The morning after, nobody wants to cook. This is ten minutes and one pot, and it is the breakfast most people look forward to more than the lunch. Good ham, a six-minute egg, asparagus and buttered toast. Nothing to get right in front of anyone.
Serves 1.
Ingredients
- Sliced leftover ham
- White asparagus
- 1 egg
- 1 to 2 slices bread, toasted
- Butter
- Chives, finely diced
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Bring a pot of water to the boil. Add the egg, reduce to a gentle simmer, and cook for 6 minutes. Peel and cut in half.
- Finely dice the chives.
- Toast and butter the bread.
- Plate up: ham, asparagus, egg halves, chives over the egg, and buttered toast on the side.
How do you store leftover Christmas ham?
In a ham bag or a clean tea towel soaked in water with a splash of vinegar, wrung out, and rinsed every couple of days. Keep it in the coldest part of the fridge. Do not seal it in plastic wrap, because the ham sweats and goes slimy on the surface. Stored properly, a whole leg on the bone will hold for two to three weeks, and sliced ham for about five days.
Do I need to heat the ham?
No. Our hams are fully cooked when you buy them, so leftover ham is ready to eat cold straight from the fridge. If you want it warm, a quick turn in a hot dry pan crisps the fat edge and takes thirty seconds a side. Do not boil it or microwave it, which turns good ham rubbery.
What if I cannot get white asparagus?
Green is fine and much easier to find in Melbourne in December. White asparagus needs peeling from just under the tip down to the base and a few minutes longer in the water. Green needs neither. Either way, into the same pot as the egg for the last two minutes and you have not dirtied another pan.
Which ham is best for this?
Whatever you have left over. If you are buying for it, both our hams are made in house at our Richmond kitchen from free range Australian pork. Sliced Traditional Ham is cured and smoked the old way for the deeper, saltier flavour. Sliced Natural Ham uses a plant-based celery cure with no added nitrates and tastes cleaner alongside the egg. Both are made without gluten.
Ask us
Ask us how to keep your ham through January. Our butchers at Bentleigh, Beaumaris, Prahran Market, South Melbourne Market, Queen Victoria Market and East Brunswick Village will show you how to wrap it and what to do with the bone when you get to the end of it. More in Festive Recipes, or browse Christmas Ham and Christmas Smallgoods & Extras.
