Remove from oven and let set for about 5-10 minutes before serving.
And that was it, the fourth way to use up your Easter ham. I hope you’ll try some or all of these recipes. Of course, you can use sliced deli or cubed ham if you want to make these outside of Easter, and you don’t have any leftover Easter ham. You should all know by now that my recipes are just suggestions. Play around with these and change them to your liking. Feel free to add more or less cheese depending on how much cheese you like. Clearly, I’m a big fan of cheese based on these recipes and my need to exercise. Have fun and don’t let cooking stress you out. Everyone can make a lovely meal for themselves and those they love. Don’t forget to check out my cheddar bacon biscuit recipe. Super easy and maybe even a little addicting.
Wow, this post has 2200 words. Are you still there? Hello? I warned you this post would be long winded. If you’re here, thanks for sticking with me. It’s been a nice, relaxing morning here at the house. The Payaso appears to be watching tv, the birds outside are busy eating breakfast from the bird feeders outside my window, and I’ve got little Lola by my feet chewing on a toy the Easter bunny left her. I still haven’t found my Easter basket (I checked the oven already), but I’m determined to find it. The Payaso gave up sugar for Lent so today is the first day he can eat sweets. I caught him eating part of his Easter basket before finalizing this post. Can you see the joy in his eyes as he gets his first Peep of the season? Next to ham, Peeps may be his next favorite food. I can’t wait to see what’s inside my Easter basket, which I’m off to find. Happy Easter, everyone!
