Oven-Roasted Sausage and Potatoes

Oven Roasted Sausage and Potatoes

I saw this recipe posted on a friend’s wall.  I shared it with my husband because it looked like a pretty easy recipe that he and our daughter would like.  I am not a big fan of smoked sausage (the kind that comes in a tight plastic wrapped ring), so I would be happy if they ate it sometime when I wasn’t home.

Well, one night this week — we were all home.  We happened to have the ingredients to make this recipe so I gave it a try.  Here is the recipe:

Oven Roasted Smoked Sausage and Potatoes

1 package of smoked sausage, sliced into rounds
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
6 or more large potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
smoked paprika (or any kind of paprika — I used Spanish Smoked Paprika from Penzeys)
dried thyme (or any blend of herbs that includes thyme — I used Bouquet Garni from Penzeys)
1 cup of good quality grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking tray (with sides) with several sheets of foil, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Spread the oil out over the pan. Set aside.

Put the sausage rounds, onions and potatoes onto the foil-lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika and dried thyme (or other herbs). Toss together with a wooden spoon (or your hands) until everything is evenly distributed.

Place into the heated oven and roast for 45 minutes to 55 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes are golden brown and tender. Turn off the oven. Scatter the cheese over top of the cooked meat and potatoes, Pop back into the oven a few minutes to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

We had a bag of baby spinach leaves, some fresh parmesan cheese and some kalamata olives so I made a quick little Greek-Ceasar salad to fill out the meal.

Our daughter made pumpkin bread (using a Trader Joe’s mix) for dessert.

It was a not too time consuming, delicious, and fairly reasonable clean up.

Every liked it.  Even me.

Overall:  FIVE forks!

This recipe is adapted from one published by The 205 Tavern of Church Point, LA on their Facebook page. If I ever get to Louisiana, I would love to look up this place and have a bite to eat there.  It looks like they specialize in Cajun food and it all look delicious!

Aunt Helen’s Ham Loaf

ham loaf

2 lb. ground ham
1 lb. ground pork (can be sausage)
3/4 c. milk
1 c. dry bread crumbs
2 eggs
Mix all and form two loaves. Put in a 9 x 13 pan. Bake 2 hr at 300*. Baste often.
Baste with one of these options:

1 1/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. vinegar
1/2 to 1 t. dry mustard

OR
1 c. pineapple juice
1 1/4 c. brown sugar

This is one of my favorite family recipes.  I remember Mom (and Aunt Helen before her) making this for special dinners.  If you aren’t from the Midwest you might not have ever heard of ham loaf.  Even if you are from the Midwest, but are from an area where there were not a lot of German immigrants, you might not have heard of ham loaf.  It is similar in technique, shape and texture to meatloaf but it is made with a mixture of ground ham and ground pork (sausage or plain). This is a good recipe to use of leftover ham after Easter or Christmas (if you are a holiday ham eating family, that is!).

I have a grinder attachment on my mixer so I can grind my own ham.  If you have a good meat shop nearby, or a store that has a butcher you can probably find it there, too.  Other than that there is nothing fancy in this recipe.

For the glaze I prefer the vinegar and brown sugar option, but the other option is good, too.  I have cut the glaze ingredients in half (to cut down on the sugar), and it works just fine.

Ham loaf goes very well with sweet potatoes of any sort — mashed, baked, pan-fried (and glazed).  Add a nice salad and your favorite veggies (grilled asparagus for me, please!) and you are all set.

I looked around for some other ham loaf recipes for comparison.  Here are some family recipes I found from other sources:

http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/ham-loaf-the-darling-of-pennsylvania-a-great-way-to/article_fe931486-9c16-11e2-9eb5-001a4bcf887a.html

http://jbortel.typepad.com/grandma_mimis_recipes/2005/11/ham_loaf.html

http://lasvegasfoodadventures.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/ham-loaf/

Ham loaf #3

Ham Loaf Superb

Ham Loaf

http://www.twistedbranches.com/cookbook/viewrecipe.php?id=1067368112&category=

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Any-Good-Recipes-For-Ham-Loaf-Out-There-m313206.aspx  (read the comment section for recipes)

I found this recipe posted in the comments section on the roadfood link just above:

This is one I use from Marcia Adams Cooking from Quilt Country, I love her cookbooks:

Church Supper Ham Loaf

1 lb ground ham
1 lb lean sausage
2 cups soft bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp powdered mustard
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp paprika

Basting Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper

Combine meat and crumbs in a bowl by hand, in another bowl mix rest of ingredients well, pour over meat mix and blend well. Put mix into loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour

Prepare basting sauce by combining sauce ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil

When ham loaf has baked for 45 min, remove from oven and drain off fat, pour sauce over loaf and continue baking another 15 min, basting with pan juices. Unbaked this freezes well

Enjoy! Some scalloped potatoes, spinach salad and pineapple upside down cake !

