Holidays in our family always revolve around food. We gather in the kitchen and usually don’t leave, even though my Mom tries to coax us away from the food and into another room to talk or play games. Can anybody relate? Each Easter when my family gets together my Mom makes a ham…and meatballs, sausage, pasta, veggies and a salad of course. It’s a feast! I like ham as much as the next person, but there is so much other food that there ends up being lots leftover.
Making a panini with the leftover ham is a great way to make another meal out of Easter leftovers. Paninis are so good, and completely adaptable based on what you like and what you have on hand. We went with ham, havarti cheese and a simple jalapeno butter on a pretzel roll. It was beyond DELICIOUS!
A couple years ago (pre-blog days), Kara and I made soft pretzel bites filled with turkey and cheese. This was the inspiration for these paninis. If you have not tried a sandwich with pretzel bread before, then please do, it’s the absolute best.
I don’t know if I’ve ever wrote about my obsession with soft pretzels, but most likely I have. I have soft pretzels on the brain all the time. My two favorite grocery stores (Marianos and Trader Joe’s) have soft pretzel rolls and I buy them every time I go. More times than not I eat the pretzel whilst I shop. I’m not even embarrassed to end up in the checkout line with an empty bakery bag. The pretzel roll paired with melted cheese and ham was a match made in heaven.
Here's what you'll need
Combine softened butter and finely diced jalapeno
Butter the inside of the bread
Butter the outside too…it will grill better
Add a slice of harvarti cheese
Add the leftover ham
Use a panini press, grill pan, whatever you have. Cook until warm and melty
A tasty way to use up leftover ham from Easter
So good!
Yield: makes 2 paninis
Ingredients
2 pretzel rolls
4-6 slices leftover ham
2-4 slices havarti cheese
4 tablespoons butter, softened
½ jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed and finely diced
Directions
In a small bowl, combine diced jalapeno and butter. Slice rolls in half lengthwise and butter the inside and outside of the rolls. Spray a grill pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.
Add 1-2 slices of cheese and 2-3 slices of leftover ham to each panini. Cook on the grill pan using the top to press the panini closed. Cook 3-4 minutes then turn over and cook 1-2 minutes on the over side, or until cheese has melted.
Source: a Live Love Pasta original
