Ham n Cheese Potato Soup

My, how time does fly! I can't believe how long it has been since my last post!

Anyhow, we had a lovely Christmas along with a lovely ham. So that meant leftovers! I'm proud to announce that I had all of these ingredients on hand, so this is a true 2DG special. Let's get to it...

Peel and chop 5 or 6 medium red potatoes. Put them in a stock pot with 2 cups of boiling water. Cook until tender. Mine only took about 8 to 10 minutes. While that's going on, chop an onion and dice about a cup or two of that yummy leftover ham.

When potatoes are done,  reserve the starchy cooking water. You should have almost a cup left. Add enough water to it to get a cup of water. Put it aside.

Here's the decadent part.
In the now empty stockpot,  melt 2 T bacon fat & 1 T butter.  Saute the onion until it's tender. When it is, add 3 T flour. Stir and cook for 2 or 3 minutes.

Now slooooowly add the reserved potato water, whisking as you go. Put in the cooked potatoes.  Slowly stir in 3 cups of milk. Soup will thicken up as you do this. When all the milk's in, add the diced ham and stir. Now grate in 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and a tiny bit of sugar, about half a tsp. Grate in a little fresh nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer on low for about half an hour.  Stir it occasionally.  It will become silky smooth and delicious!

Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Puffs

It's not totally accurate to say that I made Ham and Cheese Puffs yesterday. Actually, Kati made them and I "directed". And they came out good!

I used Elise's Simply Recipe method for Cheese Puffs. But I thawed out a little less than a pound of Christmas Ham from the freezer, diced it while it was still a little bit frozen and added it in with the cheddar cheese and fresh chopped rosemary.

It seems a little labor intensive when reading the recipe, but it's really not.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Place 1 cup of water, 1 stick of  butter and 1 tsp. of salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. When it's at a boil, turn it down to medium and add 1 cup of flour, all at once, and stir like mad with a wooden spoon. It will get really thick and pull away from the side of the pot. That's fine, just keep stirring and cook for a few minutes.

Next you need to let it cool for a few minutes, stirring to make sure it cools evenly. I put it in my mixing bowl and let the mixer go on "stir" (low speed) for a few minutes. While it's still slightly warm, but not so warm that the eggs get cooked upon entry, mix in 4 eggs, 1 egg at a time. When they're in and it's looking creamy, add in 1 cup of cheddar, 1 cup of diced ham and about 1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary. Stir to combine.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag or a scoop (I prefer the scoop method), dish out onto cookie sheets about an inch apart. Bake in the 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes, until nicely brown.

Cool slightly and devour!

Good job, Kati!
-J

My Hammy Mac'n'Cheese and Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

Ham. Mac and Cheese. Tomato Soup.

The trifecta of yummy. They harmonize like a bunch of carolers, don't they?

I had lots of leftover Christmas ham, some elbow macaroni, milk, and lots and lots of tomatoes from the garden. Picked up a block of medium cheddar cheese, and a great 2DG experience was on the way!

Now, I need to 'fess up here. I made the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese Tuesday night using the leftover Christmas ham. I used Elise's Simply Recipes version of Macaroni and Cheese, and it calls for a really interesting way to make it. Basically, you cook the elbow macaroni in milk, using about 2 cups of milk for each cup of macaroni. Sounds odd, I know, but I brought the milk just to a boil, put in the macaroni and simmered it for about 12 minutes, and diced up about 2 cups of ham. At about the 10 minute mark, I melted about 4 Tbs of butter and then added about 2 cups of shredded cheddar and grated some nutmeg and a little pepper. When it was good and melted and gooey, I added the ham and the cheese mix to the macaroni and stirred it all together. A good sprinkle of bread crumbs on top, then into the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was quite tasty!

On Wednesday, I worried that the cold snap we are having here in Orlando would be bad for all the tomatoes still on the plants out in the garden, so I went out and picked any that were at least beginning to turn pink. I came in with  1.25 lbs. of Juliets and 5.50 lbs of Romas. So...the ripest ones from that batch and the ones I already had in the house became soup, to go along with the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese.

I diced a medium/large onion and about 3 cloves of garlic. Browned these in some olive oil until they were soft, added the diced tomatoes. I didn't dice all of them...maybe a few pounds.  I added about a cup of chicken stock, and then dissolved about a Tbsp of cornstarch in about a half cup of stock and set it aside. I let the soup simmer for a little while, then stirred in the reserved stock/cornstarch and some chopped fresh oregano, marjoram and basil. (I saved a little basil for a garnish.) I let it simmer on low for half an hour or so, then turned it off and let it cool a little bit before carefully purreeing it with a stick blender. I thought I'd need to strain it, but I didn't, so it was a slightly thickened.

I served it garnished with some ribboned basil and diced tomatoes. And the Hammy Mac'n'Cheese, of course!

Enjoy!
-J

Tamale Pie

2DG is preparing to move to a new home, so my mission for the past few weeks is to use stuff up rather than move it, so I've been trying to clear out the pantry and the freezer. My philosophy is "I'm gonna carry this stuff one way or the other, so I may as well enjoy it!"

I've had a bag of masa harina in the pantry since I made enchaladas a while back, so this time I'm going to use it to make a dough for something similar to a deep dish pizza. I also used the remaining chicken sausage, ham and sliced portabella mushrooms I got to make Chicken and Wild Rice soup on Friday. I'm sure there's a better name for it, but I'm calling it a Tamale Pie.

To make the dough, I took 2 cups of masa harina, mixed it with 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tsp. Adobo seasoning and 2 tsp. baking powder. I added 2 Tbsp of olive oil, and slowly worked in almost a cup of water to form a dough. Once it held together, I tried to knead it a little bit, but it wasn't really cooperating, so I put it back in the bowl to rest while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat about a Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet. Crumble the sausage in a skillet without the casing and let it brown. Be sure to tend it and stir it occasionally to prevent it sticking. Chop half a green bell pepper and a small onion. When the sausage is nearly browned all the way, put about half a cup of sliced mushrooms, half the chopped pepper and onion in with it to brown, reserving the rest to go in the pie au natural. Chop about half of a medium tomato and set it aside. When the sausage and veggie mix is pretty well cooked, I put about a cup of diced ham in just to warm it up a bit. Once that's done, turn off the heat and let the mixture hang out and wait til you're ready for it.

Lightly oil a deep dish pie pan, and sprinkle with some masa harina and/or some cornmeal. I tried to roll the dough out, but it wasn't really roll-able, so I put it in the pie pan and pushed it with my fingers to shape it.

I put about half a can of enchilada sause down next, and then put in the sausage/veggie/ham mixture. Now it's time for the remaining chopped veggies. Put in the rest of the sauce and now it's oven ready!

Let it bake for about 15 minutes, then pull it out and top it off with a mix of Mexican cheeses, and put it back in for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is all nicely melted.

Pull it out when the cheese is melted and the crust is brown. Let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes, then dig in!

Enjoy!