Maple Cognac Glazed Ham with Winter Vegetables

A briny cured ham compliments sweet winter vegetables nicely, making this a great choice for a holiday meal. So we decided to say so long to the aughts with a festive ham.

Maple is a cured ham’s natural best friend and cognac adds another layer of mellow sweetness to the glaze. We topped off the meal with baked yams and a simple salad of spinach with olive oil, cider vinegar and grated smoked cheddar.

Happy New Year from Yankee Cook!

Maple Cognac Glazed Ham with Winter Vegetables – serves 10 – 12

1 10 lb cured bone-in skinless ham
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces
Maple Cognac Glaze (recipe below)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse the ham and place it cut side down on a rack in a roasting pan. Score ham using a sharp knife. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast in the middle of the oven for 2 1/2  hours.

Remove ham from oven. Take the rack holding the ham out of the roasting pan and set aside. Add chopped veggies and toss with the juices at the bottom of the roasting pan. Place rack with ham back in roasting pan over veggies. Cover again with aluminum foil and roast 30 minutes.

Make the glaze (recipe below).

Remove ham from oven. Take the rack with the ham out of the roasting pan again and flip the vegetables. Return the ham to pan and brush with half of the glaze. Return to the oven and continue to cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Brush the ham again with the rest of the glaze. Roast for another 15 minutes until the ham’s internal temperature reaches 160 by this point degrees. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve with a small salad or additional veggie sides and a nice chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Maple Cognac Glaze – makes about 1 cup

1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C cognac
4 t water
1/4 t sea salt
5 cloves
10 allspice berries

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a light boil, stirring over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the salt has dissolved and the alcohol has evaporated off.

Ingredient origins: Ham – Massachusetts; Potatoes – Idaho; Carrots – New Jersey; Parsnips – Massachusetts; Maple Syrup – Massachusetts; Brown sugar – Florida; Cognac – ; Sea salt – France; Cloves – Unknown; Allspice – Jamaica

Roasted Chicken au Naturel

Chicken au Naturel gets its name from its simplicity. Sure, chicken can be roasted with all sorts of herbs and spices that will lend additional flavor to the bird, but sometimes it’s nice to let the flavor of the meat speak for itself. This recipe uses just butter, salt and pepper. The key to getting the chickeny-ness out of the chicken without a rotisserie is to flip it every so often to allow the juices from the bones to melt into the meat and basting regularly keeps the meat moist.

Any root vegetables or tubers are great to add to the bottom of the roasting pan in the last hour or so of the process. As they roast along with the bird, they absorb some of the drippings and form a crisp brown crust. In this case, I added carrots and turnips. Serve with a salad of spinach, mache or mixed greens to round out the meal.

Roasted Chicken au Naturel – serves 4

1 5 lb chicken
2 T butter
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in an oven-proof dish as the oven gets to temp.

Rinse chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Brush the the bird inside and out with melted butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and out as well. Fold the flaps in and, using kitchen string, tie the legs together. Tuck the wings under the bird. I can never get mine to stay that way as it cooks, so I like to tie a string around the bird where the wings are folded.

On a rack in a roasting pan, roast the chicken breast side up for 30 minutes. Flip and roast breast side down for 15 minutes. Baste and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven again and this time flip the bird over so that it’s breast side up again. Add any veggies that you plan to roast. Baste the bird and the veggies and return to the oven another 45 minutes – 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes.

The chicken is finished cooking when the meat at the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165. All the bird to rest for 10 minutes before transferring to a serving platter and carving.

Ingredient origins: Organic Chicken – Colorado (I settled for organic this time rather than local), Organic turnips and carrots – Massachusetts, Butter – Maine

Vegetable Garden Pasta

Vegetable Garden Pasta gets its name from the raw veggies that star in the dish. The pasta sauce takes less than 20 minutes so that the tomatoes and carrots retain their vitamins and minerals. A quick, covered simmer allows the vegetables to soften in a shorter amount of time than tomato sauce recipes that stew uncovered for several hours. Give the sauce a quick mash, to get a smoother consistency.

The spinach and red onion are left raw and tossed into the dish, adding color and that “put hair on your chest” onion goodness. It’s been said that raw onions and garlic contain compounds that fend off the cold and flu. Carrots add vitamin A, along with a gentle sweetness to cut the tomatoes’ acidity.

Vegetable Garden Pasta – serves 2 – 4

1 T olive oil
1/4 C chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely diced or pressed
1/4 C carrots, finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes, diced
2 T tomato paste
1 C chicken or vegetable stock
1 T chopped red onion
1/2 C baby spinach
1/2 lb. dry pasta
2-4 T Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a 2 quart saucepan over a medium flame. Add onions and cook until transparent, but not browned. Add garlic and carrots and cook for one minute. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and stock. Stir until well combined. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Cook pasta as instructed. Drain and pour into a covered casserole dish. Toss with onions and spinach, cover to allow both vegetables to steam slightly by the pasta’s heat.

Pour sauce over pasta, toss well and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Ingredient origins: Olive oil – Spain; Garlic – New Jersey; Onions, Carrots, Tomatoes – New Hampshire; Spinach – Maine; Pasta and cheese – Italy

Yankee Cook’s Thanksgiving

Ours was a the perfect day of family, fun in the kitchen and a very successful feast. I didn’t get a lot of pictures from the process, which started on Monday, but I wanted to share a few of my recipes with you anyway. The recipes below are some of my most tried and true Thanksgiving recipes – I’ve been making the Cranberry Sauce since I was eight.

