Little sandwiches have big taste

One of my favorite party foods is little ham sandwiches with poppy seeds on top. They’ve been a favorite on buffet lines for years.

A delicious spread is added to the cut rolls before layering ham and cheese and warming in the oven. I always take one or two when I’m at parties.

I was thinking of those sandwiches when I first saw recipes for funeral sandwiches (because they are good to take to families who are grieving) or ham and cheese sliders.

For these sandwiches, ham and Swiss cheese are layered on party rolls and placed in a baking pan. Then a delicious glaze, with a base of melted butter and mustard, is poured or brushed on the sandwiches before baking. It’s the same basic idea of the poppy seed ham sandwiches, but instead of using the spread inside the sandwiches, it goes on top.

I read many recipes for the sliders before trying them myself. I think every recipe I read called for 1 to 2 sticks of butter. If you’ve read my column long, you know there’s no way I’m putting that much butter on sandwiches! I tried it with just 2 tablespoons, but that wasn’t enough, so I’ve settled on 4 tablespoons, which is half a stick.

I played around with other ingredients as well and decided to omit the minced onion or onion powder and to use Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. I also opted to use Dijon mustard rather than yellow mustard.

I didn’t have poppy seeds and didn’t want to buy them, so my sandwiches went without.

Most recipes I saw suggested King’s Hawaiian rolls for the bread. (In fact, King’s has its own version of the sandwiches on its website.) But I used a favorite brand of party rolls instead. In reading up on these sandwiches, I saw one person had cut hot dog rolls in thirds and used them to make the sandwiches.

My husband and I loved these little sandwiches. We liked the slightly crunchy glaze on top, and I especially like the sweetness from the brown sugar. The sandwiches are also very good warmed up slowly in the toaster oven the next day, making workday lunches so easy.

Apparently this recipe can be assembled in advance (glaze included) and refrigerated, then baked later in the day or the next day. Both times I made the sandwiches, I baked them as soon as they were assembled. But if I were to serve these sandwiches at a party, I would make them in advance.

I really want to try a variation of this recipe and use deli roast beef and cheddar.


Glazed Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 16-oz. bag party rolls (20 per package)
• 1/2 pound deli ham, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound Swiss cheese, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and mustard until thoroughly combined.

Slice rolls and divide ham and cheese between the rolls, cutting meat and cheese to fit rolls. Place rolls on baking pan with sides. (You can assemble the rolls individually, or slice all rolls at one time, making one large top and one large bottom.)

Pour or brush glaze on top of rolls. I used a pastry brush and brushed the glaze not only on top of the rolls but also on the sides.

Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, or until cheese melts and rolls brown on top. Keep a close watch so they don’t burn.

Note: This is how I made them. You can use yellow mustard, if you like, and different meats and cheeses.

Pineapple and chicken

We’re on a grilling kick at my house, largely because our son, Robert, has been trying new recipes and cooking for us.

Our latest experiment was an adaptation of a recipe I ran across for a grilled chicken sandwich. Robert said it looked like the chicken version of an aloha burger he loves.

So at lunch time one recent Friday, he and I went to the grocery store and got what we needed to make pineapple grilled chicken sandwiches.

I got frustrated right off the bat because my grocery store didn’t have the thin chicken breasts I had wanted to use with this recipe. They are perfect for sandwiches. I ended up buying boneless chicken breasts and pounding them to an appropriate thickness. (If you haven’t done this before, I put the chicken breasts in a gallon zippered bag and pounded them. I don’t have a mallet, so I used a can of vegetables, which I dented.)

I mixed the marinade in just a few minutes and poured it into the bag with the chicken, moving around the contents to make sure the breasts got covered with the thick sauce. The chicken marinated in the refrigerator all afternoon; when I got home from work, I flipped the bag so the marinade could evenly distribute.

Robert cooked the chicken on low heat on the grill, and at the point where he turned the breasts, he added pineapple slices to the grill. We had two for each chicken breast.

