Ham steak with fried apples
A seared ham steak with buttery cinnamon apples and a fluffy baked sweet potato, a cozy Southern supper in 25 minutes.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $3.81 a serving
- 560 calories
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 apples
- 2 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 ham steak, 8 oz
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Each serving has about 560 calories, 25 g protein, 81 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $3.81 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and microwave 8 to 10 minutes, turning them halfway, until a knife slides in easily.
Timer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Big sweet potatoes can need a few minutes more. Squeeze one with an oven mitt; it should give easily.the apples and cut them into ½-inch wedges, leaving the peel on.
Core. Coring means cutting out the hard center of things like apples, peppers or cabbage. That center is tough and woody, so it’s the part you throw away.
How you’ll know: What’s left is all tender flesh, with no hard, pale center.
1 tbsp of the butter in a large over medium-high. the ham 2 to 3 minutes a side, until browned, and move it to a plate.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Turn the heat to medium and add the rest of the butter, the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the apples are tender and .
Caramelize. Caramelizing means cooking slowly until the natural sugars turn deep golden brown. It turns sharp onions soft, jammy and sweet, and it often takes 30 minutes or more.
How you’ll know: They’re soft, sticky and amber brown, and they taste sweet rather than sharp.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Tart apples like Granny Smith hold their shape. Softer ones turn almost into applesauce, which is good too.Tuck the ham back in the pan for 1 minute, until steaming hot.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Split the sweet potatoes open and serve them with the ham and the apples and their buttery juices spooned over.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
