Ham, Cheese, Apple Butter and Dijon Sandwiches

My husband and I first tasted these delightfully different ham sandwiches at our daughter and son-in-law's home last fall.  When I spotted apple butter at the store recently, I was reminded of those sandwiches and how wonderfully tasty they were. 

Toasted ciabatta rolls, a unique and delicious combination of apple butter and Dijon mustard with warm, melted cheese over delicate ham slices make a sandwich that is absolutely perfect for fall, football parties or a hearty treat after leaf-raking.

There's nothing better to boost your spirits as the leaves tumble to the ground!

Pardon me for eating in front of you, I couldn't wait.

I don't know what the weather has been like where you live, but it's been a rather gloomy and rainy October here.  Days with sunshine have been few and far between. Most days, the only sun I've seen was the brass one resting in my garden.  Yes, those nasturtiums below are still blooming as we haven't had a hard frost yet! Right now, we are surrounded by a beautiful sea of gold, but in a very short time our trees will be bare :(  Hang on, I need another bite!

Ham, Swiss and Apple Butter Sandwiches

Printable Recipe

Note:  Please don't omit the apple butter, it's what makes these sandwiches deliciously special! Also, you don't have to serve them open-faced but they look so much prettier that way!

Makes 6

3 ciabatta rolls, halved horizontally, or thick sliced sourdough bread (I used ciabattini rolls)
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons apple butter
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/4 pounds Black Forest ham, thinly sliced
6 slices imported Swiss cheese (original recipe calls for sharp cheddar cheese)

1 small bunch fresh chives, chopped (optional)

Place rolls, cut side up, on baking sheet and brush tops with olive oil.

Broil until rolls begin to brown around edges, about 2 minutes (watch carefully).  Remove from oven.

Spread about a teaspoon of Dijon mustard on each roll half, then spread with a rounded teaspoon or so of apple butter. Top with ham, then cheese. Broil until cheese melts and begins to bubble and brown in spots, about 2 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Bruffins with Ham and Cheese

Easter idea alert!

First, it was Cruffins, a flaky croissant-like muffin (click here for my post on Cruffins from last year) that became immensely popular in bakeries and cafes and now it's Bruffins!  Bruffins are muffins made from brioche dough and filled with any savory filling that sounds good to you.  Basically, it's breakfast, brunch or lunch that you can eat on the go.

For my first attempt at making them, I picked a simple filling of lean, diced, smoked ham and diced sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese.  The sweet brioche dough and the savory filling were a delicious combination! After my husband ate two, there was a request for a third.  'These are good!', he said.

Two days ahead of time, you will need to get your brioche dough started.  You'll need a very large bowl, jar or container with a lid.  I used a large cracker jar that I bought a Target.  I decided on the brioche dough recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as I've made it before.  It's easy, stores well in the frig and is delicious!  The next day, pull out a chunk of dough (I took out a 1-pound piece which I weighed on my digital kitchen scale).  The dough is rolled on on a very well-floured surface and the filling is added.  It's folded over like a letter and rolled again, then cut into strips which are twisted and placed (artfully or not) into muffin cups or greased muffin tins to rise. 

These ham and cheese Bruffins would be perfect for a simple Easter brunch buffet.  They would also be a great way to use the left-over ham from your Easter dinner. You can make them a day ahead, refrigerate them and them simply pop them in the oven to warm gently before serving.  Let the Oohs and Aahs roll! 

"I'm so tired!  Hiding all of those Easter eggs is exhausting!"
"You think you're tired, I had to lay all of them!"

Have you tried the unbreakable eggs from Walmart yet?  They are great for kids and crafting! They dye just like regular eggs and you never have to worry about breaks and cracks with little ones.  We had our two oldest grandsons for a sleep over recently and we colored eggs together ♥ 

Hope all of you who celebrate, have a very Happy Easter!

