Hot and bubbly, this dish is the perfect pruning day lunch.

Gratins are notoriously easy dishes to create for the amount of applause and appreciation you receive. Plus, gratins store well in the frig and reheat tastily as the ingredient have time to mellow together. Now is the time to make your gratins for these are hearty dishes for the coldest of days—especially pruning days!

My Vineyard Potatoes Au Gratin pretty much makes due with what I have in the refrig at that time, as 2011 is my year of frugality! For this gratin, I shredded 3 carrots and sliced up the inner core of a bunch of celery and a whole yellow onion. I sauteed the veggies in olive oil as I sliced the potatoes and par-boiled them in salty water. The cheese sauce was half a small container of Greek yogurt mixed in with some 2% milk and a couple of spoonfuls of whipped cream cheese left over from New Year’s Day. I then found a couple slices of pepper jack cheese in the farmhaus fridge from Ger’s dad, thought why not? and melted them into the sauce. I added 3 cloves of garlic and 3 generous squirbles of whole grain dijon mustard into the mix. It was then just a matter of chopping some Italian parsley, leftover ham and then assemblying the dish as if it were a lasagna.

The topping (which makes a gratin a “gratin”) was shredded sharp cheddar sprinkled liberally with smoked paprika, salt n’ pepper. For me, sharp cheddar, smoked paprika and salt n’ pepper is akin to a reverse holy trinity in cooking. You can build all sorts of things under it and using this holy trinity topping, you can never go wrong!

Bake the gratin at 350° until its bubbling hot. Let it cool, then slice, scoop and serve. As I mentioned earlier, it will be even better the next day, especially if you serve it with a bitter green salad.

Blurry because we were in a hungry hurry!

As the wife of a wine grape grower,  I agree that wine may be created with a sense of place, a terrior.

Does a food—such as a Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham—have a terroir? Or would you just call it a regional food? No doubt this method of preparing ham has its origins as Soul Food— the powerful mix of pungent greens, onions, herbs n’ spices mixed with pork and boiled for long hours has its roots in the 1700s and Southern Maryland tobacco culture. It is certainly a seasonal food. Originally served at Easter, Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham season now extends throughout the cold weather holidays, from Thanksgiving to Easter—taking advantage of cold weather hardy greens and seasonal pig slaughter. In my cursory internet research, I’ve found many opinions as to the type of ham (smoked vs corned), type of ingredients (spinach and paprika need not apply) and method of cooking (boiled is preferred over baked). Read enough of the links below and you’ll see that the local food movement has revived interest in how best to prepare a Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham. Local church ladies kept the culinary faith going throughout the community, as well as a few local eating establishments and taverns. Local grocery chains produce their own stuffed hams for quick purchase, although the prices are dear.

With such a rich culinary tradition, what may a Midwestern transplant add to the Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham conversation?

This past Christmas found me with a 12 pound ham and a husband chasing the stuffed ham dragon. He wasn’t alone. We often reminisced a long ago Thanksgiving dinner at his Uncle Pete’s house, when Aunt Judy served church lady stuffed ham with her oyster stuffing and other side dishes. Could it be recreated? Shouldn’t the wife currently enjoying her staycation be the one to attempt this culinary feat? Head abuzzing with the internet conversations and the desire to eat stuffed ham, I gathered the ingredients and made my way forward.

First off, I purchased my ham bone-in, since I wished to keep my grandfather’s tradition of using the leftover ham bone for his navy beans. Necessity dictated that I bake my stuffed ham, as I do not own an industrial-sized stockpot. Since I was baking the ham, I decided to commit a further sin by not stuffing the ham, but cooking the stuffing in the pot-likker next to the ham. Since my ham would bake for 3 hours, I decided to add the stuffing during the last hour of baking. I poured a cup and a half of apple juice over the ham, foiled the roaster really well so the ham would steam/bake and noted the time.

