Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! It’s great to have you here!
This week, I’m sharing recipes for doing what my mom always calls “coasting in the kitchen.” This is the practice of making a lot of one thing at the beginning of the week, and then using the leftovers to create new and interesting dishes to enjoy for the rest of the week.
But first, I’m going to do a little product review. I’m rarely moved to pan a product, but friends–I just couldn’t not let you know my thoughts on the ham we had last night.
I usually make ham for Easter and sometimes for Christmas, but I don’t often otherwise feature ham as the star of a meal. I do, however, use it a lot to flavor soups, stews and the like, and I love it alongside asparagus in the spring. This week, while doing some of my advance work for recipes featuring asparagus to be published in the next week or two, I picked up a little dinner ham at my local grocery store. I picked it because it was just about the perfect amount of ham for two people–after all, what was it that Dorothy Parker said? Eternity is two people and a ham? Anyway, I wasn’t paying attention to anything but the size of the ham and I ended up with this:
I didn’t notice the “made with HONEY” label. Friends–let me tell you–this ham must be injected with honey–and lots of it. It is so sweet that it’s CLOYING. I tasted it and immediately said “It’s so sweet!” I couldn’t taste any ham taste–only an overwhelming sweet flavor that covered up any smoky, salty rich goodness that ham usually brings to the party. Then I looked at the package and realized what I’d purchased. To be fair, lots of hams have glazes on them. While I don’t usually purchase them, I have had them many times and they are mostly enjoyable as a little crispy-sweetness to go along with the salty, smokiness of the ham. This was not that–it ONLY tasted SWEET–no salty, no smoky–just SWEET. If that’s what you’re after, this is your ham. Otherwise, steer clear. I’m trying to figure out if there’s anything I can do with what’s leftover, but I’m not coming up with anything…unless I can figure out how to make it into a cobbler or something for dessert, in which case, I’ll get back to you. But I think I’m going to have to toss it.
And now, on with our recipes for coasting in the kitchen:
Earlier in the week, I made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots. The next day, I made a big pot of beans (and cornbread), and today I’m sharing my recipe for combining the roast and the beans to make a pretty righteous pot of chili:
Enjoy this with cornbread if you have any left from the pot of beans dinner. If not, serve with warm tortillas and a crunchy green salad.
Tune in tomorrow for beef pot pie using the last bits of leftover pot roast.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
