White Beans and Ham

I remember my mother making white beans and ham anytime there was a leftover ham hock from a holiday meal. That soup had a stick-to-your-ribs level of heartiness that has remained unmatched, in my eyes, to this day. She’d simmer a pot of Great Northern white beans with the ham hock until the beans had gotten all creamy and thick; little bits of ham dotted throughout. She’d serve it with cornbread and we’d all gobble it down. My dad recently lamented (7 years post-divorce) that he still hadn’t been able to get it replicated in his own kitchen.

I will admit that it may be an acquired taste for some. It literally consisted of nothing besides a ham hock, beans, salt and water. While I appreciate the simplicity of the dish – and no one can deny how filling and economical it was for feeding a family of 5 on a budget – I wanted to add some more vegetables into my version. I’m trying to limit my meat consumption as much as possible while adding in as many vegetables as I can, in an effort to finally meet those 5 or more servings per day recommendations. Plus, adding a mirepoix isn’t that expensive and adds a ton of flavor and nutrients into the finished soup.

I had a ham hock left over from Christmas dinner, from the ham I bought from Copper Penny Farm. It was a beauteous thing, marbled with fat and loaded with flavor. It’s easy to forget how delicious ham is when it comes from a pig that’s raised properly and isn’t one of those commercially hybridized, Smithfield-patented abominations with a 2% fat content. Seriously, check out LocalHarvest.org and find where you can get a locally grown ham for your next holiday meal. It’s worth it.

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Ham and Sweet Potato Hash with Over-Easy Eggs and Pea Shoots

I had another lovely ham steak from Copper Penny Farm languishing in my freezer and couldn’t decide what to do with it. I had the sudden epiphany that it would be great with sweet potato the other day while planning my weekly dinner menu, and found this recipe over at Epicurious. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was close enough to get me started.

I was happy at how quickly this came together – from start to eating within 30 minutes – which makes it perfect for a weekend brunch item. Use a nice heavy bottom skillet for this to get a nice brown on the sweet potatoes while they’re cooking on their own – just make sure you have a lid that more or less fits to get the steaming action you need to cook them through.

Also, if you can’t find baby pea shoots, feel free to substitute any other delicate greenery like watercress, mâche, or arugula. And take it easy on the salt on this dish – between the salty ham and the salted butter I used I didn’t feel the need for any additional seasoning at all.

Ham and Sweet Potato Hash with Over-Easy Eggs and Baby Pea Shoots

Yields about 4 servings

2 tablespoons butter

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes (about 2 cups)

½ yellow onion, chopped

1 lb ham steak, cubed

2 cups baby pea shoots

4 eggs, cooked over easy

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet and add the sweet potatoes. Toss to coat and then cover with a lid, cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. When the sweet potato is almost done add the onions and ham and cook for a further 3-4 minutes – until onion is translucent and ham is heated through. Add the baby pea shoots and wilt. Divide into four portions and serve immediately with over-easy eggs on top.

Farro and Lentils with Braised Greens and Bacon

In my quest to eat more consciously – both for myself and for the environment – I’ve attempted to relegate meat to a mere seasoning in most dishes, rather than a main component. Moving a bit down the food chain is both good for health and exerts less stress on the planet.

That does not, however, mean that food must be tasteless and bland. Just as many people recommend buying more expensive, flavorful cheeses and using them in moderation rather than using copious amounts of the near tasteless cheap stuff, such is the case with meals like this. Most people can agree that bacon is the wunderkind of meats – if it can turn hardcore veggies back to meat, it’s good in my book.

Here I’ve taken farro (or wheat berries, depending on where you live) and French green lentils and topped them with braised mustard and turnip greens, bacon, and mushrooms. It takes some nutritional powerhouses and gussies them up with the luscious fattiness we crave. I’m almost positive that my heart won’t take issue with the bacon fat once it realizes it’s coating super-healthy greens…right?

Even for those who aren’t fans of greens in general (which is a travesty, FYI), this dish is sure to please with the big chunks of bacon and flavorful mushrooms. If you’re not too keen on the toothsome farro (much like my husband is not) just boil it for about 5 minutes before you add the lentils to the pot of salted water.

