Scalloped Potatoes & Ham: A Betty Crocker Classic



Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

A few weeks back, Rachel & I had some friends coming over for a dinner party.  From 8 O'Clock Ranch, our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in upstate New York, we had a beautiful fresh ham in the freezer.  Fresh ham might seem a little odd at first because the vast majority of ham sold in the grocery store has been cured, smoked, or both.  Fresh ham, if cooked without curing or smoking, is not too different from a roast pork loin (except it's from the leg rather than the back of the pig).  If you decide to cook the scalloped potatoes and ham recipe, you can buy a Smithfield or similar pre-cooked country ham.

With a 4-pound ham and seven people, I thought it would be fun to do a ham themed meal.  Rachel & I would serve three courses, each using the cooked ham (I cooked it ahead of time).  The first course was slices of multi-grain bread, topped with a sweet Bourbon mustard, thinly cut ham, a thick slice of Swiss cheese, and a mayo-based red cabbage & apple slaw.  Yum!

The second course was a yellow split pea soup, which of course depends heavily on the rich ham flavor.  It's difficult to make a good split pea soup without pork. 

I found this particular recipe on Food Network's website.  Here's the recipe link: Ham & Split Pea Soup.  While searching for green split peas at my local Whole Foods, I came across yellow split peas.  In fact, Whole Foods didn't even carry green split peas for some strange reason.  Anyway, the yellow split peas are supposed to be more delicate and not quite as hearty as green split peas.  Plus, as one of our friends said, it looks a lot more appetizing than the famous off-putting green color of classic split pea soup. 

Patience is key with this recipe, so make sure you have plenty of time to cook the soup.  It took about three hours of cooking the soup on medium and several additional cups of water added to the pot as it reduced, before the split peas softened and broke down.  So plan ahead!

The third and main course was the scalloped potatoes and ham.  This is a recipe I have grown up with all my life.  It's perfect for reusing cooked ham from a big holiday or family gathering, which is how I often ate it as a child.  The salty ham, creamy white sauce, and thinly sliced potatoes deliver a wonderfully balanced flavor.  I cut the ham into thickly sliced, bite-sized pieces, but you could dice it if you prefer. 

To make the recipe, which is a Betty Crocker classic, you only need a handful of ingredients: onion, celery, milk, butter, flour, and of course, ham and potatoes. 

If you decide to use a fresh ham, I recommend  brining it for 10-12 hours before cooking.  Also, you should cook it the day before you plan on using it in the scalloped potatoes & ham recipe.  After all, it's meant for using leftover ham. 

So I hope you enjoy this childhood recipe.  While I almost always recommend a particular wine with a recipe, this one is best served with a tall glass of cold milk.  Yum!

Scalloped Potatoes Recipe (straight from the Betty Crocker cookbook):

The only change, as you might have noticed from scanning the recipe, is adding the ham.  Add about a 12 to 16 ounces of ham to the recipe, layering the ham in between the layers of potatoes and white sauce.  I also added a 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg to white sauce recipe.

A Roast to Remember

Christmas Roast - A Sirloin Tip Roast

On Christmas Eve, Rachel & I were back in Wisconsin in my hometown of Sussex staying with my parents for the holidays.  This December, there has been plenty of snow in the Midwest, so it definitely looked like (and felt like) winter outside.

My mom and I were thinking about what to cook for dinner for the four of us, and she found a boneless sirloin tip roast in the chest freezer, weighing about 3 1/2 pounds.  When you're only two people in a household, it's hard to find an occasion or the appetite to cook up such a large cut of meat.  And with the chilly weather and the holiday, a deliciously cooked roast sounded perfect!

The roast itself was from Kummrow Farms, a beautiful small farm near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (the town's name was derived from coo-no-mo-wauk, the Potawatomi term for "waterfall").  Kummrow Farms feeds their cattle (and bison) almost entirely on grass and hay, and does not use hormones nor antibiotics.

Roast from Kummrow Farms

Back to the cooking.  Normally, I would bake the roast in one piece until its center is a beautiful juicy, deep red color.  However, my parents prefer their beef medium to medium-well.  To tailor dinner to all four of us, I cut the roast in half.  The first half (for my parents) went in the oven about 20 minutes before I added the second half. 

The seasoning for the roast was simple.  I used a combination of salt, fresh ground black pepper, and Penzey's Italian Herbs (rosemary, oregano, and thyme).  The spice mixture was rubbed onto all sides of the roast pieces.  Then I let the roast sit out on the counter, allowing it to warm to room temperature (about 25-30 minutes).

Once the meat was prepped, I added my potatoes, onions, and celery to the roasting pan.  Since the roast was quite lean (almost all the excess fat had been trimmed off), I added some rendered pork fat to the vegetables to ensure there was enough fat in the roasting pan to keep the beef from drying out and to give it that extra boost of flavor.  I placed the pan in the oven while the roast sat on the counter because I wanted to make sure that the potatoes would be cooked through by the time the roast was done baking.

Before adding the roast to the pan, I always brown/sear it.  I feel it seals the juices inside the roast, and ensures a juicier end product.  But you can skip this step if you're pressed for time.

For side dishes, I cooked up some delicious cinnamon-honey glazed carrots, using the recipe from Food & Wine (carrot recipe link).  I also baked my buttermilk biscuit recipe, which I posted last month (biscuit recipe link). 

For wine, we chose a 2007 La Linda Malbec and a 2003 Proemio Cabernet Sauvignon, both from Mendoza, Argentina.  These are big, full-bodied red wines with plenty of spice, acidity, and tannins to handle the pepper and herb flavored roast.  Other great options would be a full-bodied Syrah or Merlot.  If we had a nice red Bordeaux on-hand, it would have been another good option.




The British Empire


I looked briefly at the history of the roast.  While I'm sure humans have been roasting cuts of bison, pigs, cows, and woolly mammoths for millennia, the modern 'roast' seems to be a British invention.  I read somewhere that roasts were a common Sunday meal because the bakery ovens, which were used for baking bread throughout the week, were available on Sundays because the bakeries were closed.  It is interesting to look at a map of British influence and where roasts are most commonly served.  Today, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada, which were all at one time under the control and/or influence of the British, are places you'll likely find roasts on the family menu.



Merry Christmas everyone!  Enjoy the holiday season and the time spent with friends & family.

Sirloin Tip Roast Recipe

Ingredients:

One 3 to 4-lb sirloin tip roast (or similar beef roast)

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 to 3 lbs. potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

3 cups beef stock (you can substitute chicken or mushroom stock)

1/2 cup red wine

2 T. olive oil or rendered meat fat

Dried herb mixture (combination of rosemary, oregano, and thyme)

Dash of cayenne

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F

2. Prep roast by rubbing salt, pepper, and herb mixture all over the outside

3. Leave roast on counter at room temperature for 25-30 minutes

4. Place vegetables in a large roasting pan, add salt, pepper, herb mixture, cayenne, and oil/fat.  Stir and place in the oven.

5. Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes.

6. Add about 1 cup of stock to the pan (make sure there's always enough stock to fill the pan about 1/2" to 1" high)

7. Turn the oven down to 275° F8. Brown all sides of the roast in a large skillet, then add to the roasting pan.
8. Cover and bake for about 45-60 minutes.  It might need more time if it's a larger roast or if you prefer medium or medium well beef.  Use a meat thermometer, placing in the thickest part of the roast.  145° F for medium-rare, 160° F for medium, 170° F for well-done.