Pan de Jamon (Ham Bread)

I know that Christmas is long gone. And so are the Christmas foods. Except that this year due to numerous other stuff,we had to deal around my house, we left a lot of Christmas food making for "after" the holidays.

Case in point: "Pan de Jamon" which basically translates to: Ham Bread.

"Pan de jamon" is a huge, golden, egg-washed bread filled with swirls of ham, olives, bacon, and raisins. This is a traditional staple in Venezuela Holiday cuisine. Most family will not even think of having the holiday go by without this on their table

I have been craving one since December, this past weekend the craving hit a high point and I had to make this one way or another. 

This recipe makes 3 loaves.

Ingredients

For the bread dough:
¾ cup water, about 110-115 degrees
2 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
4 ½ ounces unsalted butter
4 ¼ cups warm milk
2-3 pounds all purpose flour (about 12 cups)
½ teaspoon sea salt

For the filling
1 ½ pounds sliced ham
½ pound smoked bacon cut in cubes (save the bacon fact)
4 ounces olives stuffed with red pepper and roughly chopped
4 ounces raisins (soaked in red wine)
1 egg, beaten lighly to glaze the top 
 

To do the dough for the bread, we start with the "starter" in a bowl, mix the warm water and sugar and then add the yeast. Let stand for 15 minutes until it foamy.

Add the butter to the warm milk, the sugar and salt.  In a mixer with a doug hook, start mixing the flour in a low setting and then add the milk mixture to it, and then the yeast "sponge".  Let the mixer mix for about 15 minutes. When cycle is complete, remove dough from machine to a lightly floured surface. Knead in until soft and smooth, using enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Roll it like a ball and place in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp clothes and let rise in warm draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

In the meantime, start preparing the filling.

Turn oven to 375 degrees

Place a sauted pan on the stove to medium high heat. Cut your bacon into cubes and place in the hot pan.  Cook the bacon until translusent, (not crispy)... take out and place in a bowl, save the bacon fat.  Set out the raisins and pour some red wine over them and let them soak.  Take the olives and if not chopped, do so, roughly, set in a bowl and put aside. Beat the egg and set aside.

Now back to the bread.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, until about square.  Take the bacon grease and with a brush, coat the dough with the bacon fat (try to coat the whole dough).  Arrange the ham, bacon, olives and raisins on top, leaving a small strip bare at the top. Brush the strip with egg and roll up gently.  Roll it up like a swiss roll making sure the seam is under the bread, tuck the sides in as well, and place in a sheet pan that has been coated with non-stick spray or lined with a Silpat mat.  Coat the bread with the egg mixture to seal it. and let stand for about 15 minutes before you place in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown all around.  Take out of oven, move it to a cooling rack until warm, about 15-20 minutes.  Cut and served.

A quick tip: If you are press for time, I have used the Pillsbury pizza dough tube in order to replace the step of making my own bread.  Works like a charm.  Follow the package baking instructions.

Yummy, Oozy Club Sandwich

You know those days? The ones that are so hard, that all you want to do is have a do over and block it from your mind.

Yesterday was one of those days.

So, when I got home, I was glad that the boyfriend was at his mother’s house and the only person to feed was me. But, there was a problem. There was nothing in the refrigerator and we were out of milk, so the bowl of cereal was out.

Then I saw the eggs, and I knew I had a bag of baby spinach in there, somewhere and when I checked the cheese box? SCORE! There was ham in there too!

So it was time for a Club Sandwich.

This version is quick, satisfying and the end product is delicious.

Ingredients
Any type of sandwich bread (I use Potato bread)
1 tablespoon Mayonnaise (or enough to cover both side of the bread)
1 teaspoon Ketchup
1 teaspoon Mustard
1-3 slices of Ham
1 Tomato cut into round slices
1-3 leaves of Lettuce (or in my case) spinach leaves
1 Egg, fried
1-3 of slices of Cheese, I used Havarti, but any cheese will do.
1 teaspoon of Butter (to fry your egg on and toast the bread)

And we start with putting a bit of butter to melt in a sauce pan at medium heat, when hot, crack the egg, add a bit of salt and pepper and fried until done. NOTE: I like my yolk soft/runny, because this sandwich whole existence is to dip it in the oozing yolk when cut in half. When done, put the egg to the side.

Keep the sauce pan on the heat, but bring it down to low

Take the slices of bread and coat both with mayonnaise. Then coast one slice with a bit of ketchup and the other with mustard.

On the ketchup side place the ham, then pile a couple of lettuce/spinach leaves on top. On the mustard side, place the slices of tomato, season with salt and pepper and then the cheese. Place the friend egg on top. Cover with the ham slice of bread.

Coat the outside of both bread with a bit of butter and place in the hot sauce pan on the stove. Toast about 1 minute and flip, until you have it toasted.

Take out, place on plate and cut in half… let the egg ooze out of it and now eat up!

Hot Spinach Dip

I love to have people over to my house and shower them with food. Blame it on my Italian/Latin heritage. We are natural host. If there is a party, we are there cooking, dancing and making sure that everyone around us is having a good time. We love to have people sit at our table to eat and drink and totally enjoy every bite.

Since I moved to Tampa, I have not had the chance to do this. Because well, most of my friends live in other states, cities and I frankly to lazy to go make new friends. Yes, I’m shallow that way.

When I meet Tom, I was glad, because that meant 2 things: One, I could stop cooking for one! And two, I was going to heritage friends by proxy. I was not disappointed; so far his friends are witty, funny, smart and just love to eat – perfect combination if you ask me. Which means that my inner host kicked into overdrive and now we are having dinner parties more often.

And a dinner party must have appetizers! And Internet, this appetizer is the easiest thing you will make (don’t let the ingredient list scare you off) and people will beg you for the recipe once they smother the first piece of toasted goodness with this Creamy Hot Spinach Dip.

Ingredients
1 box of frozen Spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 onion, cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic mince (or garlic paste)
3 tablespoon Butter
3 tablespoon Olive oil
2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped rough (if desired)
1 envelope of Vegetable soup mix
1/2 cup of mayo
1/4 cup of sour cream
2 tablespoon of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 teaspoon of mustard (Dijon type)
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of Gorgonzola cheese
2 round of bread (or similar country, crusty bread) for bowl, another for dipper pieces.

Follow directions to unfreeze the frozen spinach and make sure it’s squeezed dry.

In sauté pan, place the butter and olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a bit until a bit soft, add the garlic and cook a bit more then add the drained frozen spinach as well as the fresh (if using). Mix and cook for about 5 minutes or so, then mix in the dry vegetable mix. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool down.

When spinach mixture is cooled. Mix in the rest of the ingredients (Mayo, Sour Cream, Mustard and the cheeses) Stir until everything is incorporate. At this point you can store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before using. If you are preparing the same day, then turn the oven to 350 degrees

Take the bread and form a bowl by cutting the top and scooping/hollowing out the inside, reserved and put it aside. Spread a bit of butter inside and then scoop the spinach mixture inside, spreading in and around the bread bowl. Spread a bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Cover the bread bowl in aluminum foil, place in a baking sheet pan and into the oven it goes for about 20 minutes. At about the 15 minutes mark uncovered and cook another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Take out of the oven, and let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Turn your oven to broil (medium setting) During this time, take the scooped pieces of bread and break off until small bite side pieces. The same for the additional bread break into rustic pieces with your hands. Spread on a baking sheet, drizzel with a bit of olive oil and place into the oven to toast up. About 2 minutes or so. Need to keep a watch on it so your broiler does not burn the bread

Take out and arrange the bread bowl dip in a serving plater, with the toasted pieces of break around it. 

Served and bask in the praises