If you celebrate Easter with a ham (or any occasion for that matter), chances are, you always have leftovers. We usually make beans and ham but I wanted to do something different this year. I’ve had a recipe (from where I don’t know, written on notepaper) for over a year for a ground ham sandwich and decided, I’d try it with sliced ham instead. My husband and I taste-tested this and it’s so good! I will say, when I talked to him about what we were going to taste-test the next night, he heard “ground ham” and thought I was actually going to grind it up and mak a burger from it. So his face fell a bit when he saw me toss the sliced ham in the skillet, but the end result made him happy.
Fresh with a tropical touch, this is fast and easy to adapt to your own preferences. Because it’s still cold outside, I cooked this in a cast iron skillet, as I did the pineapple. It would probably taste even better if it was grilled, but it tastes pretty darn good the way I did it too. I used fresh pineapple, you could use canned. If basil’s not on sale or you don’t grown your own, it can be expensive so you can always substitute another green or even some sprouts. The mayo/mustard/honey dressing would taste great with a fish, beef or turkey burger too. And of course, you can use ground ham or a ground ham/ground pork to make a patty but the sliced leftover ham we used worked great and was an easy way to use up our leftovers.
Ham & Pineapple Burgers –
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
- 4 slices ham (or 1 lb ground ham loaf-or 1/2 lb each ground ham and ground pork)
- 4 1/2-inch slices fresh pineapple
- 4 kaiser rolls, split and toasted
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 2 Tbsp. coarse ground mustard (or you can use yellow)
- 1 Tbsp. honey
Directions:
Snip enough basil to equal 1/4 cup. In bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and snipped basil. Keep in fridge till ready to assemble your burger. Heat a skillet (I like to use cast iron) on medium high heat. Put sliced ham slices in hot skillet and cook, turning as needed, until heated through and lightly browned. Or heat on a grill or under broiler. Broil your pineapple slices on a cookie sheet for a couple of minutes or cook in the same skillet as your ham. Spread dressing on cut side of roll bottoms. Layer ham slices, remaining basil leaves, pineapple and roll tops. It’s that easy!
*If you’re using ground ham, you would cook it longer, versus a cooked ham you’re using as leftovers. And again, you can cook these on the grill, giving you some nice char marks on the pineapple and ham.