Monday Night - Medianoches (Leftover Ham Recipe #1)

The Medicanoche is, if unfamiliar, a Cuban sandwhich usually made using sweet Cuban bread and toasted with a press. While I am not industrious enough to make my own bread from scratch we did do a lazy man's version using those little circle breads, sliced leftover ham, mustard, Gouda, onions, pressed on a George Forman grill. A nice at home substitute for the crunchy real one which would have sliced ham and roasted pork, smothered with butter and pressed on an industrial grade toaster thing.

So I am standing in Ralph's the night before Easter and looking at the plethra of ham options lined up and trying to choose. I looked at the small, deboned, defatted, ham that would be adequate for me, Sarah, and Kelly. Picked it up, put it down (it was almost $10)... then a woman zoomed into my peripheral vision, waving a sales ad, asking where she could have the $.88 ham. What! There it was 9lbs of fatty, bone-in, real ham for the same price as my lil' bitty baby ham. Well, who can walk away from a bargain. So here is it my giant ham and the inspiration for our week of ham leftover recipes which have been surprisingly tasty.

Curry in My Glaze

So I played around and found my new favorite ham glaze... I am sure y'all are all waiting with baited breath. I started with the typical brown sugar and mustard mix, though I used a bit of yellow, Dijon, and Sweet n'Hot, then to that I added cinnamon, cloves, pickling spice. I then mixed in juice from canned pineapple. Finally, I added in yellow curry powder. I applied this mixture to the fat covered side and baked sliced side down on the rack of a roasted pan. In the bottom of the pan (under the rack) I spread the slices from an orange and sliced onion soaking in a can of Dr. Pepper. I then placed pineappple rings over the ham and baked for an hour at 325. After an hour I basted and then flipped the ham applying the glaze plus some drizzeled honey. After another 45 minutes I applied the last of the glaze mixed with the remaining honey and pineapple juice.