Bruffins with Ham and Cheese

Printable Recipe Brioche dough (makes about 4 loaves) - Recipe can be cut in half - half recipe ingredients in parentheses. 1 1/2 cups (3/4 cup) lukewarm water 1 tablespoon (1-1/2 teaspoons) Active Dry, or Quick-Rise yeast 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons (1-1/2 to 1-3/4 teaspoons)  kosher salt 8 (4) large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten 1/2 cup (1/4 cup) honey 1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks (3/4 cup or 1-1/2 sticks) butter, melted 7 1/2 cups (3-3/4 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour For the Bruffins (makes 8) 1 pound of brioche dough 3 ounces of diced smoked ham 3 ounces of diced sharp cheddar cheese 1 small egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water for the egg wash 8 pretty muffin liners, if desired Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container. Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated but do not knead. Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about 2-2-1/2 hours. (If you use cold eggs the initial rise can be very slow. Using eggs that have come to room temperature helps.) Refrigerate the dough overnight and use over the next five days. The dough can be frozen in 1 pound portions for 4 weeks. On baking day (or when the dough has chilled for 8–12 hours), prepare two 12-muffin pans by spraying them with baking spray or your may use muffin liners. These rise quite a bit so it's best to use every-other muffin space, if possible. Using floured hands, remove a 1 pound portion of brioche dough from the container (about the size of a cantaloupe melon). Flour a work surface very well and turn the dough out onto it and dust the dough with more flour. It can be quite sticky. Roll or pat the dough into a rectangle, approximately 8 x 16" and about 1/2" thick. Add more flour if the dough sticks to the work surface. Spread the diced cheese and ham evenly over the rectangle and then press them lightly into the dough. Fold the top third of the dough over the middle (your may need a large, floured spatula for this if the dough stick), then fold the bottom third up into a letter fold. Press the edges to seal them and roll the dough into another rectangle, about 3/4" thick. With a knife or pizza cutter, cut along the short side to make 8 even strips. You may bake any scrapes on a baking sheet. Take each strip and twist the ends in opposite directions a few times, then pick up middle of the strip with one hand and the ends with the other, lay the ends into the muffin cup first, laying down the middle on top with a another gentle twist. Cover the muffin pans lightly with plastic wrap and let rest for about 1 1/2–2 hours or until doubled in volume. About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375°. Whisk together the egg wash and gently brush over the tops of the muffins. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, switching racks and rotating the muffin pans for even baking. Baking time with vary depending on your oven. Cool in the pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Serve immediately or cool completely and refrigerate in a covered container. The muffins will keep refrigerated for about three days. Chilled muffins can be rewarmed in a 300 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Left-over dough can be used to make brioche bread, muffins or sandwich buns. Filling with cinnamon sugar will make a delicious sweet treat. Inspired by an article on Bruffins in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Tarragon Tuna Melt Sandwich

One of my favorite things to have for lunch, especially when I have lunch 'out' at a casual restaurant is a tuna melt.  I don't often make them for myself at home since it's a larger lunch than I normally eat. Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud is having a Pillsbury Dough Boy celebrity cook-along today and, when I was looking over the Pillsbury website, I found a recipe for tuna melts that reminded me how much I enjoyed them. My recipe is very  'loosely' based on this Pillsbury recipe. Since I had half of a bakery baguette in my freezer, I didn't need to use the Pillsbury Refrigerated Crusty French Loaf. 

Since I now have fresh herbs growing outside (hooray!) I added some fresh tarragon and parsley to my tuna along with some chopped celery, green onion, and sweet red pepper.  My recipe may not bear much resemblance to the original Pillsbury recipe, but it certainly was inspired by it!

It didn't last very long...

Tarragon Tuna Melt
Printable Recipe

Serves 2

1 5-oz can albacore tuna in water, broken into flakes
1 small green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon or more red sweet pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon celery, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Hellmann's (or Best Foods if you live west of the Rockies) Light Mayonnaise

1 small baguette, sliced in half crosswise and lengthwise (you can use Pillsbury Refrigerated Crusty French Loaf - follow package instructions for baking)
Cheddar cheese slices

Preheat broiler.

Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a small bowl until blended.

On a small baking pan, place baguette halves upside-down under broiler just to toast lightly. Remove and place right-side up. Divide tuna salad mixture on baguette slices, top with cheddar cheese slices and place under broiler long enough to melt the cheese until bubbly but watching carefully not to burn.

Serve immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please visit Happier Than a Pig in Mud to see the rest of the Pillsbury Dough Boy recipes!  I'll also be joining Foodie Friday - thank you both, Lynn and Michael!

Pulled Pork and Cole Slaw Sandwiches

What is your favorite sport to watch on television?  Football, basketball, baseball, pro sports, college sports?  

