Ham linguine casserole!

You know the scenario. You’re in the grocery store, getting your necessities… you walk back towards the meat section… grab the chicken that you need.. some bacon.. some ground beef… then, out of the corner of your eye, you see that ham is on special…. Finally! You think back to the last time you had an oven cooked ham… likely, it was for Christmas or Easter or something similar… So, you disregard the fact that you haven’t grabbed anything to cook with it… you don’t pay attention to the size of the ham, because at 8 bucks, it’s a DEAL! You scurry out of the store, perhaps stopping to get a bottle of brown mustard and some onion rolls while you salivate over the idea of the leftover ham sandwiches you’ll be having…

 

Then, you get home and cook the ham… Why does it take so long? Isn’t an hour and a half a bit longer than normal? Oh… it’s because this thing is 16 pounds… So… you sit down to an awesome ham dinner fresh out of the oven… you stuff yourself until you don’t even want to think about ham anymore… good thing too… because you only have 14 pounds of it left. Wait… that’s not a good thing. Crap. What do you do with all of the ham? Well, for starters, you have family over and make them eat some.. because they haven’t had ham in a while… then you make some ham sandwiches on those awesome onion rolls… with a little brown mustard and some swiss cheese, you’re good to go… and in the mornings, you fry some up, toss it next to a few over-medium eggs and call it breakfast… then maybe dice some up and make an omelet with some….

 

But then what? Now you’ve managed to whittle down a 16 pound ham to just a couple pounds… but a week has gone by, you’ve had ham for 3 dinners, 5 sandwiches, and 5 breakfasts… the idea of eating more ham is about equal to eating a pinecone. … so… now it’s time for casserole.

Here’s what you’ll need.

• 4 Cups of leftover ham, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 TBSP butter
• 6 TBSP flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 1 TSP mustard powder
• 1 TSP kosher salt

 

Take the above and make it do this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that your veggies and ham are all chopped up….. let’s get cooking.

Get a pot of water going to cook your linguine to al dente (about 10 minutes)

Also, in one pan, get your onions going with a bit of oil. In a saucepan, get your butter melting.

and

Once your onions start to turn translucent, toss your peppers on in there with them.

Keep stirring those around occasionally… Once your butter is melted, add the 6 TBSP of flour to it… and be amazed that the TBSP of flour can fall into the pot without falling apart.

Crazy ain’t it? Whisk the flour into the butter until it it’s not lumpy. Then add your chicken stock and milk… continue to whisk the mixture occasionally… you should have this on medium low..or medium… depending on how well you can multi-task…. go back and look at your peppers and onions… wait a second… your water is boiling.. break up your linguine and get it into the boiling water real quick… be sure to drop half of the box on the floor and scream profanities. Now whisk your milk concoction…

Wait a minute… wasn’t I supposed to do something else? Oh crap. the peppers and onions…

Well.. there are a few charred bits… but that’ll just add flavor right? ok… let’s get the rest of the stuff we’ll need ready…. first up… a half cup(ish) of parmesan cheese

and a half cup(ish) of shredded cheddar…. lookie there.. all on one measuring device so I don’t have to wash extra stuff… and now stir your milk again… it should be thickening up…

Once it’s “pretty thick” add your cheeses to it and stir it around… let it thicken

The timer went off on your pasta, so drain it real quick.. then add your veggies to it, and your ham.

mmmmmm ham.

Once your milk/cheese mixture is sufficiently thickened, pour it into the ham/veggies/noodles

Now, mix all of this together with a big ‘ol spoon and then pour it into a casserole dish

Top your casserole with your remaining cheese, and toss it into the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Let it cool for a little bit.. then serve it on up.

Here are my thoughts…. once again, this is a rather versatile recipe. I could see adding french-cut green beans… or mushrooms… or whatever you feel like… you could also put some breadcrumbs under the cheese on top…. whatever’s clever.

The recipe is kind of bland though. It needs garlic… or cayenne pepper… something.. it’s very creamy and packed with dairy… but it’s a bit overpowering with all of that creaminess… so, add a few cloves of garlic… or a few of your favorite chili peppers… I think another great addition would be to leave the pan out with the veggies and either roast the peppers and onions on the grill, or under the broiler on the stove… get a bit more char to them…