Glazed Rolled Ham

We spent the first two days of the long Easter weekend visiting our kids and grandbabies. Easter Sunday was spent at home enjoying the beautiful, unseasonably warm spring days. We left the evening meal open for those who wanted to stop by.

Glazed Rolled Ham

I chose a small rolled ham for dinner roasted in the countertop roaster. As it cooked I basted an apple jelly glaze over the ham. The glaze consisted of 4 oz of apple jelly mixed with 2 oz of Pepsi (cola drink). Rolled hams are a good value in that they are full meat with very little fat and no bone. Despite their smaller size they do slice up to a larger number of servings. Left-overs can be thin sliced or cubed then frozen for later use on sandwiches or salads. Left-overs can also be slightly thicker sliced then pan fried the following morning to go along with eggs, home fries and toast.

The Dinner

We had been on the go almost full tilt for over two days so I really relied on KISS for this meal. While the ham was cooking we were able to enjoy the sparkling water and sun's kisses. As the ham neared completion I put Arborio rice on to cook in the rice cooker. Unless cooking Arborio rice for another purpose I like cooking it in turkey or chicken stock with 1 tbsp of butter. This gives a rich, creamy texture that holds nicely together for plating and lending itself nicely to forming. I added a side of home canned green beans. These were Blue Lake, a lovely canning variety.

Left-Overs

I mentioned in a previous post that with my husband's current schedule he is eating a heavier meal at lunch followed by a lighter meal for dinner. I've taken advantage of this by making dinners-to-go for him using left-overs. What is nice about these meals is they can be reheated as is in their container the following day or they can be froze for later reheating as a homemade tv dinner.

This dinner-to-go included slices of the glazed rolled ham with a little of the glaze and left-over Arborio rice. When it comes to these types of meals it is important to add a bit of moisture that will prevent drying out as the food reheats. In this case the glaze would keep the meat moist while a little extra butter would keep the rice moist. Extra stock or topping the rice with glaze would work as well but most of that would be absorbed before the rice was reheated.