Crisp Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

My favorite present this past Christmas was a copy of Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home cookbook, given to me by my husband. The book is filled with simple and quick recipes for making family meals. It's divided into Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer sections, so that you can easily find recipes with seasonally accessible ingredients.

Tonight I made crisp ham and cheese sandwiches, which took about 10 minutes and were incredibly satisfying. They were similar to paninis, except I don't have a panini press. You can use one however, instead of frying it like I did.

CRisp ham and cheese sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 mini ciabatta loaves 8 thin slices provolone cheese 8 thin slices Black Forest ham 8 thin slices speck or prosciutto

1 cup loosely packed baby spinach leaves coarse salt and freshly ground pepper butter

Directions:

1.	Cut ciabatta loaves in half.

I used a large loaf of ciabatta, cut into 6 inch segments, instead of small loaves.

2.	Top each ciabatta half with 1 slices provolone cheese.

3.	Add 2 pieces of Black Forest ham

4.	Add 2 pieces of speck or prosciutto.

5.	Add 1/4 cup of baby spinach leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

6.	Top with the other bread half. Spread butter evenly on the outside top and bottom of the bread.

7.	Heat a large frying pan (or for best results, use a cast iron skillet) over medium-low. Place sandwich in pan, weight with another pan on top of it (sorry, I don't have a picture of this step). Cook until first side is golden, about 2 minutes.

			8.	Flip sandwiches, press with weight, and cook until the other side is golden, about another 2 minutes. If you have a panini press, you can use the press and skip the frying completely. Serve warm. Delish! recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Dinner at Home