Swedish Ham

I ordered a "Swedish Ham" ( raw, mildly salted and cured, boneless, skin-on ham) from my favorite local sausage purveyor.  They always advertise it for "occasion" meals.  They weren't delivering it for Easter week but said I could get it frozen the week after for delivery, so I did.  I had to try it as I've never even heard of it before I saw it on their site.  I got a half ham for $32 which was about 2.2 kg.  They provided cooking instructions in the bag:

Easter Impossible Pie: Dark Chocolate with a Coconut Twist

My neighbor friend sent me this recipe and a picture of how hers turned out suggesting I give it a try.  This seemed right in my son's wheelhouse, so I made it for Easter dessert this year.  Since I like her pie dish so much, I'll show hers, and I'm always so happy when friends send me their food pics.   

Zha Jiang Mian Chinese Spaghetti

I saw chef Ming Tsai make this on food t.v. (childhood favorites) and I knew I had to give it a go.  My only decision was to use ground pork or "Beyond Beef" meat substitute like he did.  In the end I had a pound of organic ground pork in my freezer so I used it.  Plus a pound of "Beyond Meat" costs almost $11 here!  I wasn't expecting to find fermented beans at my regular grocery store, but I did!  What I used:

Stewed Puy French Lentils & Tomatoes

I have a big huge bag of French lentils in the cupboard that could use some love.  I was watching Ina Garten on food t.v. make this and decided it looked good enough to try myself.  She used fennel on the show but I didn't have any today.   I decided to add some feta cheese and a fried egg to finish.  I also served with homemade crusty bread.  What I used:  

Calzone

I would have told you I never made a calzone before tonight, but then I searched my blog and saw I have!  I asked my son if he wanted this or homemade pizza tonight and he said this.  His wish was my command...

Golden Beet, Tomato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese Tarte Tatin

I realize the title of this is a mouthful.  I took out puff pastry and was going to make a pot pie but changed my mind and beet Tarte Tatin became the new plan.  I only had 2 beets though...so I put some onion in as well.  What I came up with:

Pork Hock, Andouille Sausage, Collard Greens Soup

I wasn't really sure what I was making out of this so called it a "soup" and was all over the map with it.  I was hoping for smoked ham hock when I did my grocery order but instead received raw pork hock.  Hmmm, what to do, what to do?  So, I took out some Andouille sausage and decided to throw some greens and beans in and see what happened... I was fortunate to find some collards.  Mmmm...  Below, I'll start with the "stock" I made for the dish:

Orange Banana Pecan Bread

I never leave my banana bread recipe that I've been making for over 25 years now, but I do sub in items from time to time, just for a change.  Today was orange.  We got some beautiful organic ones that tasted fabulous so I decided to incorporate this into my usual loaf.  

Lemon Ricotta Muffins

I ordered a new muffin tin that I thought was jumbo sized.  Much to my surprise when it arrived, it wasn't.  So I halved a recipe I found on Food Network.  I edited as I needed to suit me and my ingredients.

Poké Salad Bowl

I actually bought the albacore tuna for this in a Poké kit.  It came with the marinade for it as well and I let it stew in there for about an hour before I served.  The delivery arrived today and was dinner for myself this evening.  I used organic power greens for the salad.  I tossed them with a little ponzu sauce (Kikkoman from the grocery store) and S&P.  That was the bed for all these toppings: