Proscuitto smoked Gouda panini, baked ham and cheese with mornay sauce

Ham and cheese sandwiches don't necessarily need gilding. But when we're working from home and having sandwiches for lunch more often, sometimes I feel the need to branch out. Here are two of my latest meanderings down the ham and cheese path.

Proscuitto and smoked Gouda panini

Adapted from “200 Best Panini Recipes” by Tiffany Collins

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 slices Italian or country bread
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
2 ounces of sliced smoked Gouda cheese
4 thin slices of tomato

Method
Mix olive oil and vinegar. Brush on one side of bread slices. (You’ll probably have a bit leftover, depending on how thirsty your bread is.) Place bread slices oiled sliced down on a work surface. Top two slices with prosciutto, Gouda and tomato, sprinkling tomatoes with salt and pepper. Top with remaining bread slice, oiled side up. Place in panini press and cook until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

Rating: Perfectly tasty, but how could it not be, really? Only demerit: The top of both sandwiches stuck to the panini press lid so I had to do some reconstructive surgery. I’ve never had that happen before with the panini press, even when it’s faced direct contact with cheese like in these yummy grilled cheese sandwiches, dubbed the diva of grilled cheese. Next time I think I'll try putting the tomatoes between the ham and cheese layers so the cheese is in direct contact with the top slice to see if the melted cheese can keep the bread on task.

 

This next recipe was so odd I just had to try it. I figured it could be either really good, or really, really not good. Only one way to find out.

Baked ham and cheese sandwiches with mornay sauce

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food November 2003

Ingredients
1½ tablespoons butter
1½ tablespoons flour
½ cup milk
1½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Nutmeg, salt, pepper
3 ounces thinly sliced ham
4 slices bread

Method
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in flour and cook for a minute or two. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir in ½ cup cheese, mustard, a generous sprinkling of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degree oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread sauce on two slices of bread (you’ll probably have extra depending on how large your bread slices are; use common sense and don’t put on the entire thing or you just end up with a sloppy mess that’s oozed out onto the sheet instead of the sandwich). Top with ham and then ¼ cup cheese on each sandwich. Top with remaining bread slice and sprinkle remaining cheese on top of that, pressing in to help it adhere. Place sandwiches on parchment-lined sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Rating: I made this recipe twice, because the first version was disappointing but I wanted to give it more of a fighting chance before giving up on it. I stepped up from a white sauce to a modified mornay sauce, cut back on the amount of sauce I spread on the sandwiches, and the result was a fine enough sandwich. The cheese on top gives it a nice crunchy topping. But really, that sauce is just a gimmick that doesn’t really add as much as it detracts. If you want a souped-up ham and cheese, just make a Monte Cristo or croque monsieur instead.This was more like croque monsieur meets creamed X over Y. It's possible they shouldn't have been introduced.