My stuffing ingredient list followed others I had seen:

• Kale
• Cabbage
• Onion
• Celery
• Mustard seed
• Celery seed
• Red pepper flakes
• Italian parsley (because I found I purchased too much parsley, earlier)
• Garlic (because I can’t understand how this recipe doesn’t have garlic in it.)

Creating the stuffing means fine chopping all the non-spice ingredients, which is really satisfying to do, then thoroughly mixing in the spices (good rule of thumb seems to be 2 tablespoons each. My red pepper flake tablespoons were heaping.) and blanching the spiced stuffing for a couple of minutes. I waited for the last hour of the ham baking, then stuffed the stuffing around the ham, put back the foil and put the ham back into the oven for the final hour.

Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham can be eaten with white bread, potato rolls or biscuits. For some reason, Ger bought buttermilk, so I found Alton Brown’s Buttermilk Biscuit recipe and went to work. Boy2 and I added shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the biscuits and while the ham rested, the biscuits baked. Crazy with the smell of stuffed ham and biscuits, we hacked apart the ham, barely got the table set and blog picture snapped before stuffing ourselves with ham biscuits.

I would like to say we drank our Vidal or Port of Leonardtown Winery’s MacIntosh Run Apple Wine with the stuffed ham biscuits, but boy2′s homemade rootbeer had sufficiently developed enough carbonation. The deliciously creamy rootbeer was chugged as we wolfed the spicy stuffed ham and biscuits and gloated over the thought of chilled leftovers—which is how Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham is supposed to be served. It was a success and I know I’ll be asked to repeat the meal again—but it will have to be over a weekend. I can’t wait to try cooking the stuffed ham over the farmhaus woodstove!

For more information about Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham, please visit:

• Researching Food History
• Researching St. Mary’s Stuffed Ham—a Delicacy
• Stuffed with Pride, a Holiday Party Raises Money for Breast Cancer Research
• Gustatory Pride of Southern Maryland
• Best and most curious link with 4 recipes from which to choose!

My Vineman created this dish that echoed the best of the Argentine Viognier he served with this dinner tonight. The flavors of this composed plate are clean and simple—the essence of a perfect August dinner. I’m so please to be able to share it with you:

Viognier on a Plate:

Ingredients:

• scallops
• baby frisee
• local peaches, sliced
• pre-made polenta
• finely chopped garlic
• finely chopped green onions
• red wine vinegar
• Viognier wine
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• chives to garnish

Instructions: In your saute pan, drizzle olive oil (use a light touch) and saute the green onions and garlic then remove the green onions and garlic, leaving the olive oil. Add them to your oiled saute pan (medium-high heat) a chug or two of red wine vinegar and Viognier. The red wine vinegar we used was soft in taste—so if yours is sharp, use one less chug and add another chug of the Vio. Add a quick tip of soy sauce and bring the sauce to a boil. Add several slices of the local ripe, peach. Saute until the peach is easy to mush with a spatula. Pour off the reduction—Ger strained the peaches out, so you may wish to do the same.

In the same pan, saute the scallops until the outside has a little crust and the inside is just this side of opaque gelatinous. Fish the scallops out and put them aside on a saucer. Drizzle a little sesame oil in the pan and when its hot, add thin slices of the pre-made polenta and quick-fry until gold brown.

Dress the plate: make a small bed of frisee and sprinkle the red wine vinegar/Viognier reduction over it. Put the scallops atop the frisee. Add several of the polenta and peach slices until you have an attractive plate like you see above. Garnish with long stems of chives—just because its beautiful that way.

Enjoy with a loved one and the best Viognier you may find. We loved Santa Julia’s Sustainably Grown Viognier. Ger says this Argentine Viognier did not disappoint and I agree. It had a lovely nose and best yet, there was an agreeable acidity level that I haven’t been tasting in other Viogniers lately. At $6 a bottle, its an affordable weeknight pleasure!

Peace, love, and satisfying food to you all.