Farro and Lentils with Braised Greens and Bacon

½ cup farro

½ cup French green lentils (Lentils du Puy)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

4 slices thick cut bacon, cut into chunks

16 oz chopped mustard and turnip greens, chopped into bite size pieces (in your produce section)

8 oz sliced mushrooms

Shaved Parmigiana Reggiano for garnish (optional)

Combine the farro, lentils, and garlic cloves in a pot and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, depending on doneness desired.

Meanwhile, brown the bacon in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat until most of the fat is rendered. Add the greens and cook for a few minutes (you might have to add in batches to get them to fit). Cover the pan and let cook for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until done to taste.

Drain the farro and lentils, discarding the garlic cloves. Top with the greens and mushrooms and shave some cheese to garnish if desired.

 

Grilled Ham Steaks with Corn-Tomato Relish

“Eat Local.”

It’s a brilliant concept, but much harder to execute than most realize. Unless you’re living in the year-round salad-bowl that is Central California, it can be incredibly difficult to find a large enough variety of all local foods to satisfy even the most one-dimensional of palates.

Summer makes it much easier. There’s a bounty of produce and goodies available in almost every corner of the country. But it can still be pretty hard to find stuff that you actually want to eat.

I recently moved a little bit farther west in Maryland, about halfway between the District and Baltimore (Which is offering much more in the way of interest than I ever thought possible – urban foraging classes, anyone? Yes, please.). Here I’ve found local farms galore. The farmer’s markets are a little few and far between, but what they do offer is enough to keep me going.

I stumbled across Copper Penny Farm on Local Harvest about two weeks ago. I went out to meet the owners, Nancy and Chuck, and was positively delighted at the operation they’ve got going. It’s a small venture, but I look forward to supporting them as much as my little family of two possible can in the coming years. That gorgeous ham-steak in the picture above is compliments of one of their Large Blacks.

They sent me out to the Briggs-Chaney farmers market in Silver Spring. It’s small, but it has just about everything one needs from a farmers market. If they were to add a bread stand and an eggs/dairy stand I wouldn’t even need to go to the grocery store but for commodity goods. I found Knopp’s Farm from Severn, MD there – and they produce some of the most divine corn one could imagine.

So we sat down to dinner tonight and ate an almost entirely local meal. Ham from Copper Penny Farm, corn and tomatoes from Knopp’s Farm, whole grain mustard from a Mennonite community in Southern Pennsylvania – the only store-bought ingredient was the rice vinegar.

And it was amazing.

Eating local might take a bit more effort, but once you taste the difference and feel the pride of supporting local business you’ll probably never go back.

Go check out Local Harvest to see how you can get started in your own community.

Grilled Ham Steak with Corn-Tomato Relish

2 Ham Steaks

1 ear of fresh sweet corn, cut from the cob

Handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

Grill the ham steaks, either on a grill or in a heavy-bottomed pan like cast iron. Meanwhile, toss the corn, tomatoes, rice vinegar, and mustard together in a bowl. Top the grilled steaks with the relish.

Root Beer Glazed Ham

My family was never really one for making a big to-do about Easter, but we always had a ham. The rest of my family always slathered theirs with a raisin sauce, the recipe for which had been handed down through a few generations on my dad’s side. It was always far too sweet for me, so I abstained.

I appreciate the interplay of sweet and salt much more now, but that raisin sauce is still too much for my liking. The syrupy root beer for this glaze though, adds complexity and spice to the ham while imparting just enough sweetness to balance the saltiness.

As you can see above, it also works well on a sandwich with whole grain mustard and watercress.

Root Beer Glazed Ham

24 oz root beer

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole cloves

1 Niman Ranch petite ham

Bring  first 3 ingredients to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until reduced to 2/3 cup. Spoon 1/3 of glaze over ham. Cook ham in 300⁰ oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes per lb. until internal temperature registers 135⁰F, spooning a tablespoon or two of glaze over ham every ½ hour until gone. Let ham rest 10 minutes, slice, serve.