Ham it Up

Always eager to grill something other than chicken and burgers, I came across a recipe in the Good Housekeeping Cookbook for Southwestern Grilled Ham Steaks that sounded SO GOOD. I had to change around a little of the recipe since I have a wimpy palate and can't take too much spiciness, but I was amazed at how much chili powder you can use without making the dish too hot. This is definitely NOT true of cayenne though so tread lightly if you are a spice-phobe like myself. This dish is JUST spicy enough to be interesting. A nice combination of sweet and almost hot. I served it with a nice refreshing cold corn salad that really balanced out the heat of the ham.

Southwestern Grilled Ham Steaks
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp Olivio, melted (or margarine or butter or what have you)
2 large ham steaks (I used smaller steaks of turkey ham, but you can use For Real ham of course)

Combine all the the ingredients for the rub.



Brush melted Olivio on each side of ham steaks and liberally sprinkle rub on both sides, pushing to make sure it sticks.



Let it sit for about 1/2 hour in the fridge to ensure the flavors blend and the rub sticks to the meat.

Grill over medium heat for about 4 minutes a side.

Corn Salad
1 16 oz package frozen sweet corn (defrosted)
1 green pepper chopped
1 small red onion chopped
1 large tomato chopped
2-3 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour to chill. I used frozen corn because the corn on the cob at my grocery store looked RANK that day but I am sure with 3-4 ears of the fresh stuff this would be even more delicious. It's a great and easy summer dish! I would even double the ingredients and bring it to a cookout as a change from the usual summer salads you see.



So good.

To round out the meal I just cooked up some brown rice and tossed it with a 1/2 cup of kidney beans and 4 tbsp salsa as an easy and tasty side dish.

Et voila!


The ham steaks are so easy to prepare, and a nice change from the normal grilling suspects we usually cook up over here. The corn salad was a nice accompaniment (and also so easy) as was the rice. It was a nice change up of our normal summer meal repertoire!