Another hamloaf from the roadfood link:

I wanted to revive this, as I found my moms recipe from the 60’s in my recipe box.

Evelyn’s Ham Loaf
—————–
2 lbs cooked ham (ground)
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb bulk pork sausage
1 1/2 cup tomato juice
2 cups soft breadcrumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 medium onion, minced
2 eggs well beaten
1 tsp pepper

1/4 cup & 2 tbs firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup catsup
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Combine 1st 9 ingredients… Mix well.
Spread into 2 QT greased casserole dish.

Combine sugar, catsup, mustard and nutmeg.
Mix well.
Spread over meat mixture.
Set casserole dish into shallow pan of water and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hour.

Creamy Mustard Sauce..
1 cup mayo
1/4 cup prepared mustard
2 cups whipping cream (edited by me)
(that seems to be optional according to the way mom wrote the recipe) 

And one more:  This one is for Ham BALLS!  🙂 and it uses graham cracker crumbs instead of bread crumbs.  Interesting!

This is the recipe we use at our restaurant for our Monday lunch special, HAM BALLS. You should be able to make a fantastic ham loaf with this, also.

BALL MIX
2 ½ lb ground ham
2 lb breakfast sausage
1 lb ground beef
2 cups milk
3 eggs
3 cups crushed graham crackers

SAUCE
1 can tomato soup
1 lb. brown sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all Ball mix ingredients.
Form into balls using a #12 scoop. Place in a sprayed 2” pan.
Combine sauce ingredients & cover balls.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or when internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/611795

And this one from the chowhound link with this information:

I have a recipe that was written by my grandmother. It’s titled Mrs. Whipple’s Ham Loaf. This has been a staple in our family for generations. It’s a combination of ground pork, ground ham, breadcrumbs, eggs and milk. Formed into a loaf and glazed w/ a brown sugar glaze (w/ cider vinegar, dry mustard, ground cloves & water). It’s sooooo good and was always served w/ scalloped potatoes, green beans and pineapple souffle. Simple comfort food. The Italian deli, back home in PA, sells the loaves ready to bake. I’ve never seen ham loaf anywhere else and few folks I’ve met have heard of it. But those that have had it (or are from my hometown) seem to love it.

I no longer live in PA and so I have family bring me frozen loaves when they visit. I’ve spoke w/ a few butchers in the area and they cannot (will not) grind ham to blend w/ the pork. A NY butcher recently opened up shop here and he said he’d make the loaves if I give him the recipe.

Anyone familiar w/ ham loaf? What are it’s origins… is it a PA dutch thang? How do you serve it and with what sides?

Mrs. Whipple’s Ham Loaf

1 lb ground ham
1.5 lbs ground fresh pork
1 Cup bread crumbs
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk

Mix the above ingredients together and shape into a loaf. Baste with:

1 Cup brown sugar
1 T vinegar
1 tsp. dry mustard
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 cup water

Place loaf in an 8×8 pan, pour glaze over top and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 1.5 hrs., basting occasionally.

And other story from the chowhound link:

I grew up in the suburbs south of Pittsburgh and ham loaf was a staple at our house in the 50’s and 60’s. I loved it. My mother was Slovenian. Not sure if she picked this recipe up from another nationality group or if everyone in the neighborhood made this economical dish. Thanks to the OP for jogging my memory, I pulled out my mom’s old recipe (hadn’t looked for it in at least ten years) and made it last night. Here are my take-aways: It’s best if the ham is processed through a food grinder but lazy me, I used the food processor instead. The processor worked fine, but texture is a little better with a grinder. Also best if made in a loaf pan rather than free form (my standard method for meatloaf) as it does get a little too brown. I didn’t use a glaze, but I’m betting that would be great. Otherwise, the taste was wonderful! Also from my memory as a kid, leftover ham loaf makes a great sandwich the next day. And for those of you who like your food to look appetizing (duh), beware. My son lovingly refers to this as ‘the pink loaf.’

Ham Loaf

1 lb. ground smoked ham
1/2 lb ground pork
1 cup fine bread crumbs
1 egg
milk to moisten
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 cup minced celery
1/4 tsp pepper
salt to taste, if needed

Mix ingredients. Press firmly into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.