Ham and A Bunch of Other Stuff

Yesterday I bought the food. Today I cooked and cleaned and got ready for the week of home-cooked, reasonably priced meals. Oh, okay, so I took off long enough to go see "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," which was an AWESOME movie. I highly recommend it. I think of it as the gamer's version of a musical. You'll understand that cryptic comment after you see the movie.

This morning I started the cooking marathon by mixing up a batch of creme fraiche (1 pint of heavy whipping cream mixed with 2 Tablespoons of buttermilk, covered and left in a warm place for 12 hours) and leaving it on the windowsill. There's no lack of warm places during August in Texas.

For dinner I made the ham that I bought yesterday. I soaked it overnight in a pot of cold water, which makes the ham less salty. A couple of hours before dinner, I put it on to boil with a mixture of white wine, two bay leaves, a small onion with three cloves stuck in it, and water to cover. The ham simmered for about an hour and a half until the bone looked a little separated from the meat, and then I put the ham in a pan with about 1/4 inch of the cooking liquid in it. I mixed a glaze of 3 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 2-3 tablespoons honey and applied it to the ham. (Meanwhile, I had little red potatoes roasting in the oven, and baked beans heating up on the stove.) The ham went into a 375 degree oven with the glaze on it for about 20 minutes until everything melted, got crispy and smelled delicious. Dinner was served.

While the ham was boiling, I also made vichyssoise, cleaned and individually froze the package of chicken breasts that I bought yesterday, and cooked and froze the package of Italian sausage. This type of prep doesn't take a lot out of me on the weekends when I spend the afternoon in the kitchen anyway, but it's invaluable to have it done before the week begins. Besides, I was rocking a glass of Cruzan rum and orange juice and watching "Big Trouble" on TV, so the time passed pleasantly with only a few brain glitches ("what did I come into the pantry for again?").

Leftover ham will go for sandwiches and, hopefully, a quiche aided by the creme fraiche and chopped leeks that I saved back from the vichyssoise. Yesterday I made a pot of rice, which will turn into chicken fried rice tomorrow night or Tuesday.

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the whole chicken. I might roast it English style, with mashed potatoes and peas, or make Puerto Rican arroz con pollo. Decisions, decisions!

I'll let you know!