My mainstay is always ham and then I include a couple quiches because my friend PJ doesn't eat ham. Not that I really need an excuse, but that's why I never change that element. Normally I make Julia Child's Braised Ham, but wanted to change things up this year. I tried a recipe from a magazine called Orange Glazed Spiral Ham. While this ham involved a lot less work, I have to say Julia, your ham rocks! I don't seem to have much luck with the spiral hams. I've only done one once before and they just seem too dry. But, if you love spiral hams and you don't have the problem with it becoming dry, here is the recipe I used:
Orange-Glazed Spiral Ham
Ingredients:
· 1 fully cooked spiral-cut ham (about 8 lb.)
· 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
· 1/4 cup orange juice
· 1 cup (12 oz. jar) orange marmalade
· 1/4 cup Dijon
· Sliced oranges, to garnish
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375º.
Place ham, cut side down, on a rack in large roasting pan. Pour 2 cups of water into roasting pan. Cover ham with aluminum foil.
Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. While ham is baking, whisk together brown sugar, orange juice, marmalade and mustard. Set aside.
Remove foil and brush ham liberally with about 3/4 cup of the orange glaze. Heat uncovered for 30 minutes or until ham is nicely colored and internal temperature registers 140º on an instant read thermometer.
Let ham stand 10 minutes before slicing. To slice, cut around center bone with a knife, freeing as many slices as you wish. Cut along the natural seams of the ham to remove slices separated from the bone. Serve with remaining glaze on the side. Garnish with orange slices, if desired.
Servings: 24
As part of my main dish offerings, I use Julia Child's quiche recipes. I did a Broccoli and a Spinach quiche. She calls for a prebaked 9" pie crust. When I use this, the filling always seems too shallow, so I usually double the filling amounts. This year I baked them in a 11" tart pan, and the single filling worked out perfect. The tart pan is much shallower than the pie dish. But, I would recommend you do her recipe as directed first and then try the double filling in your pie dish and see what you like better. Just remember, when you double it, it will take longer to bake and you DO NOT want to underbake a quiche. I've done it, and it's quite embarrassing!
Broccoli Quiche
Ingredients:
· 2 tbsp. minced shallots or scallions
· 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
· salt and freshly ground pepper, and nutmeg
· 2/3 cup or so cooked chopped broccoli
· 3 large eggs
· 1 1/2 cups whole milk or cream
· 1/4 cup lightly pressed down, grated Swiss cheese
· 9” prebaked shell, see recipe for butter dough
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375º.
Sauté the shallots or scallions briefly in the butter, add the broccoli and seasonings; stir over heat until tender. Let cool.
Blend the eggs with enough milk or cream to make 1 1/2 cups. Blend broccoli mixture into the custard.
Reserving 2 tablespoons of cheese, strew the rest in the shell.
Pour in the broccoli-custard up to 1/4” of the rim. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese; bake 35 minutes until puffed and browned.
Servings: 6-8
Spinach Quiche
Ingredients:
· 2 tbsp. minced shallots or scallions
· 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
· 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
· salt, freshly ground pepper, and nutmeg
· 3 large eggs
· 1 1/2 cups whole milk or cream
· 1/4 cup lightly pressed down, grated Swiss cheese
· 9” prebaked shell, see recipe for butter dough
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375º.
Sauté the shallots or scallions briefly in the butter, add the spinach; stir over heat until tender. Season, let cool.
Blend the eggs with enough milk or cream to make 1 1/2 cups. Blend spinach mixture into the custard.
Reserving 2 tablespoons of cheese, strew the rest in the shell. Pour in the spinach-custard up to 1/4” of the rim. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese; bake 35 minutes until puffed and browned.
Servings: 9”, 6
These recipes and the ham recipe I mentioned are in Julia Child's The Way to Cook. I love this cookbook because she really explains how to do the dishes. It's pretty big!
The next recipe I tried for the first time at my friend Angela's house. I'm not really big on fruit dips, but this one is so different. It definitely has a more tropical flavor to it.
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| To the left is the fruit dip with orange slices, pineapple and strawberries. To the right is Mimi's Cafe's Carrot Raisin Bread (minus nuts). |
Angela’s Fruit Dip
Ingredients:
· 1/2 cup sugar
· 2 tbsp. flour
· 1 cup pineapple juice
· 1 egg, beaten
· 1 tbsp. butter
· 1 cup Cool Whip
Directions:
Combine sugar, flour, juice, egg and butter in saucepan. Heat on medium until smooth and thick. Set aside to cool completely.
Once cool, add Cool Whip and beat until fluffy. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
Servings: 2 1/2-3 cups
The following is one of those recipes where I tried it at a restaurant and immediately got on the internet to find the recipe. But, it's not enough to find it, you've gotta figure out which one is the actual one from the restaurant and which ones are just someone's interpretation. A lot of them called for molasses, but it just wasn't the same flavor. This one I found from the Sacramento Bee and it's from one of Mimi's Cafe's managers who received permission to give the recipe out. And it's delicious! But, as you'll notice I omitted the nuts. Sorry, but as you've read before (if you have) I do not like nuts in a lot of things. So, just add some chopped walnuts if you like.
Mimi’s Café Carrot Raisin Bread
Ingredients:
· 1 3/4 cups flour
· 1 cup sugar
· 2 tsp. cinnamon
· 1 tsp. baking soda
· 1/2 tsp. baking powder
· 1/2 tsp. salt
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1/2 cup vegetable oil
· 1 egg
· 1/2 tsp. vanilla
· 1 cup grated carrot
· 1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º. Spray one standard loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir milk mixture into dry ingredients until well-blended. Sprinkle carrot and raisins over batter and blend until evenly distributed.
Pour batter into pan and even out on top. Bake 45-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in pans for five minutes on cooling rack and then remove from pan.
Cool on rack for 15 more minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
Servings: 1 loaf
This next recipe is one of my all-time favorites-Angel Food Cake! When I would make this as a kid, I always made two. One for me and one for my family. I'm not kidding, I would eat a whole Angel Food Cake. Good thing it's considered one of the lightest desserts. This is from Alton Brown of The Food Network. It requires the use of a food processor to make the sugar superfine. I use to be able to find superfine sugar at the grocery store, but lately I haven't. I really wouldn't recommend you skip this step. It's important to use superfine sugar to keep the texture light. It also calls for orange extract which smells divine while it's baking. I actually have visions of bridal showers when I smell this cake. Lately I've been using Fiore di Sicilia, an extract from Italy. I order it from King Arthur Flour. It's a combination of Italian citruses and vanilla and has such a unique flavor and scent.
The reason the recipe calls for the eggs to be as close to room temperature is because egg whites which actually whip up faster and better if they are room temperature. Whipping cream is the opposite. Whipping cream actually does better if you put the bowl and the whip in the freezer for a while, too!
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| It's kind of hard to see, but if you look close, the Angel Food Cake is on the stand with the cover. Yumm! |
Ingredients:
· 1 3/4 cups sugar
· 1/4 tsp. salt
· 1 cup cake flour, sifted
· 12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)
· 1/3 cup warm water
· 1 tsp. orange extract
· 1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º.
In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt and the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.
In a mixer with the whisk, thoroughly combine egg whites, water, orange extract, and cream of tartar. Slowly sift in the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed.
Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 35 minutes (20 minutes for mini-cakes) before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).
Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.
Cook’s Note: Since they’re easier to separate, use the freshest eggs you can get.
Servings: 10” cake or 12 mini-cakes
