Farmer John Ham & Pea Pasta Salad

Farmer John Ham & Pea Pasta Salad

Part 3 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  I first had this recipe when I was on my honeymoon in Jamaica and have been waiting to make it again ever since.  I have no idea why I waited so long.  All the unique flavors from the ingredients in this salad add complexity and create a near perfect dish.

Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog as well as the succulent ham we devoured during our previous family dinner.  Naturally, there was some left over.  Time to put those left overs to use to make a tasty dish that goes great by itself or makes a meal as a side.

This recipe has a few ingredients but they are all pretty easy to find:

• Left over ham slices
• Purple Onion  - about 1/2 an onion
• Celery - about 2 large stalks
• Basil - about 10 fresh leaves
• Olives - 1 can or about 1 cup
• Mayo - about 1/2 cup
• Frozen Peas - about 2 cups
• Pasta - 1 lb
• Salt and Pepper - to taste

Medium dice about 1/2 of a purple onion - I think the purple onion gives this salad some bite.  You can use a sweet onion if you want but I think purple is a perfect flavor match with the rest of the ingredients.





Slice up the stalks of celery into 1/8" thick slices.   These add color and crunch and some cool to offset the onion.

I used canned olive but pick out whatever flavor is your favorite.  The olives add some saltiness and color.  I quartered the olives.

 I used fresh basil and I think this is a key.  I used about 10 leaves and chiffon cut them as fine as I could.  The basil adds color and an incredible burst of fresh flavor that matches the rest of the flavors.







 



 I chose left over slices of the ham that were about 1" thick.  I tried to cube the ham into 1" cube pieces that were as evenly sized as possible - mostly for appearance purposes.







I used casarecce pasta but you can use any kind you want - bow tie or rotini are also popular choices.  Boil the pasta until it is al dente and let cool.
Mix all the ingredients together except for the frozen peas.  After all the ingredients are mixed well and you have added salt and pepper to taste, add the frozen peas.  The salad is ready to eat now but the flavors really start to melt together after a night of hanging out.

Why use frozen peas?  If you tried to use fresh peas they will break up and get mushy.  Frozen peas are sturdy enough to handle the mixing and stay whole making the appearance of the finished salad stunning.





Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge. 

Farmer John Ham & Cheese Roll Ups

Farmer John Ham & Cheese Roll Ups

Part 2 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  The standard Ham & Cheese sandwich is fine - but let's jack it up a notch.



Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog as well as the succulent ham we devoured during our previous family dinner.  Naturally, there was some left over.  Time to put those left overs to use to make a tasty after school snack for the kids or a treat for the (very loud) kids in the garage watching football!

This extra simple recipe is great for involving the kids too!  Four basic ingredients:

• Left over ham - about 4 slices
• Grated Cheese - about 1 cup
• One egg
• Puff Pastry Sheets (2 pack)

 Dice up the slices of ham as fine as you can - it should equal about 1 cup after you chop it up.

Mix the 1 cup of diced ham up with the 1 cup of grated cheese.  I used colby-jack but there are no rules in this recipe!

Follow the directions on the Puff Pastry sheets and thaw completely.  Open up each sheet onto a lightly floured surface.

Use about half (1 cup of the mix) and lay out the mix evenly on the sheet of pastry.

Roll up the sheet with the ham and cheese inside.  Wrap the roll as tight as possible.

Make an egg wash with the one egg and 1 tablespoon of water.  Brush evenly on the outside of the rolled up pastry sheet.  

Cut each roll / log into 10 or so even pieces - about 1" thick each.

 
 I baked these slices up in two different devices.

This is a picture of the roll ups on the smoker.  I cooked these on the smoker at 250F for about 40 minutes.









The other half I baked in the oven at 400F for about 12 minutes.









 Some more progress on the smoker.

Here's the pieces that were cooked in the oven.  The puff pastry was nice and light - crispy and really great.  I recommend cooking this recipe in the oven unless you can get your smoker up higher in temp.

Here's near the end of the cook in the smoker.  You can see the dough is a wilted looking and the ham kind of dried out a bit.  Unless you cook these on the smoker at a higher temp, I'd stick with the oven.

A plate of tasty snacks right out of the smoker.











Bottom line - this really easy recipe was fun to do with the kids - and they devoured them in about 10 minutes.  This is a  great way to use some of that left over Farmer John Ham.  You won't be disappointed!


Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge. 

Farmer John Hawaiian Fatty

Farmer John Hawaiian Fatty - aka - 808 State Fatty

Part 1 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  The standard Ham & Cheese sandwich sounds good but how about making something that will knock the socks off of your New Years weekend guests?!?  Rose Bowl, Pro Football or even Basketball fans need something to snack on while they are watching the game.  This snack is perfect for Padre fans but even a Dodger fan could appreciate the awesomeness that is the 808 State Fatty!

808 State is slang for anything Hawaiian - because the area code for any telephone number in Hawaii is 808.  Cool right?!?

Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog.  Even a hard core San Diego Padre fan can appreciate the succulent Dodger Dog - or as us Padre fans call them - Hot Dogs.  You can't attend a BBQ in SoCal without feasting on a Farmer John product hitting the table making them one of the icons and favorites at any family outing - particularly at my house!

