Delicious ham salad

Ham salad is my favorite sandwich stuffing salads. Being the type who never likes to waste anything, this began as a way to use leftover ham after Easter or any other time I make a large baked ham. My mom used to make ham salad when I was a child so this has a sentimental aspect for me as well. The recipe is pretty basic with only four ingredients.

• 4 cups of chopped ham
• 2/3 cups mayonnaise (I like Hellmanns)
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon is what I use)
• 2 large dill pickles cut

My mom always used a meat grinder that attaches to the table to chop the meat and the pickles. I don’t have a hand grinder so I use my food processor. Place the pickles on some paper towel and drain as much of the liquid off of them as possible before you run them through. Chop the ham into smallish pieces, it results in a more consistent spread.

Add the mayonnaise and mustard to the ground ham and pickles. Now I have to tell you, my mom never used Dijon mustard, she used dry mustard and that has a very good taste as well. If Dijon is a not a favorite of yours, you can use yellow mustard or a spicy brown mustard.  

Rye bread or a hard roll makes a good base for your sandwich. Add some lettuce and tomato and you have a fantastic ham salad sandwich.

This recipe for ham salad can be altered several ways. Instead of the dill pickles, you can add sweet pickles or green pickle relish (both sweet and dill work). If you are in a hurry, they sell ham in a can that can be used in place of the baked ham and honestly, over the years we have used this quite often with great success, just use a little less mayo and mustard.

If you are looking for a unique and interesting combination try using half ham and half chicken.

• 2 cups ham chopped
• 2 cup chopped chicken
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup seedless grapes chopped in half cup
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Grind the ham and the chicken and add the rest of the ingredients. Serve on French bread or a bed of arugula. The salt of the ham complements the chicken very well.

The next time you bake a ham, you will be looking forward to using the leftovers to make some delicious ham salad.