Easter Ham (easiest recipe ever)

  

It's Easter next weekend. Time for another family meal. You better have a Costco membership card in your wallet...otherwise you will miss out on one of the greatest epicurean delights known to modern man. Kirkland Ham. Bone-in and spiral sliced. Pre-cooked. Hickory smoked. I'm here to tell you it is the greatest ham you will ever taste.

Not only is the taste of this ham astounding, the price will absolutely blow you away. It's just $2.49 a pound. Cheaper than ground beef. Cheaper than wieners. Cheaper than that 47-week supply of Kirkland toilet paper. You've gotta be plum crazy not to take advantage of this. The world's greatest ham at the world's greatest price.

The ham also comes with a package of glaze. My advice.....throw the glaze away the minute you get home. The pit master has put the absolutely perfect amount of hickory smoke in this ham. The glaze is over-the-top sweet and detracts from hickory greatness. Plain ham and Becky's cheesy potatoes for my Easter dinner, please.

So let's tick off the boxes. World's best tasting ham. World's cheapest ham. And now for the trifecta...world's easiest ham recipe! 

Ingredients
One Kirkland spiral sliced ham (7-10 pounds)
Aluminum foil
1 cup water


Directions

1. Remove ham from store packaging and wrap tightly in aluminum foil.
2. Add water to bottom of slow cooker, then add ham and cover.
3. Turn slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours. When done, remove foil and serve.

Wine pairing: Zinfandel

Little Bites

 

I love garlic. I use it in almost every meal I prepare. But I hate peeling garlic. In the past, I'd buy a 5-pound bag of freshly peeled garlic at Costco. It would last for about 3 weeks, then mold would set in and I would have to toss it. But I did a little reading and found out that freezing garlic is a great way to preserve it as it retains all of the natural flavor once thawed. So now I only buy one $15 bag every six months. I keep it in the freezer until the bag is empty. Problem solved.

I love garlic. I use it in almost every meal I prepare. But I hate chopping it. So in an effort to avoid chopping. I'd haul out my food processor. I keep it in my pantry, which is a separate room from the kitchen. It would not be such a big deal if it were lighter, but my Breville Food Processor weighs the same as a small block Chevy engine. Huge hassle.

Then I stumbled upon this Kuhn Rikon Manual Food Processor ($29 on Amazon). It's small and weighs but a few ounces, so it stores in a convenient drawer in my kitchen island. You just drop your garlic (or any other food you want to chop) and then pull the spring-loaded rope. One pull gives you big pieces of chopped garlic. An additional pull or two gives you finely minced garlic. Problem solved. 

Spaghetti Cups

 

Becky and I just returned from a 10th anniversary trip to Santa Barbara. We love that city for three reasons: we were married there; it has a perfect year-round climate (usually high 70's and never any humidity); and finally because it has one of the best Italian bistros we have ever dined at...Tre Lune.

(click to enlarge) 

It's small, quaint and packed with charm. Everything on the menu is made from scratch....the vast majority of ingredients are locally sourced from the lush, surrounding farms. It is a wonderful reminder of just how spectacular and beloved Italian cuisine can be. And we can't wait to go back.

So in the Italian spirit, I'd like to share a modified Ellie Krieger recipe for Spaghetti Cups. While it's not something you will find at Tre Lune, it makes a great weeknight meal. It's fast and easy...especially if you happen to have leftover spaghetti. And, again, you just can't go wrong if you are hankering for something Italian. This dish also makes for a spectacular plate presentation (see top photo).  The recipe serves 4 to 6 people and makes 12 Spaghetti Cups.

INGREDIENTS

Kosher salt

6 ounces dried spaghetti

1-1/2 cups marinara sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more as needed

16 ounces bulk hot Italian sausage

1/2 small yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (12 tablespoons)

DIRECTIONS

1. Fill a Dutch oven with water and add Kosher salt (1 tablespoon per gallon). Bring to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook according to package instructions until 1 minute shy of al dente (about 9 minutes). Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 cup of marinara sauce, then set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375º.
3. Prepare the filling. Return the Dutch oven to medium-high heat and heat the 1 tablespoon of oil until shimmering. Add the sausage and onion. Cook, stirring and breaking up the sausage into small pieces with a wooden spoon until the meat is no longer pink and the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until aromatic, another 30 seconds. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of marinara and remove from the heat. 
4. Toss the cooled spaghetti with the eggs to coat evenly, then distribute the spaghetti into 12 wells of a muffin tin, creating a divot in the center of each to hold the filling. Distribute the filling evenly among the spaghetti cups (it’s okay if it comes above the top of the wells), aiming for about 3 tablespoons per cup. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of the parmesan cheese and bake until warmed through and nicely browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then use an offset spatula to carefully remove each spaghetti cup from the muffin tin and serve. (Note: If desired, Spaghetti Cups can be stored in the fridge for 4 days and reheated quickly in a microwave.)

Wine pairing: Chianti Classico