Lovely Leftovers

On Tuesday we were getting a bit tired of leftovers from our Easter meal.  So I 'invented' something new for both mains and dessert.

Ham Salad

Combine (in proportions you have to hand):

ham, cubed
pineapple pieces (I cut up the pineapple on the ham itself)
asparagus, chopped (steamed or boiled)
green beans (I used the last of the leftover green bean casserole so it had a bit of mushroom soup too)
cooked pasta shapes (we had some gifted Italian Pesto pasta from Pappardelle's at Pike Place Market)

Dress with mayonnaise thinned with orange juice.  Serve with romaine lettuce leaves and crusty fresh bread.

Notes: adding something crunchy (like nuts) or peppery (like radishes) would be good too.

Hot Cross Pudding

This is inspired by bread pudding, strata, and "Poor Man's Souffle" - so it is basically a bread and egg bake.

Ingredients:
1/2 doz stale hot cross buns (or thereabouts!)
2 eggs
2 c milk
2 T sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp orange essence
1 Tbsp butter (plus more for greasing, or oil)
2 handfuls of blueberries (about 1/2 a small punnet? Sorry, they were frozen in a big bag!)

Method:
Grease a shallow baking dish.  Cut the buns into roughly 1-inch cubes.  Spread in the baking dish.

Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and essence.

Pour over buns.  Gently turn pieces to soak up more egg mixture.  Turn on oven to 350*F/180*C.  Leave buns to absorb egg mixture while oven heats. When oven is heated, sprinkle blueberries over buns and dot with butter.

Bake for 50 minutes or until egg is cooked (a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean).  Serve warm.

Notes: Not overly rich or sweet.  Would be good for breakfast, too.  (Construct night before and bake when first getting up.)  Try substituting ginger for the cinnamon, and zest for the orange essence as neither flavour was particularly strong. Make sure you grease the dish well!