 If you haven't heard of a Fatty - it's also called a Bacon Explosion - it's basically a basket weave layer of bacon, a layer of sausage, and then a stuffing of whatever you want!  The ideas are limitless!  In this episode we are making the famous 808 State Fatty - all things Hawaiian AND Farmer John - focusing on our left over holiday Ham.

Here's a list of the ingredients:
Left over Farmer John Ham - about 3 slices
Pineapple - about 1/3 of a fresh pineapple
Farmer John Breakfast Links - 2lbs
Cream Cheese - 8oz Block
Farmer John Thick Cut Bacon - 1.5lbs
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls - 5 rolls


Slice the left over ham in long pieces - about 1" wide x 1" thick.










 I love to use fresh pineapple but of you can't find it, canned pineapple will do in a pinch.

I like to slice the pineapple in 1" wide x 1" thick strips.

Family secret here!  WARNING!  Only pass this secret off to people you love!  Put 2lbs of sausage into a 1 gallon zip lock bag.  Farmer John breakfast links do not have a casing so they are really easy to use.  An alternate is Farmer John sausage that comes in a "chub" pack.  They usually come in a 1lb tube in various flavors.

Put 2lbs of sausage in the zip lock bag and squeeze all the air out of it and flatten it out.

Family Secret #2 - assemble your fatty on a piece of Heavy Duty foil.  You'll see why later!

Family secret #3 - I'm letting it all out here!  Stretch the Farmer John Thick Cut Bacon as you pull it out of the package.  The bacon will stretch an extra 5 - 6 inches.  You'll see why next!

You can see how much you can stretch the bacon!

Now it's time to weave the bacon.  Remember the stretch?  Here's why:  If you stretch the bacon out, the fatty will be BIGGER!  You will be able to make a 16" x 16" square.  If you don't stretch the bacon, the strips of bacon will be about 11".

The bacon weave is the most intimidating part of this recipe.  It isn't difficult - in fact, my 7 year old daughter weaved this one.  Lay out the strips of bacon until it is a square shape.  Then lift up alternating pieces and lay another strip of bacon the opposite direction. 

Put the bacon strips back and then pull back the alternate strip of bacon back so the next strip can lay down.

Keep this process down until you have completed the weave.

Make sure that each strip of bacon is put as close as possible to the neighbor strip.  This is important to ensure the weave doesn't burst and the filling doesn't leak out.

Here's the finished weave.  Notice how tight the gaps are.  This is the key to making a stunning looking Fatty that doesn't leak.

Take your time and make the weave tight!

Remember the 2lbs of sausage that you made into a flat layer of goodness in the 1 gallon zip lock bag?  Now it's time to put that Farmer John flavor to use!  Use a knife and cut / open the sides of the gallon bag.  You can now lay down the layer on top of the weave.  The layer will be even and easy to lay down onto the bacon weave.

These two steps are the basis of all Fatty's.  Now let's stuff it with goodness!

We are making the famous 808 State Fatty.  That means fresh pineapple and Farmer John Ham.

Now we are going to add a block of cream cheese.  Form it into a log about the width of the sausage layer.

808 State Fatty?  Only if you add some Hawaiian King Rolls!  Take 5 rolls and squish them flat!

Place the flattened Hawaiian King Rolls across the width of the sausage layer.

 Remember Family Secret #2?  Assembling the Fatty on Heavy Duty foil?  Now you'll see why.

It's really tough to roll up a fat roll of goodness but if you can use the heavy duty foil to assist in rolling all of this chow into a solid log, you'll be ready for the big time!

Use the foil to make sure that you can roll all this stuff into a log.  Compress the stuffing into the middle.

The end result should look like this - a log of meat surrounded by a bacon weave blanket.  You can wrap the fatty into the foil and store it for a day or so if you aren't ready to cook it immediately.

The nice, tight weave will make sure the stuffing stays inside.  I put this on the smoker at 250F for 4 hours.  The cooking utensil I'm cooking on is called a Frogmat.  These utensils can be used in any indirect cooking surface including your oven and they are completely safe to cook on.  These are great to cook on because they can help cook fragile items like - gulp - vegetables, or better yet - Fatty's - and left them off the grate without breaking them apart.  Well worth the money to be part of any serious BBQ'r arsenal.

Since the ground pork is raw, you need to follow the USDA guidelines and cook the fatty to an internal temperature of 160F .  This usually takes about 3 hours at 250F grate temp on my Royall 3000 Smoker. 

After you reach the internal temp of 160F, let your fatty rest for about 10 - 20 minutes on the counter until you slice it.  I slice the fatty along each strip of bacon.  It's ready to eat at this point - but - if you're really adventurous....   keep reading!

Secret #4 - make the fatty slices.....'



......the most memorable slices of goodness in anyone's memory.....

Poach an egg for each person's slice of fatty....

Place a slice of fatty on top of an English Muffin, top with a poached egg, layer with a super soaked hollandaise sauce and garnish with some fresh cracked black pepper, pink sea salt and some green onions (scallions).

THE perfect meal, appetizer, late night snack, or money dish for any occasion - all because of your left over Holiday Ham!

Thanks Farmer John!

Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge.