A Dinner of Two Sandwiches Part the First…

Today, as I write this, it’s Boxing Day. Traditionally meals on this day consist of left-over Christmas food: cold ham; cold turkey; salads. It was also 30,000,000 degrees here today (well, maybe only really 30C, but inside my house it gets stuffy and rank really quickly, so we spend a lot of time out in places where there will be air conditioning) and a friend was coming over for dinner. He knows not to expect too much from us in terms of tidiness, or quiet: cats; dogs; and children all work against us in those stakes. He was perfectly happy when I suggested leftovers for dinner. Specifically toasties, or sandwiches of some sort.

My bloke and I are very partial to ham. This year, we went over the top, and ordered a full leg ham from our mate Richard at The Griffith Butchery. He cures and smokes all his own meats, he gets the pork from a grower in Temora, and we’ve generally some to an understanding not to argue about things. He also makes a rather good meat pie, and sausage roll. This year’s ham weighed in at 8.7k, and I carried it on my shoulder like a Neanderthal’s club. The smell permeated the work coolroom nicely (to the alarm of my mostly vegetarian coworkers, and one requested a sample slice or two after Christmas). It’s very very good ham. I tend to eat vast quantities of it when I’m carving it.

This is what an 8.7k leg of ham looks like after two days of eating. The ridge under the skin is where we’re up to.

So, toasties. My toastie maker, as I’ve said before, is not the true Jaffle style. It’s more of a sandwich press, but honestly, it doesn’t matter that much. The advantage of a jaffle iron is that you can seal all the fillings in and then burn the shit out of your mouth when you bite into your sandwich, beginning a thermonuclear reaction, and three days of popping blisters on the roof of your mouth with your tongue.

I had what I thought was an interesting idea.

Truffled Cheddar

Along with some tomatoes on my favourite Burgen bread and the previously diced ham, this cheese shone like the full moon at solstice. The funk from the truffles matched really well with the ham and the sweetness of the tomatoes. I went back for another, and that doesn’t often happen these days!

SW garlic mayo ftw. Also good with mustard pickles.

Crit

I’m a mother of two boys. I work selling organic produce to gullible locals, and in my spare time I run as far as I can. Oh, and I live in Australia, married to a US citizen.