Sliced Ham with Roasted Vegetables

I sent the cookbook proposal. To the Juneau publisher. Sixty pages, attached to an email I wrote and deleted and rewrote and deleted and finally sent at 11 PM on a Wednesday after a twelve-hour shift, the fatigue lowering my defenses enough to press "send" because the rested Grace would have edited the email six more times and the editing would have become procrastination and the procrastination would have become another year of not-sending.

The email said: "I'm Grace Santos. I'm a Filipino-American ER nurse in Anchorage. I write about food on RecipeSpinoff.com. I'd like to write a book. The book is about adobo and PTSD and the kitchen floor and the table and the standing up. The standing up is the whole book." I did not edit this email because the not-editing was the point. The raw version. The uncooked version. The version that smells like garlic and hasn't been plated yet.

Then I made adobo. Because of course I did. The garlic sizzled. The vinegar steamed. The chicken browned. The adobo was the same adobo it's been for six years, three hundred weeks, the recipe that has held me through everything and that I just asked a publisher to help me share with the world. The sharing is the new thing. The adobo is the old thing. The old thing in the new thing. The new thing holding the old.

I didn’t make adobo the next night. The adobo had already done its work — it had held me through the sending, through the sitting with what I’d sent, through the strange quiet of an inbox that hadn’t yet replied. The night after, I wanted something that asked less of me emotionally, something I could slide into the oven and trust: ham, vegetables, heat, time. This is that recipe. The one you make when you’ve already been brave and now you just need to eat.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 thick slices bone-in or boneless ham (about 1 1/2 lbs total)
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2-inch half-moons
1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into wedges
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, for serving

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment. The larger the pan, the better — crowded vegetables steam instead of roast.
Season the vegetables. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, and onion. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and toss with the garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper until everything is evenly coated.
Start roasting. Spread the seasoned vegetables in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through, until they begin to soften and take on color at the edges.
Add the zucchini. After the first 20 minutes, add the zucchini to the pan, tuck it among the other vegetables, and return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes. Zucchini cooks faster and will turn mushy if added at the start.
Sear the ham. While the vegetables finish roasting, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ham slices and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side until heated through and lightly caramelized at the edges.
Bring it together. Arrange the roasted vegetables on a platter or divide among plates. Lay the seared ham slices over or alongside the vegetables. Scatter fresh parsley over the top and serve immediately while everything is still warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sliced Ham with Roasted Vegetables — The Meal That Followed the Sending