Tranches De Jambon En Piperade

How's that for a meal? Bet you're thinking I can't spell trenches, and we ate in one. But no, that wouldn't be right not even close as a matter of fact. That is Ham Slices baked with Tomatoes, Onions and Peppers. And it's darn stinkin' good!

Oh and get this, you know how the French cook with butter. And if a little butter is good, a lot of butter is better? This dish has NO butter in it. No butter. None. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. It does have copious amounts of olive oil though. But that's a "healthy" fat so I hardly think it counts. 

I made this dish because I had a lot of ham leftover from the gratineed and I did not want to do the plain ol' American ham, mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans thing. So I dug out...okay it was out....and dug through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, you know THE cookbook. I burrowed my way through until I found a recipe that called for ham and one I had most of the ingredients for. This one, I was only missing two small ingredients. I was missing the tomatoes and the peppers.

Okay so they were main ingredients. But at least I had the ham.  I know, that was pathetic even for me, but ....

My biggest trouble with this book seems to be timing. Getting everything ready and in the pan when it needs to be in there. I try and follow the heat directions (moderately high, low etc) but it seems things are always cooking faster then I think they will or should. This dish was no exception.

I made a double batch, the recipe said it serves 6. My dear man can eat for 6 and since there are 4 of us, I knew I needed to make extra. The ham of the first batch got a little more done, before I was able to add the vegetables. The second batch was better. I think I need to just prep each step before I start cooking at all.

Can I just say how easy this recipe was? If you can read, you can cook this. Very easy, very simple step-by-step directions...just what this kitchen klutz needs.

I made a side dish of green beans and it was all good. The best part? I've learned to do the clean up while it's finishing up so when I sat down at the table this is what my kitchen looked like:

Score one for the Irish Girl cooking French.