When I think of Christmas leftovers, the first thing that comes to mind is ham. Do you find that you always have more leftover ham than anything else? Year after year, my mother packs up Christmas leftovers for us to take home and it always includes a big chunk of ham. I try to snaffle extra turkey, gravy and potato which, to be honest, I prefer because I have so many more ideas for ways to use those leftovers than ham. But usually I get caught and scolded like a 8 year old for not sharing with my siblings. 🙂
So I get home and find myself making a conscious effort to get through as much ham as possible before having to freeze the remainder. There are the usual suspects – frittatas, ham and egg fry ups, baked casseroles – pretty much anything that I typically use bacon in, I substitute with ham.
My favourite way to use ham is Croque Madame which is essentially a French grilled ham and cheese on steroids because it is topped with béchamel, a thick white sauce. I saw this muffin tin version on Rachel Khoo’s Little Paris Kitchen show. I really like her show because she puts a new spin on French classics while staying true to tradition. I thought this was a really fun version of Croque Madame that you might enjoy too.
“The béchamel sauce for this is extremely easy to make. Just melted a bit of butter, add flour then whisk milk in until it thickens. Add seasonings and you’re done!” It’s very simple to make. Cut the crust off large white sandwich bread, use a rolling pin to flatten it out then mould into Texas (large) muffin tins. Place ham in the bottom, crack in an egg then top with béchamel sauce (don’t let the fancy name scare you, it takes 5 minutes to make and is just a bit of melted butter + flour used to thicken milk). Finish with a sprinkle of cheese then bake until the eggs are done to your liking – 18 minutes for runny, 23 minutes for firm. 🙂 Today is my last post before Christmas. So I’d like to take this chance to say thank you so much for tuning into RecipeTin Eats! You are the reason I blog and why I love it so much. I’ll be back with more after the Christmas break….including with a huge worldwide giveaway!! So stay tuned!! Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas! – Nagi
SaveSave
