This is definitely premature, but I think we might have a winner sandwich. Today’s recipe is another one I stumbled across on a random web search. It’s a different take on another lunchbox classic, the Ham Sandwich. Here’s the recipe, then I’ll get to the scoop:
- 6 slices (6 ounces) Westphalian or Black Forest ham, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
- 2 Kaiser Rolls, split
- 4 ounces sliced Emmental or other Swiss cheese
- 1 small cucumber, very thinly sliced
- Bibb or Boston lettuce leaves
- (makes 2 sandwiches – I gave one to Alexis and she loved it too)
I made a couple minor substitutions. I went with 1 slice of low-fat Alpine Swiss cheese from Trader Joe’s and I used the same pre-chopped salad mixture that I had leftover from last recipe for the lettuce leaves. I also had plenty of cucumber left from that same recipe to use in this one. Gotta love the multi-use ingredients! Oh yeah, and I couldn’t find Black Forest or Westphalian ham so I used smoked ham instead.
The key to this recipe is really the spread. You take the mustard and the apple butter and mix them together in a small bowl. This creates a fantastic spicy-sweet concoction that you spread on the cut side of the Kaiser rolls. Then you stack the other ingredients on one side like photo on left.
When you put the two sides together, it really looks appetizing. I don’t know – there’s something about a sandwich on a roll or english muffin that just looks and tastes better than plain bread. I remember in elementary school there was this kid Rickey Brown who would always bring a corned beef sandwich to school that was made on an onion roll. He was pretty short back in 4th and 5th grade and I guess he didn’t each much because he’d usually give me half. Wow that was good. I think that was the start of my love of deli food and, particularly, deli sandwiches. Anyway, here’s the assembled German Ham Sandwich in all its glory, with one of my all-time favorite lunchboxes, the limited edition School House Rock model like the photo on right.
I don’t know which looks better, the sandwich or the lunchbox. Unfortunately the store is long sold out of these, but they do have another of my favorite designs, the one of Mr. Owl from the Tootsie Pop TV commercials that they showed for like 30 years (anyone know if they’re still showing it?). I think I probably watched that commercial back in the early 1980s while eating corned beef sandwiches with Rickey Brown after school before we played Intellivision. Ahhh the good ol’ days.
So far this recipe is my favorite. But next I’m really going to try something different, so stay tuned!
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