As much as I love to experiment with creating interesting menus, Thanksgiving is the exception. It’s the one day out of the year when the perfect menu has already been devised by years of regional tradition. All of the vegetables came from local organic farms and everything was made from scratch, from the rolls, right down to the stock used in the gravy.

Yankee Cook’s Thanksgiving Menu

Yankee Cook’s Turkey Gravy - makes 6 cups

2 C turkey pan drippings (should yield 1 C fat)
1 C flour
3 C Turkey Stock, heated (recipe below)
Helpful equipment: baster, gravy separator

After the turkey is finished cooking and while it’s resting, use a baster to collect two cups of pan drippings into a gravy separator. Wait a moment for the fat to float to the top. Pour off the brown (non-fat) liquid that sinks to the bottom into the stock. There should be about a cup of fat left over.

Pour the fat into a medium saucepan and bring to a slight simmer over medium heat. Gradually stir a cup of flour into the fat, stirring with a whisk to smooth out any lumps. Stir for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Mixture should thicken to the consistency of Greek yogurt.

Gradually whisk in the four cups of stock. Stir over medium heat until thickened to desired consistency.

Taste before seasoning. If using drippings from a brined or salted turkey, the gravy should turn out to be well seasoned already.

Turkey Stock – makes 3 – 4 cups (depending on how reduced it becomes while simmering)

8 C water
4-6 C or chopped potatoes, onion, celery, herbs, etc. or reserved vegetable trimmings
Turkey neck, heart and gizzard

In a large stockpot simmer the vegetables in water for two to three hours partially covered. Remove from heat, discard vegetables and strain to remove any solids.

Return the liquid to stockpot and add the neck, gizzard and heart. Do not add the liver, as it will add a strong liver flavor to the stock. (I saved ours this Thanksgiving and fried it up in butter on Tuesday night. I called it Poor Man’s Foie Gras. It was quite good.)

Simmer for two to three hours, partially covered until the neck is totally cooked and browned and the stock is reduced. Remove the neck, gizzard and heart. Strain the stock again to remove any solids.

Note: This can be made a one or two days in advance. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Yankee Cook’s Maple Butternut Squash - serves 4 – 6

2 medium Butternut Squash
water
½ C half and half
¼ C butter
2-3 T Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half and de-gunk. Place cut-side down in a large baking dish with a half inch of water. Cook for 40-50 minutes until tender.

Scoop squash from shell. In a medium saucepan, mash the squash with a potato masher, add butter, half and half, and maple syrup. Combine with masher until the butter, half and half and maple syrup are evenly distributed.

Yankee Cook’s Cranberry Sauce - makes 4 cups

4 C cranberries
2 C sugar
Water

Pour cranberries into medium saucepan cover with water, add sugar, bring to a boil and simmer 20 min. Pour into heat resistant serving dish and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

Ingredient Origins: Antibiotic/Hormone/Preservative-free Turkey – Vermont; Organic Milk and Bread for stuffing – Vermont;  Butter – Maine; Pumpkin – Maine; Organic Shallots, squash, spinach, Brussel’s sprouts, beets, potatoes – New Hampshire; Organic Half and Half – Massachusetts; Herb stuffing seasoning – Massachusetts; Cranberries – Cape Cod; Organic sweetened condensed milk – Iowa; Pecans – Arizona; Corn Syrup – UK

Pasta with Maine Smoked Salmon, Arugula and Pine Nuts

This is a hearty, nutritious pasta dish that can be made in under a half hour. Pine nuts contain vitamins A, E and K, niacin and folic acid. Arugula also offers vitamins A, K and folic acid along with calcium, iron, zinc and potassium and salmon offers omega-3. The sweetness of the pine nuts compliments the smoked salmon’s briny tang, and the Mornay sauce mellows the arugula’s pungency. I didn’t take pictures of the process because I thought it was too simple to post here – it’s not like the pasta is homemade.  But it turned out to be really good and so I decided to share it.

Like anything else, I prefer to use all natural smoked salmon made without coloring. I’ve had pretty good luck with Ducktrap River from Maine – good flavor, not too oily and never stringy or tough -  but I’m sure there’s an equally good smoked salmon purveyor near you. Enjoy.

Pasta with Maine Smoked Salmon, Arugula and Pine Nuts – serves 4-6

1/2 lb dry short pasta
3 C arugula, chopped
a drizzle of olive oil
6 ounces smoked salmon, cut into small squares
1/4 C raw pine nuts
1 1/2 C Mornay Sauce (recipe follows)

Start by cooking the pasta as directed. Drain, rinse if desired, and pour into a large casserole dish with a lid. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add the arugula and gently toss. Cover to allow the arugula to lightly steam with the hot pasta.

Meanwhile, make the Mornay sauce (recipe below).

Toss the salmon and pine nuts with the pasta, add the sauce and toss to coat.

Mornay Sauce – about 1 1/2 cups

1 T butter
1 T flour
1 C milk
1-2 T grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

In a small saucepan, melt butter. When it begins to foam, stir in the flour. Allow to cook, stirring with a wire whisk for about 2 minutes. Stir in milk and allow to thicken, then stir in the cheese. Season with salt.

Ingredient Origins: Pasta – Iowa, Organic arugula – Maine,Olive oil – Italy, Smoked Salmon – Maine, Butter – Maine, Flour – Vermont, Organic milk – Vermont, Pecorino Romano cheese – Italy, Pine nuts – Italy