Email to Cat      

Ham and Vegetable Scrapple

Source of Recipe

From "Gale Gand's Brunch!" by Gale Gand


Recipe Introduction

"This old-fashioned dish comes from German settlers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. It's a loaf of cornmeal mush with scraps of pork in it — hence the name — which may not sound especially elegant but belies how good this tastes. The scrapple is generally sliced and then fried, which makes it even better."

List of Ingredients

◦  1 quart chicken broth or water
◦  1 cup yellow cornmeal
◦  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
◦  2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
◦  1 small onion, chopped
◦  1 green bell pepper, cored and chopped
◦  1 orange bell pepper, cored and chopped
◦  1 cup cubed ham
◦  Maple syrup, for serving (optional)


Recipe

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, and set it aside.
Combine the broth and the cornmeal in a medium pot and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep lumps from forming, until the cornmeal is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a sauté pan and cook the onion for 2 minutes. Add the green and orange bell peppers and continue cooking, adding more olive oil if needed, until the peppers are tender and the onion is translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain off the oil, and stir the sautéed vegetables and the cubed ham into the cooked cornmeal. Pour the cornmeal mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until set, at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.

Turn the chilled loaf out of the pan and peel off the plastic wrap. Cut it into ½-inch-thick slices. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and sauté the scrapple slices on both sides until they're a little crusty, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve hot, with syrup, if desired.


Serves 4 to 6