I was thinking today that school is going to start soon, so it is time to start making quicker dishes, eat dinner earlier, and get Spane to sleep earlier. That way, going back to school will not be such a big adjustment.
Our dinner tonight reflected a holiday dinner, but was much simpler, and not any where near as much food. Having a ham steak lets you get a nice thick slice of ham, with the bone if you like the marrow like I do, without having to buy the whole ham.
Did you know that the long, red skinned, orange fleshed vegetables Americans call yams are in fact sweet potatoes? They are. I like the orange sweet potatoes a little bit more than I like white sweet potatoes. They have more sugar and are moister than their whiter cousins. Even though American grocers label them incorrectly, they are not even distantly related to yams.
When I was a little girl, my mother would get sweet peas in their shells, and we would sit and shell them. The peas never made it to the stove, though, we ate them as we shelled them. I have yet been able to find big fat sweet peas like those, but I did find some with smaller peas, whose shells were still soft enough to eat, and I used those.
I also had some lovely peaches in the refrigerator, ice cream and a new jar of rose preserves. I made Peaches Raleigh for dessert.
Peaches Raleigh
Recipe: Ham Steak with Blackberry Mustard Glaze
Summary: The glaze for this ham steak makes it special
Ingredients
1 ham steak, with bone
1 teaspoon blackberry preserves
1 teaspoon whole grain German mustard
Instructions
Mix the preserves and mustard together. Set aside.
Heat an iron skillet to very hot. Quickly put the ham steak in and cook for 5 minutes. Turn and cover the cooked side with the glaze. Cook for 5 minutes, then turn and put the remainder of the glaze on. Cover for about 2 minutes and remove the ham steak from the pan. Put water in the pan to ease clean up, and let the ham steak rest for about two minutes before cutting.
Variations
You could also use a Dijon mustard, but the seeds in the preserves and the seeds in the mustard go together very well.
Summary: In the United States, even though they may be labeled yams, they are really sweet potatoes
Ingredients
4 medium, orange fleshed sweet potatoes (yams)
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Peel the potatoes, and cut them into two inch pieces. Boil in water until they are fork tender. Drain.
Add the butter and mash with a potato masher, then add the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract and whip with an electric beater until they are of a nice consistency.
Variations
You could make this with the whiter variety of sweet potato, but these “yam” ones are really good.
Wash the pea pods and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Add the butter and seasoning. Cook in the microwave about 2 3/4 minutes, or until tender crisp.
Quick notes
If you cannot find Southern Seasoning, you could use a little bacon salt, or bacon fat instead of butter.
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