My mother used to say that eternity was two people and a ham. I never understood what that meant because the hams she bought were little parchment-wrapped daisy hams, the tinned ones or only occasionally a small picnic ham, which in our family of four disappeared pretty darn quickly.

It wasn’t until Jamie and I had our own hams from pigs we raised that I began to understand how one ham might go on and on and on. These days it is really unusual to see a full ham in a store – they are usually divided at least in half for sale. One of our own hams is somewhere between 18 and 22 pounds, after smoking, and won’t even fit in any cooking pot I have. So Jamie gets out the Sawzall, and after some conversation about whether we will have company to help us eat it or not, I show him where to cut it.

Even half of one of those hams is a lot of food. But I must be so constituted that leftovers don’t look like an imposition but like money in the bank. I love having the ham to do a lot of different things with from a whole baked or boiled ham for dinner to slices in sandwiches or chunks in macaroni and cheese to chopped up in omelets (Western or not) to ground up and seasoned for sandwich spread, or mixed with the insides of a baked potato or Delicata or Sweet Dumpling squash and reheated, and finally pea or bean soup. It is economical, and if you have a good ham, one with real flavor, a little goes a long way.

Here is the recipe for the ground up ham spread. Now, this is good in sandwiches for sure, with a leaf or two of lettuce or a slice of pickle. It is also good as a canape spread on slices of that party rye or pumpernickel bread or a slice of baguette, topped with a modicum of shredded cheddar and a couple slivers of thinly sliced onion, and run under the broiler for a few moments until the cheese melts. The gents like this very much.

I also use this spread blended to help create stuffed baked squash or potatoes. To do that, merely bake as many potatoes as you have people to serve. If you choose squash, cut it horizontally and bake it at 350 F on a lightly oiled baking pan, cut side down, for 30 minutes or so until it is soft. Then scrape out the insides and put them in a bowl, and add as much of the ham spread as you see fit – either half and half or just a few tablespoons to season the vegetable. Then stuff it back into the potato or squash, letting it heap up a bit, and put it back into the oven until it is heated through.

There’s no reason you can’t top it with crumbs or a bit of shredded cheese, or that you couldn’t add a few capers or chopped olives or onion to the mix. Taste as you go along, and feel free to play with it. Leave out anything you don’t like, add stuff you do. Hams vary in flavor and moisture, so you will have to adjust the recipe to your taste. You can use a food processor and pulse the chunks of ham till they are spreadable. Or if you have one of those nice old-fashioned, hand-crank meat grinders, you’ll find the medium blade works well.

Ham Spread

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups of ground up ham

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

3 tablespoons of mustard (I prefer Dijon over the bright yellow)

2 tablespoons or more of cucumber relish

1 small onion minced

A few grinds of black pepper

Blend all these together very well. If the mixture is too stiff to spread, add mayonnaise or a little drizzle of olive oil until it will. Keeps in a refrigerator, covered, for a couple weeks while you think of new things to do with it.