If you love watching sports on television you need sports food!  Last weekend, I made these delicious pulled pork and cole slaw sandwiches while we watched Marquette make it into the Sweet Sixteen with one of our daughters and her boyfriend (both Marquette alumni). Whether you're a student, an alum, or just a fan who loves sports, these are sure to please a roaring crowd!

Not only is this easy to make but can be made well in advance so there's no last-minute cooking.

This Tyler Florence recipe starts out with a large bone-in pork shoulder (aka Boston Butt). Mine weighed over 6 pounds. A dry rub of paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, dry mustard and coarse salt is rubbed on the roast and left to marinate in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. I did this Friday night. On Saturday, I pulled out my old 6 quart Nesco Slow Roaster since this was going to be a 6 hour-plus slow-roast.

When it was done, the tender pork was easy to pull apart and the fat and bone were discarded. I strained the meat juices and defatted them the next day. 
 

On Sunday, all I had to do was arrange the shredded pork on a large baking pan and add the meat juices plus a little (1/2 cup) of Chipotle BBQ sauce and toss every now and again until the juices were reduced, but not totally evaporated, still leaving moist, tender meat.

Did you know that cole slaw is perfect crunchy compliment to pulled pork? You can either pile it on top of the pork on your sandwich or eat it on the side - your preference!

I hope you give these recipes a try, whether you love watching sports or just love a great pulled pork sandwich!

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork and Cole Slaw Sandwiches

Adapted from Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches by Tyler Florence
Printable Recipe with My Personal Adaptations

Tyler Florence includes a recipe for Cider Vinegar BBQ Sauce which I tried and found far too sour and vinegar-y for my liking so I did not include it here but you can find it on the link above. I advise using your favorite BBQ sauce recipe or store-bought brand.

Serves 8-10

Do Ahead: This recipe can be started 2 days before serving.

1 (5 to 7 pound) bone-in pork roast, preferably shoulder or Boston butt

Your favorite BBQ sauce (optional)
Crusty Rolls

Dry Rub:

3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons coarse salt

Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork and marinate for as long as you have time for, overnight being preferred but not absolutely necessary.

Preheat the oven or slow roaster to 300 degrees F.

Place the pork roast in a covered roasting pan and bake for about 6-7 hours, until it's falling off the bone. Allow to cool slightly and remove the meat, discarding excess fat and the bone. Shred the meat using two large forks or your fingers.

Strain the meat juices and separate the fat either using a fat strainer or simply place the juices in the refrigerator overnight and remove the fat layer the next day.

Place the defatted meat juice and shredded meat on a large baking pan. Toss in 1/2 cup cup of BBQ sauce (optional) and roast in a 350 degree oven for another 30-45 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until the juices are almost dissolved but the meat is still moist.

To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom 1/2 of a bun, and top with the cole slaw.

Cole Slaw adapted from Jim' N Nick's Coleslaw

This slaw is perfect as a side dish or added to a pulled-pork sandwich.

(I adjusted the vinegar, sugar and mayonnaise to my preference)

Makes 8 to 10 servings

1 2-pound head of green cabbage, quartered, cored, cut crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices (about 14 cups)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup grated peeled carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place cabbage in large bowl. Add vinegar and sugar; toss to coat. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Toss cabbage mixture well; cover and let stand 30 minutes longer (You can also use a baster to siphon the vinegar solution from the bottom and baste and cabbage). Drain cabbage well squeezing out the excess juice with your hands. Can be made 8 hours ahead up to this point. Cover and chill.

Transfer drained cabbage to another large bowl. Add carrots, onions, and mayonnaise; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sandwich Sunday ~ Mixed Olive Spread

I'm Baaaaaack - at last! Thank you for all your kind and sympathetic comments!

Being without a computer for a week was awful, as I'm sure you can imagine if you've ever been through the same thing! All the little 'connections' you take for granted were gone for me.  I did try to use my 'unconnected' time wisely and got lots of gardening and yard work accomplished. We celebrated our oldest daughter's 29th birthday, took care of our little grandson for a day and had our favorite guest dog for the weekend.

$$$ later, my computer has been returned to me running like a charm (fingers crossed).

This coming week, I have to work full-time - one of my usual 'seasonal' stints at a friend's company. So today, I needed to think about lunch for work.  I hadn't made my favorite olive spread in quiet a while and decided to make some for lunch today and to bring to the office tomorrow.

