Recipe Mon Apr 13 2009

Easter Redux

Yesterday was a day of meeting for meat--the Easter Ham. I was fortunate to be at the home of friends who made Nigella Lawson's Ham in Cola. There was something gratifying and strange about pouring a two-liter of cola over a ham and shoving it into the oven. While its sugary, caramel flavor wasn't incredibly noticeable, I still thought it complemented the ham well.

Today is a day for hurried trips to your local grocery to witness and indulge in the 50-75% off sale/retail carnage of pastel candy and chocolate bunnies, but it's also a day to get creative with the leftovers from yesterday.

Ham - if you saved the ham bone, here's a split pea soup; or perhaps you just need to go beyond the 40 ham sandwiches you plan to eat this week and make a casserole.

Carrots - I turned a bag of raw carrots into an awesome batch of potage de crecy, a pureed carrot/rice soup with a kicky political angle that I mixed up a bit by using a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger and substituting a handful of green onions for the standard kind.

Potatoes - If you have leftover raw potatoes, I'm going to try to turn you onto a popular dish from a restaurant in my hometown that turns a spud into a flavorful work of art--behold the potato casserole.

— Robyn Nisi / Comments (0)