I am raising my teenage grandchildren. Dinners are easy for me, but lunches are a challenge. The kids are sick of pizza and hamburgers because these items are on the school lunch menu daily. What could I fix for lunch? There was some leftover ham in the refrigerator and I decided to use it.
I bought a loaf of Focaccia bread at a discount store, some Provolone cheese and assembled these ingredients into a huge sandwich. The tantalizing smell of cheesy bread filled the kitchen. Twenty minutes later I served a tasty lunch, so tasty the kids asked for seconds. My giant sandwich idea is built on centuries of food history.
Stale bread was used as a plate from the sixth to the 16th century. The bread soaked up meat juices and could be eaten or fed to dogs. As the centuries passed other meats were used for sandwiches. According to the Whats Cooking America website, Elisabeth Leslie, an English woman, included a recipe for ham sandwiches in her book, "Directions for Cookerie."
Fannie Merritt Farmer, in "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book," first published in 1896, included a recipe for baking powder biscuit sandwiches, a forerunner of the fast food breakfast sandwich served today. The dough is made with butter, lard, or another fat, rolled to a half-inch thickness, and cut out. "Put together in pairs, fill with finely chopped boiled ham," states the recipe. The biscuits are brushed with milk before baking.
By the 1900s, thanks to commercial bakeries, sandwiches were a staple of the American diet. Americans have three favorite sandwiches: peanut butter and jelly, egg salad, and ham. Of the three, ham is the most versatile because it can be paired with many so many ingredients and served warm or cold.
The Cuban sandwich, a combination of ham, roast pork, cheese and pickles, is the most popular sandwich in Miami, Florida. Another ham sandwich, the Monte Cristo, started out in Paris and migrated to the US. This sandwich -- ham, turkey or chicken and cheese dipped in French toast batter - appeared on the Disneyland (Anaheim) menu in 1966, according to the In Mommas Kitchen website.
I did not have the time to dip sandwiches or assemble the pressed Cuban sandwich. My lunch had to be fast and tasty. Honey is the mystery ingredient in this sandwich, which can be assembled in 10 minutes. If you want more ham or cheese, add them. Serve the sandwich the minute it comes out of the oven.
1 peeled and cored fresh pineapple (from the grocery store)
1 round loaf Asiago cheese Focaccia bread
8 ounce package of Provolone cheese
8 ounces of thinly sliced ham
Butter
Honey
Dijon mustard
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the pineapple into six slices and set aside. Using a bread knife, cut the Focaccia in half horizontally. Butter the underside of the top half. Drizzle a generous amount of honey over the butter. Spread Dijon mustard on the bottom half of the loaf. Layer ham and Provolene in circles over the bread. Put the top on and set the sandwich on a baking pan. Cover with release foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake five minutes more. Cut into pie-shaped wedges and serve with fresh pineapple. Makes 6 servings.
Copyright 2010 by Harriet Hodgson
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