The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. Psalm 34:19
Looking for something to do with that leftover holiday ham? I know I always have leftover ham at Christmas and even Easter. I usually buy a spiral-type ham and although it’s delicious, ham sandwiches get tiring after a while. My husband, PK, begins to make jokes about all the ham “meals” that I make after Christmas… ‘ham quiche’, grilled cheese and ‘ham’ sandwiches, ‘ham’ and cheese omelets, etc… but I can’t handle just throwing away perfectly fine meat…*sigh*
This Ham Salad is the perfect dish and it is absolutely so easy to prepare and with only three ingredients, how can you do wrong?
When I was younger, I vaguely remember having ‘ham salad’ but it was made out of chopped bologna. I know that sounds odd but believe me, we called Bologna salad “ham salad”. I know this is a misnomer especially since there isn’t any ham in it. Maybe it’s a midwestern dish since my family came from Indiana and Ohio or maybe it was something that was from one of the World Wars like Creamed Chipped Beef or Depression Cake and had to make due with what ingredients they had on hand. I have no idea, but maybe I’ll do some research on it to see where it actually came from just to have some ‘worthless’ trivia….:) but be assured this actually has ham in it.
When I first made this recipe, I used dill pickles because I’m not always a fan of sweet pickles and although it was okay, it wasn’t great. The original recipe is made with sweet pickles and I realized I like it better that way. Although ham can be sweet for some reason the sweet relish balances the flavors. Feel free to use dill pickles if you like but I think you will get the best flavor impact with the sweet pickle relish. Also, the pimento in the relish gives it some color. Remember, we eat with our eyes first. Also, I use the food processor to chop the ham. Of course it is faster and easier but feel free to chop it by hand if you don’t have a food processor.
Clearly, you can make sandwiches with this ham salad. I like to make them as finger sandwiches when I’m catering a shower or ask to bring something to a celebration. I love to eat this salad with crackers. It is such a nice lunch with a little salad. Hope you enjoy!!!!
Ingredients
3 cups chopped ham
2 tbsp. Sweet pickle relish
1 cup mayonnaise
Directions:
Combine all ingredient and mix well.
Yields: 3 cups
