Honey Glazed Ham on Sweet Potato Biscuits with Blackberry-Balsamic Drizzle

Sometimes when I visit my in-laws in the South, they serve delicate little ham biscuits (usually on special occasions, as hors d'oeuvres). These are really nothing like those, except that there's a biscuit and there's ham. But the biscuit is totally different (bigger and sweet potato) and the ham is honey glazed, not extra salty, country heart attack ham (which everybody loves, but hopefully no one has an actual heart attack at your party). These are more hearty (although one is definitely too small for lunch - you'd probably need 3 or 4). They may not be big, but there's a lot of flavor packed into these petite sammies. The biscuit is slightly sweet. The ham is salty. The arugula is a little bitter and crunchy. The drizzle is tangy and sweet. Sound delightful? It is.

Side thought: Why do people call sandwiches sammies? Last time I checked, there's no m in there anywhere. Come to think of it, I've also called my daughter punkin. But I use it on those days that she's acting like a cross between a pumpkin and a punk.

HONEY GLAZED HAM ON SWEET POTATO BISCUITS

WITH BLACKBERRY-BALSAMIC DRIZZLE

Yield: 14 biscuits

Sweet Potato Biscuits:

1 pound sweet potatoes (2 to 3 potatoes)

2 tablespoons buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks cold butter, small diced

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled

Blackberry Balsamic Drizzle:

1 (12 to 13 oz.) jar blackberry preserves

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, stems and all

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup yellow mustard, such as French's

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 serrano chile, split in half

14 slices honey baked ham (or your favorite ham), torn into pieces to fit the biscuits

arugula, for serving

1.      For the biscuits: Preheat oven to 425˚ F. Poke the sweet potatoes with the tines of a fork and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Let the potatoes cool, and then peel them, discarding the skins.

2.      In a food processor, puree the potatoes with the buttermilk and nutmeg until smooth.

3.      Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. With your fingertips or a dough cutter, cut in the cold butter until pea-size chunks are formed. Fold in the sweet potato puree until just combined, being careful not to overwork.

4.      Dust a work surface with some flour and turn the biscuit dough onto the counter. Form the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick disc. Using a 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out 14 biscuits, starting on the outside of the disk and working your way in. You may need to reshape the last bits of dough back into a disk to get all 14 rounds.

5.      Grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with the vegetable oil and place the biscuits in the skillet, working from the center out. The biscuits should be a tight fit and nestled against each other. Brush the biscuit tops with the melted butter and bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes.

6.      For the blackberry balsamic drizzle: Combine the preserves, basil, vinegar, mustard, peppercorns and chile in a medium saucepot on the stove. Set over medium heat. Simmer the sauce until thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Strain the reduction through a fine sieve. Thin with water if needed.

7.      For the sandwich build: Split the hot biscuits, place some of the torn ham on the bottom half, drizzle the Blackberry Balsamic Drizzle over the ham and then pile some arugula on top for a peppery bite.

from Jeff Mauro

sweet potatoes

baked sweet potatoes

peeled sweet potatoes, buttermilk & nutmeg

sweet potato puree

flour, brown sugar, baking soda & salt

adding butter

butter mixed; adding sweet potato puree

mixed

sweet potato biscuit dough

cutting into rounds

in the pan

brushing with butter

brushed with butter

baked

sweet potato biscuits

blackberry-balsamic drizzle ingredients

mixing & cooking

straining

blackberry-balsamic drizzle

drizzling the drizzle on top of
ham (well, spooning/drizzling)

drizzled

topped with arugula and biscuit top

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Frozen Mosaic (Mango, Blackberry and Vanilla)

I'm not sure I need to say much about this frozen little work of art. It's so easy and pretty. You can make it days ahead of time (in about 30 minutes) and your guests will ooh and ahh (if they don't, consider getting yourself some new guests...I mean, really, it's the polite thing to do). 

These flavors are a great combination — very colorful and light & refreshing on a hot day. Of course you can make this with any flavors you want (as long as you make a sauce thin enough to fill in the cracks). I was thinking maybe a chocolate and vanilla version with raspberry sauce (not as colorful, but nice for chocolate lovers). And if you really want to be a superstar, make your own ice cream/sorbet (of course if you go that route, you can kiss quick and easy goodbye).

FROZEN MANGO, BLACKBERRY AND VANILLA MOSAIC

Makes 10 to 12 servings

2 pints mango sorbet (4 cups)

1 pint vanilla ice cream (2 cups)

6 oz. fresh blackberries (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons crème de cassis (black currant liqueur)

1.     Put sorbet and ice cream in refrigerator until evenly softened, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2.     Meanwhile, purée blackberries, sugar, and cassis in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Freeze to thicken slightly until ice cream is ready, 20 to 40 minutes, then stir until smooth.

3.      Lightly oil a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan (or other 7- to 8-cup capacity mold) with no-taste oil (like canola oil). Cut a piece of parchment to fit bottom and long sides of pan, leaving at least 3 inches of overhang on each side.

4.     Fill pan decoratively with spoonfuls of sorbet and ice cream, pressing down and filling empty spaces with blackberry purée as you go. Smooth top, pressing down with back of spoon to eliminate air spaces, then fold parchment flaps over top and freeze until solid, at least 3 hours.

5.     To unmold, run a thin knife along short sides of pan to loosen mosaic, then open parchment and invert onto a flat serving dish, discarding parchment.

6.     Cut mosaic into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Can be made 5 days ahead and frozen, covered with plastic wrap.

from Gourmet, July 2007

blackberries with sugar and crème de cassis

blackberry sauce

straining the blackberry sauce

layering the ice cream and sorbet

Remember to push down as you layer to avoid holes
(mine had a few, but nothing too terrible).

blackberry sauce drizzled on

ready to wrap up

In order to unmold it, I did run a little warm water over the
sides of the pan. As you can see, it's a little melty because of that.
I just stuck it back in the freezer for 20 minutes--no problem.

unmolded, the short end

cross section

As you can see, every slice is different. Fun.

I wrapped the leftover in plastic wrap (in individual slices) and put them
back in the freezer. It was easy for my family to quickly grab a piece.
If you don't want those lines on yours, don't use a serrated knife like I did.

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