The original recipe suggested topping the chicken with Swiss cheese, but I used Provolone instead, along with the grilled pineapple. Instead of sandwich buns, we used multi-grain sandwich thins. Lettuce and tomato are also options.

This sandwich was delicious! The sweetness of the marinade gives the chicken a wonderful flavor, and the added bonus of a pineapple slice makes it even better. The chicken was so juicy that it ended up making a messy sandwich, but that’s OK.

We had leftover chicken, which would be delicious sliced in a salad or served in a sandwich.


Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich

• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5-6 ounce)
• 16 canned pineapple slices
• 8 Sandwich Thins rolls
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• 8 lettuce leaves
• 8 tomato slices

Marinade:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger

Cover chicken with plastic wrap and flatten with mallet to about 1/2" thickness. In a small bowl, combine marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a container and cover with 3 cups of marinade. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 4 hours. Place pineapple slices in another container and add 1 cup of marinade. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 4 hours. Any remaining marinade can be heated on the stove top for 10 minutes over medium heat until thick and used for sauce on sandwich.

Preheat grill to medium heat. Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Grill over medium heat for 4–6 minutes per side to 165°F. Remove pineapple from marinade, place on grill over medium heat and cook 2-4 minutes on each side. About 1 minute prior to removing the chicken from the grill, place a slice of Swiss cheese on top of each chicken breast and cook until melted.

Brush Sandwich Thins rolls lightly with oil and place cut side down to toast lightly. Spread the glaze that was heated from the remaining marinade on the inside of buns. Place lettuce on bottom halves of buns. Follow with chicken. Top chicken with sliced tomatoes and grilled pineapple. Add bun top and serve.

Sam’s Club

Notes: I varied this recipe, cutting back on the oil and soy sauce and also using the pineapple juice that was in the can of pineapple I bought. We did not have as much marinade, of course, but it was enough. We did not heat the marinade to use as sauce on the chicken; it was plenty juicy without it. And we did not brush the marinade on the pineapple. Also, we turned off the grill without heating the buns, so we warmed them in the toaster.

Yummy sandwich

In the last year or so, I’ve found myself open to adding more of a variety of flavors into my meal planning.

A lot of that has happened because of a new passion for grilling at my house. My husband and l especially love experimenting with marinades and rubs for chicken and beef.

Today’s recipe for Carolina pulled chicken is a good example of our new flavor experiments. There was a time when I would have never considering using a prepackaged spice mix for my food. I’d be afraid I wouldn’t like one of the ingredients, so I wouldn’t even try it. But this delicious chicken recipe gets the bulk of its flavor from an envelope of McCormick Grill Mates Carolina Country marinade.

This is a very easy recipe to make and involves mixing and simmering a tangy and delicious sauce and grilling a package of chicken breasts. When the breasts are cooked, all you do is shred the meat and mix it with the sauce and it’s ready for the sandwich rolls.

It was the weekend and I had the time, so I made the sandwich rolls for this recipe, but any roll, lightly toasted, would work well. If you lightly toast the sandwich rolls, they won’t get soggy as quickly when you add the sauce-covered meat.

The McCormick recipe suggested this sandwich be served with pickles, so we tried it with our favorite Trader Joe’s bread and butter pickles. My husband and I both agreed the pickles added a nice crunch and cooled down the mildly spicy sauce. When we make our own microwave pickles again this summer, we will use them, I’m sure, for this sandwich.

I look forward to making this recipe again, but I might not always grill the chicken. The grilled chicken added a wonderful flavor to this recipe, but shredded chicken or turkey cooked by another method work be delicious, too, I’m sure, and would be easier for a weeknight at my house.


Carolina Pulled Chicken

• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped sweet onion, such as Vidalia
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 package McCormick Grill Mates Carolina Country marinade
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• Vegetable oil
• Sandwich rolls

Mix ketchup, vinegar, onion, sugar and marinade mix in medium saucepan until well blended. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes or until onion is tender. Set aside. Brush chicken lightly with oil.

