We had some baked ham leftover from the holidays the other day and so I decided to make a delicious casserole with them. We were all sandwiched out! Mom always made sweet and sour ham with her leftover ham, but we weren't feeling much like that either.
Plus I had some fresh noodles whose sell by date was looming. I hate waste and so decided to take advantage of both these things and make a tasty casserole.
It was pretty basic, and I did use a tin of cream of chicken soup. You could however make a basic cream sauce, flavouring it with a bit of chicken bouillon if you wanted to.
I am not a soup snob and I do use it from time to time, especially when I am wanting to make a quick and simple casserole.
I also had some cheese leftover from the holidays, Cheddar and red Leicester So I used up some of them as well.
They have very similar flavours so you could use all cheddar if you want to. Both are hard cheeses and the red Leicester has been coloured orange. Most of our Cheddars here will be found in their natural, white state.
Both cheeses are produced in a very similar manner, but red Leicester has a moister, crumblier texture and a somewhat milder flavour.
I added thawed frozen green beans for a bit more colour and some texture. Just cover them with boiling water, let them thaw and then drain well before using.
Mine were whole beans and so I used my kitchen scissors to cut them down into a more manageable size.
You could use any vegetable you wanted to use or even a combination of vegetables. Corn would be nice as would peas and carrots.
I topped the casserole with some cracker crumbs and a bit more cheese. I find casseroles are always nice when you have a bit of a crunchy topping to enjoy!
This was quick, easy and delicious. You could double the recipe if you had more ham you wanted to use up and freeze one casserole for a later time.
It is supposed to be 2 to 3 servings, but I'll be honest, for our appetites it is more like 4 servings. It all depends on how big of an eater you are. We are small eaters.
A tossed salad would be very nice on the side. MY pictures are not so great as we have had some very dark and gloomy days. I like to use natural light for my photos if I can, so I apologise if they are a bit dark!
We enjoyed it simply with some buttered bread (for Todd) and pickled beets. I do so love pickled beets!
Yield: 3 - 4 (depending on appetites)
Ham & Cheese Casserole
A quick, easy and delicious way to use up leftover baked ham.
ingredients:
- 225g uncooked egg noodles (1/2 pound)
- 3/4 pound of cubed fully cooked ham
- 1 tin (295g) condensed cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 oz)
- 120ml milk (1/2 cup)
- 150g frozen cut green beans, thawed (1 cup)
- 125g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)
- a handful of buttered cracker crumbs
- Seasoning to taste
instructions:
How to cook Ham & Cheese Casserole
- Cook and then drain the noodles really well. Mix them in a bowl with the ham, soup, milk and green beans. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, remembering that ham and cheese are both salty.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square casserole dish.
- Spread half of the ham mixture in the dish. Cover with half the cheese. Spoon on the remainder of the ham mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and cracker crumbs.
- Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until bubbling, heated through and the cheese has melted.
So that's all of the Christmas leftovers gone now. We still have Christmas Cake, but that is a good keeper and Todd will make short work of that over the next weeks. I also have some Christmas pudding, which Todd will also enjoy. Those types of things never really go off. I am relieved that I never did more baking and that I kept things simple here over the holidays and didn't go overboard!
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