I first had this sandwich years ago at Watts Tea Shop in downtown Milwaukee. The tea room is located above George Watts and Son, a beautiful china, crystal and silverware store downtown which has been an icon in our area since 1870 and a favorite for brides-to-be to register for their weddings. Years later, they published the recipe for the olive spread  in our local newspaper and I've been making it since then.

You can make this with the olives of your choice.  I opted for a combination of green, black and Kalamata olives this time.  Chop them up and add a handful of toasted pecans, mayo, a touch of creamed cheese and spread it on whole wheat bread and let your taste buds rejoice!


If you love olives and pecans as much as I do, you will love this!

Mixed Olive Spread
Adapted from Watts Tea Room
Printable Recipe

2 cups olives or your choice...green, black, or Kalamata
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup cream cheese
A little olive juice
Mayonnaise - just enough to moisten
A small splash of olive oil
Pepper to taste
A little chopped parsley for garnish

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Spread over slices of your favorite whole wheat bread.  Makes about 4 sandwiches.

Egg Salad Sandwiches...What Came First?

 
The Chicken or the egg? Or....what to do with all of those Easter Eggs!

Since it's very likely that birds evolved from dinosaurs, now what came first,  the dinosaur or the egg?  If you want to get into that kind of 'heady' stuff you can look here or here.  I'm just glad that we have chickens and eggs and I'll leave it at that!

I decided to dye some eggs for the Easter table using the same method I used last year -  which is putting bits of flowers and leaves on the hardboiled eggs, covering them with onion skins and then wrapping them carefully in nylon stocking, cheesecloth or muslin.  You can read the entire process in my post from last year. Flowers aren't very abundant in the garden just yet since Easter is early this year, but I do have some dwarf iris blooming (I added a small vase of them above), crocus and even some parsley growing in the garden.

The bits of blue in the colored eggs are from the iris petals.

So the next time you start wondering what came first, or what to do with all the dyed eggs left from Easter, make egg salad!  There is a great little local cafe in town called Beans and Barley that makes the best egg salad sandwiches.  A few years ago, the recipe was published in our newspaper and I've been making it this way ever since.  The celery seed gives it a wonderful flavor.

Served on a crusty slice of French bread with spinach...

...or, on the spinach leaves alone - it makes lunch-time, happy-time and that's no yoke!

Happy Easter!

Beans and Barley Egg Salad

Printable Recipe

Makes 6 Sandwiches

12 eggs

½ cup good quality mayonnaise (I use Hellmans Light)

½ teaspoon celery seed

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Cover eggs with water and bring to a boil.  Immediately turn off the heat and let pan sit, covered, for 20 minutes.

Pour off hot water and place eggs into an ice bath for 5-10 minutes (this really helps the egg shells come off easily!).  Peel eggs and place them in a large bowl.  Chop eggs with a pastry cutter and add remaining ingredients.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  I like lots of celery seed and pepper!

Serve on your favorite bread and enjoy!

Slow Roasted Beef Brisket - a Hearty Winter Meal!

Winter is a great time for trying slow roasted meats and stews...things you would never think of making in the middle of summer when the oven would be on for hours. Beef brisket is one of my winter favorites. There are tons of recipes for brisket out there and everyone has a favorite - this is mine. The recipe came to me by way of a good friend. You can serve it alone over mashed potatoes with a vegetable on the side but I like it best served on a crusty roll with the delicious juices and plenty of onions!

If you can roast the brisket the day before and refrigerate it overnight it slices beautifully and you can easily separate the fat from the juices.

 

Beef Brisket 

Original Source Unknown

• 5 pound trimmed beef brisket
• 2-3 onions, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, sliced thin or minced
• 1 16-oz Bottle Wishbone Italian Dressing
• Red wine (about 2 cups)

Preheat Broiler

In a heavy cake pan or other large oven-proof shallow dish, broil brisket until well-browned on both sides.

Drain fat and add sliced onions, garlic, dressing and wine.

Reduce oven to 300.  Cover pan with foil and roast for about 4 hours. This can also be prepared in a slow cooker, after the browning of the brisket.  Increase cooking time according to your slow cooker.  Perhaps 2-3 hours more than oven method. 

If possible, allow to cool overnight in the pan juices with onions, which will make it easy to remove the fat from the meat and juices.  Slice the meat, return to the defatted pan juices and reheat either on the stove or oven for about 20-30 minutes.

Slice and serve on crusty rolls with onions and pan juices.

Enjoy!