By New Year's Eve was quiet. Mama and Daddy fell asleep before midnight, which they will deny if asked. Kayla and I watched the ball drop on TV and ate black-eyed peas at midnight because it is Louisiana law — actual law, I am fairly certain — that you eat black-eyed peas on New Year's for good luck. MawMaw Shirley called at 12:01 to make sure we had eaten them. She does this every year. The surveillance is loving.
New Year's Day Mama made the full spread: black-eyed peas with smoked sausage, collard greens for money, cornbread, and a ham that had been in the oven since early morning. Daddy says the New Year's Day meal sets the tone for the whole year and that if you eat well on January first, the year will feed you back. I do not know if this is true. I know the ham was good and the greens were perfect and the house smelled like someone lived in it, really lived in it, which is the highest compliment I can give a kitchen.
I have been thinking about the year ahead. 2022. The year I graduate. The year I turn eighteen. The year I leave this house — not permanently, not the way Jamal left for Houston, but the way a person leaves the kitchen to go to the dining room: you are still in the same building, just at a different table. LSU is fifteen minutes from Scotlandville. I will be close. But close is not the same as here, and here is the only home I have ever known.
I made jambalaya on Monday — the first Monday of the new year, which felt important. Mama's recipe, the one that is really MawMaw Shirley's recipe filtered through Mama's efficiency. The Trinity chopped fine, the sausage browned hard, the rice absorbing everything. Jambalaya on Mondays is not a rule in this house. It is something older than a rule. It is a rhythm, and rhythms do not need enforcement because the body remembers them without being told.
My birthday is January 8th. I will be eighteen. I have been practicing saying "I am eighteen" in the mirror, which is embarrassing to admit, but the number feels significant in a way that seventeen did not. Seventeen was still a child's number. Eighteen is the border crossing between the life your parents build for you and the life you build for yourself. I am not afraid of the crossing. I am grateful for what is on both sides.
After Mama’s New Year’s Day spread — that ham slow in the oven since morning, the greens, the cornbread, all of it — I did not want the feeling of that meal to end when the plates were cleared. There was leftover ham in the fridge and a whole year stretching out in front of me, and something about Brunch Ham Enchiladas felt exactly right: familiar ingredients turned into something a little unexpected, the same way eighteen feels like the same life rearranged into a new shape. MawMaw Shirley would approve of wasting nothing and feeding people well — and this dish does both.
Brunch Ham Enchiladas
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups diced fully cooked ham
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 8 flour tortillas (8-inch)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine diced ham, green onions, and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar. Stir to mix evenly.
- Fill the tortillas. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the ham mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tightly and place seam-side down in the prepared baking dish.
- Make the sauce. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour, garlic powder, and black pepper and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly, about 4–5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add eggs and sour cream. Whisk a small amount of the warm milk mixture into the beaten eggs to temper them, then pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Stir in sour cream and hot sauce if using. Mix until smooth.
- Pour and top. Pour the sauce evenly over the rolled enchiladas in the baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheddar cheese over the top.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 35–40 minutes, until the center is set, the top is golden, and the edges are bubbling. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 24g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 890mg