Food on Friday: September 2021

 

It's the second Friday of the month so here is Food on Friday. 

 

As you can see, there are 2 new themes – Bacon/Ham and Pies/Tarts.  I hope you'll find some great stuff in your archives to share. 

 

To add your dishes, just put the name of the dish together with your blog name/name into the first Mr Linky box you will find below.  Then paste the url for your post about it into the second box. Mr Linky makes you tick a compliance box which I usually forget first time!

 

I'll be pinning your creations to the relevant Pinboards – Bacon/Ham and Pies/Tarts

 

Have fun! And stay safe!

 

Ham & cheese toastie with brown sauce

 
 

I don't have anything fancy for you today – just reminding you of a slightly changed up toastie using some leftover ham and also some of my brown sauce I made.

 

Ingredients:

 

4 slices of bread (I used mixed grain)

Spread or butter

Grated cheese

Finely sliced leftover ham

Salt and pepper

Brown sauce

Chilli pieces for garnish

 

Method:

 

Heat up your oven or grill till it's quite hot.  While it is heating, butter the bread and then put it butter side down onto some baking paper on a baking sheet.

 

Sprinkle each piece with grated cheese – trying to get it evenly across the slice – without falling off the sides.  Sprinkle your ham on and then a bit more cheese and some salt and pepper.  Spoon some dots of brown sauce onto each slice – you don't want to put too much so that the bread goes soggy but just enough to give a bit of a kick of flavour.

 

Cook in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes – don't forget to check them – it can be a fine line between golden and burned.  Serve after letting them sit for a minute or two with some chilli pieces for a garnish.

Baked Ham Balls

 

Thanks to Kris of Big Rigs n' Li'l Cookies I gave her Baked Ham Balls a go. Her recipe was straight forward and easy to follow – not that I did that entirely.  I was happy with the results although next time I'll make each meatball about half the size.

 

Ingredients:

 

150g ham slices, diced

500g beef mince (add pork mince if you have it)

Breadcrumbs (no graham crackers)

2 eggs

1 cup cream

Salt & pepper (my addition)

 

For the sauce –

1 can tomato soup

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/3 cup rice vinegar

 

Method:

 

Heat your oven to 250C (or 350F)

 

Combine the first set of ingredients, adding only some of the cream at first to make sure your mixture isn't too sloppy to form into balls.  I made each ball approximately 1/3 cup in size – I recommend making them smaller.

 

Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meatballs.  There is a lot more sauce than I'd normally use but it was good.  Baste the top of each meatball with sauce every 20 minutes or so.

 

I served this with pasta the first night, and the leftovers with rice on the second.

Chicken & Lentils – One Pot Wonder

This Chicken and Lentil dish was pretty simple to make and very tasty.  I recommend it to you – with your own tweaks, of course.

Ingredients:

Oil

Chicken breast

½ can of lentils

Pickle juice – a splosh

Cream – say 100 mils

Paprika – to taste

Dijon mustard – 1 large spoonful

Salt and pepper

Tomato paste – 2 teaspoons

2 slices of ham

Small amount of onion

Cream cheese – 1 tablespoon

½ red chilli for garnish

Method:

Cut up the chicken into serving sizes – I left mine a bit largish.

Dice some onion

Heat your frypan, put in the oil and then fry off the onion for a little while.  Add the chicken and cook it on each side for a minute or two.

Slice up your ham into strips and add it to the chicken along with all the other ingredients.  Stir until the chicken is cooked through.  If it gets a bit thick just add a little water or cream.

Garnish with some red chilli.

Ham & Cheese Toastie with Brown Sauce

I don't have anything fancy for you today – just reminding you of a slightly changed up toastie using some leftover ham and also some of my brown sauce I made.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread (I used mixed grain)

Spread or butter

Grated cheese

Finely sliced leftover ham

Salt and pepper

Brown sauce

Chilli pieces for garnish

Method:

Heat up your oven or grill till it's quite hot.  While it is heating, butter the bread and then put it butter side down onto some baking paper on a baking sheet.

Sprinkle each piece with grated cheese – trying to get it evenly across the slice – without falling off the sides.  Sprinkle your ham on and then a bit more cheese and some salt and pepper.  Spoon some dots of brown sauce onto each slice – you don't want to put too much so that the bread goes soggy but just enough to give a bit of a kick of flavour.

Cook in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes – don't forget to check them – it can be a fine line between golden and burned.  Serve after letting them sit for a minute or two with some chilli pieces for a garnish.

Ham Hash Cakes Revisited

I made these ham hash cakes as a way of using up some ham on the bone while not tasting too hammy, if you know what I mean.  Glazed ham on the bone is fantastic but after a few days you need to come up with ways to use the ham that aren't just ham sandwiches or ham and salad.

I cooked the vegetables especially for this dish but it would also be a great way to use up any leftover roast vegetables you had.  Anything that will mash could be included.

Ingredients

2 cooked mashed potatoes

1 cooked mashed carrot

4 cloves of garlic cooked in the same water

¼ an onion, finely diced and fried off till just soft

¼ cup finely diced ham

1 teaspoon mustard powder (Hot English)

¼ cup breadcrumbs

1 egg

Salt and pepper

Mix all this together and form into little cakes with moist hands.  Fry in oil/butter til golden and then pop them into a moderate oven to finish for 15 minutes (you will need a longer time if you are starting with cold mashed vegetables).

Potato & Proscuitto Pizza – invented due to lack of will to go shopping

This Potato & Prosciutto Pizza came about through not having much fresh food in the house and not feeling like shopping.  Sometimes necessity does produce a special dish!

I thinly sliced a potato and boiled them in salted water for 2 to 3 minutes – to give the potato a bit of a head start.

I used a pita bread as a base – I brushed both sides of it with olive oil and garlic infused olive oil.

I brushed a mixture of passata (tomato puree) and Dijon mustard over the base.

Then on went a layer of potato slices, some thinly sliced capsicum (bell pepper), a finely diced chilli and some sliced up pieces of leftover prosciutto – you don't need much.

Then on with the cheese a mix of pizza mix cheese and parmesan.  Salt and pepper of course.

Cook your pizza in a hot oven and then sprinkle some sliced tops of spring onions on top (scallions). 

This tasted fab – next time I might put the potato layer a little higher up so you could see some of it in the finished pizza.