February 26, 2017

Celebrate a Childhood Hero with Green Eggs & Ham!

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and here at Egg Farmers of Ontario, we have the perfect recipe to celebrate!

Get your kids together and they can all help create a spinoff to the classic dinner they grew up reading about. Make a night of it and finish dinner off with a family reading of the inspirational Green Eggs & Ham.

Recipe:

Casserole Ingredients:

  • 8 oz dried pasta, about 2 cups (500 mL) such as rigatoni, fusilli or penne
  • 1 head broccoli
  • 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and halved
  • 1 cup (250 mL) cubed black forest ham, about 8 oz
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced, white and light green parts

Casserole Directions:

  1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until tender but firm, about 8 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.
  2. Remove florets from broccoli and set aside.  Using knife, remove any hard knobs from broccoli stems.  Chop stem to produce 1 cup (250 mL) of stem bits.
  3. In boiling salted water, add stem bits and cook for 4 minutes, add broccoli florets and continue cooking 3 minutes longer, drain all broccoli and rinse with cold water.
  4. Scatter pasta, hard-cooked eggs, broccoli, ham and green onions evenly into six (2 cup/500 mL) oval gratin dishes.

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp (25 mL) butter
  • 2 tbsp (25 mL) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cup (375 mL) milk
  • 1 cup (250 mL) shredded Old Cheddar cheese
  • ½ tsp (2 mL) dried mustard powder
  • ¼ tsp (1 mL) salt
  • ¼ tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper

Topping:

  • ½ cup (125 mL) shredded Old Cheddar cheese
  • 2 tbsp (25 mL) minced fresh parsley (optional)
  1. In saucepan, heat butter over medium-low heat, add flour and cook, stirring to make a roux or paste, about 2 minutes.
  2. Whisk in milk and cook, continue whisking until thickened, about 6 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese, mustard powder, salt and pepper.  Continue whisking until cheese is melted, about 4 minutes.
  3. Pour cheese sauce over gratin dishes.  Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese and parsley over the gratin dishes.  Place dishes on large rimmed baking sheet and bake in 375°F (190°C) oven until heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. (Make ahead:  Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.  Increase cooking time by 10 minutes.)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Tips:

  • This recipe is a great way to use leftover ham.
  • Go even greener and add spinach, zucchini, celery, sweet green peppers or whatever your child’s or family’s favourite.
  • To really shamrock the house this St. Patrick’s day, get the kids to dye their hard-cooked eggs green!  In a bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (375 mL) water with 1 tsp (5 mL) liquid green food colouring.  Dip each peeled, hard-cooked egg into the green water (the eggs should be completely covered with green water).  Using a spoon, turn to coat, until egg is green in colour, about 4 minutes.  Remove and let dry on paper towel. Cut in half and add to gratin dishes, (green facing up yolk facing down) with pasta, ham and green onions.  Continue with recipe.

See the recipe on the getcracking.ca site here.