Grill chicken over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes per side or until cooked through, turning occasionally.

Shred chicken using 2 forks. Add to saucepan; toss to coat well. Spoon shredded chicken mixture on rolls.

McCormick

Our daily bread

I had a long list of things to do while on vacation last week. One was to bake bread.

It's not easy to find time to bake bread, even if you're using a bread machine to make your dough. My machine requires 90 minutes for the dough cycle. Then the loaf has to rise on the counter for about 45 minutes. Then there's another 30-45 minutes baking time, depending on the bread. It's easy to run errands during the 90-minute rising cycle, which is what I did Thursday morning with my first loaf.

Because it had been so long since I made bread, I had a hard time choosing which recipe to use. I couldn't remember which ones we liked best! So I went to an old an reliable recipe, Honey White Bread. This is one of the first recipes I made when I got my machine about a dozen years ago. That bread machine has been so good to me!

The recipe is one of several in the cookbook I made for my family some years back. In the recipe note, I mention how I like to start the bread at lunchtime and let it bake during the afternoon, getting ready just in time for supper. That's when I used to let the bread cook in the bread machine. I don't do that anymore. Instead, I let the machine make the dough, and then I put the dough in a bread pan for the second rising and cook it in the oven.

The Honey White loaf is so simple to make. The hardest part (and that's not even hard) is scalding the milk, which I do totally by smell, by the way.

My tips for this recipe include giving the bread pan (I use glass) a light rub of butter before placing the dough in to rise and taking the bread out about 5 to 10 minutes before it's finished baking and brushing on a little more butter. The extra butter gives the bread a wonderful taste as well as a golden brown crust.

The bread is delicious straight from the oven, but the texture stays tender and tasty hours later. I also love making cinnamon toast and French toast with this bread on the second or third day -- if there's any left!

We enjoyed the first loaf so much that I made a second the next day, and on Sunday, I made a third loaf, this time an oatmeal bread recipe I first made years ago that I found on a bag of King Arthur bread flour.

I think I've shared the King Arthur recipe before, but it's so good that I'm including it again today. King Arthur Toasting and Sandwich Bread is another delicious bread either plain or toasted and is a favorite at my house. I've also used this dough to make a delicious cinnamon bread.

I don't know how much longer I'll have this bread-baking bug. My son has already mentioned that he wants his favorite herb rolls, and I'm eager to try a new pizza dough recipe. So I guess I'll keep baking!



King Arthur Oatmeal Toasting and Sandwich Bread

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoon honey (Can also use brown sugar; I use honey)
• 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer. Program to dough setting. Check from time to time to see if flour or water is needed. Finished dough should be soft and supple.
When cycle is complete, place on floured surface and shape into log. Put in loaf pan greased with butter. Cover with towel and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour or until 1 to 2 inches above rim of pan. I let my bread rise in the oven. Just before the dough cycle is complete, I turn the light on in the cold oven and place my 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup inside, filled with boiling water. That makes a warm, humid place perfect for rising dough.
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Yields: 1 loaf.
King Arthur Flour Company



Honey White Bread for Bread Machine

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons butter (I always buy salted.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
• 2 cups bread flour (King Arthur is best.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Scald milk. Remove from heat and add butter and honey. Stir until butter melts. Cool to room temperature.
Add milk mixture and other ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Might need to add extra flour.
Set machine for dough setting.
When completed, remove dough from pan. Shape into rectangle and roll in jelly roll fashion, pinching bottom seam. Place seam-side down in bread pan prepared with a light coating of butter. Let rise in warm place for 30-45 minutes. I let my bread rise in the oven. Just before the dough cycle is complete, I turn the light on in the cold oven and place my 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup inside, filled with boiling water. That makes a warm, humid place perfect for rising dough.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with butter. Return to oven for about 5 minutes or until done.