blue artichoke

I've never made an Easter meal before. Well, I suppose I've made food on Easter, but not an "Easter meal." When I lived alone, it was just too much work for one meal. It's still a lot of work when cooking for just two, but I gave it a whirl yesterday. Not particularly in the mood for lamb, I got a smoked, partially-cooked ham because it seemed the right thing to do. I've never cooked a ham before, not being a fan of pork until recently. The recipe said to put it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. One problem of working out of a ridiculously tiny kitchen is that things like roasting pans are kept in a closet behind a loveseat, nested among seldom-used bowls and serving pieces. It's such an effort to get it out that I was too lazy even to try. I had a V-roasting rack that was on top, and more easily accessible, so I used that. Next time I bake a ham, I'll get the real roasting rack out. A V-rack is for poultry, and is very cumbersome for an 8-1/2# half-ham. I had to cook the ham longer than called for in the recipe, because mine was partially-cooked, not fully cooked. I started it at 435F for 30 minutes, then lowered the temperature to 325F for 2 hours, when the internal temperature reached 160F. While it cooked, I should have made a nice lemon pie for dessert, but instead I watched a few episodes of Clean Sweep. Better for the waistline.

I chose this recipe because I knew I'd have a lot of ham leftover, and this recipe came with other recipes for using up leftovers. We probably have 7# of cooked ham and one very meaty ham bone left over, so you'll see a lot of ham recipes in the coming months.

Maple-Glazed Ham with Maple-Mustard Sauce

1 (8 1/2-pound) 33%-less-sodium smoked, fully cooked ham half
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/4 cups maple syrup, divided
2/3 cup Dijon mustard, divided
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 cup orange marmalade (or less; we thought the sauce a bit too marmalade-y)

Trim fat and rind from ham. Score outside of ham in a diamond pattern. Place ham on a rack coated with cooking spray, and place rack in a shallow roasting pan.

Combine 1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 tablespoons mustard, orange rind, and orange juice; stir well, and brush over ham. Bake at 425° for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°, and cook an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Baste ham with maple syrup mixture every 30 minutes. Transfer ham to a platter, and let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

Combine remaining syrup, remaining mustard, and marmalade in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Serve with ham.

Yield: 24 servings (serving size: 3 ounces ham and 1 1/2 tablespoons sauce)

CALORIES 177 (24% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 1.5g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 15.3g; CHOLESTEROL 42mg; CALCIUM 15mg; SODIUM 845mg; FIBER 0.0g; IRON 0.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19.4g

Cooking Light, APRIL 1995

The ham was served with asparagus. I picked this recipe because I had 2 oz. of feta cheese leftover from a feta salad dressing I made last week. In the rush of getting dinner on the table, I totally forgot that I was supposed to use feta and sprinkled the asparagus with Parmesan cheese instead. It was great, but now I still have 2 oz. of feta to use up...

Roasted Asparagus With Feta

I used 1# asparagus and didn’t measure the rest of ingredients. Would have been better if I roasted it a bit longer so the asparagus got a bit charred.

2 1/2 lb medium asparagus, trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 oz feta (preferably French), crumbled (1/2 cup)

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 500°F.

Toss asparagus with oil, salt, and pepper in a large shallow baking pan and arrange in 1 layer. Roast, shaking pan once about halfway through roasting, until asparagus is just tender when pierced with a fork, 8 to 14 minutes total.

Serve asparagus sprinkled with cheese.

Makes 6 servings.

Gourmet, April 2004

Getting to Know All About You: What did you have for your Easter meal (or if you don't celebrate Easter, what'd you have to eat yesterday)?