Cook the Book: Smoked Ham with Avocado and Butter
Avocado adds a great creamy element to sandwiches, and I'm glad to see it in a sandwich that doesn't call for sprouts. I don't understand how anyone eats those threadlike sprouts. I almost gag every time I try them. Plus, they seem suspiciously associated with health. Thankfully, there's just some nice smoked ham and butter here to complement that avocado. Don't you love recipes that only have one step?
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Smoked Ham with Avocado and Butter
- makes 3 to 4 sandwiches -
Adapted from 'wichcraft by Tom Colicchio with Sisha Ortuzar
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 baguette, split lengthwise
8 ounces smoked ham, in thick slices
Procedure
On a plate, season the avocado with a drizzle of oil and salt and pepper to taste. Spread the butter on the bottom slice of the baguette, and top with the avocado and the ham. Close the sandwich, slice into three or four pieces, and serve.
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13 Comments:
I'm so with you on the sprouts. Can't stand them. And did you know that one of most common sources of salmonella infection is bean sprouts? (This is not necessarily because they are more tainted than other veggies, but more likely that they are almost never cooked before serving, so there's little chance of cooking the critters away.) That's why I always ask for pad thai and other dishes that usually come with the little threads with "no sprouts!"
Sounds like a great sandwich -- a lesson in simplicity.
Dee at 2:08PM on 04/07/09
@ dee, but they're usually cooked in "pad thai and other dishes".
the bigger mung bean sprouts used in asian cooking don't bother me, but those little alfalfa sprouts. ick. they're like a wad of hair stuffed in a delicious sandwich.
dmarina at 2:24PM on 04/07/09
This sounds like such a lovely sandwich - smokey ham mingled with creamy avocado can only be a good thing.
DomesticMuse at 2:24PM on 04/07/09
@dmarina -- not in the pad thai I get (or did get) -- they're usually raw and sprinkled on top at the end. And they're usually raw in sandwiches too.
Dee at 2:47PM on 04/07/09
I think the discussion here is over alfalfa sprouts, which are usually found in "healthy" sandwiches, over mung bean sprouts, which are in pad thai. Regardless, neither of those foods are really worth ever eating.
DanielJ at 3:12PM on 04/07/09
Wait, you're supposed to eat those? I thought they were just sandwich filling. . .
In all seriousness though, I use them in my flat bread roulades instead of beansprouts like in a Spring Roll.
I cheat though, I usually pat them into the flavorful spread that holds the roll together so you gain all the health and none of the texture.
Chef Colin at 5:02PM on 04/07/09
I'm so happy to hear of other folks who had an aversion to alfalfa sprouts -- I completely agree. They have some kind of "cleanser"-type of smell to my nose. Overcooked mung bean sprouts do that to me too, but I've figured out in the last few years that if they are on the raw side they are just fine.
newyorker at 5:11PM on 04/07/09
i like both kinds of sprouts. to each his own, i guess.
carriebwc at 6:07PM on 04/07/09
Sounds pretty good, sandwiches are the only place I can stand straight avocado.
I'll probably pick this book up for the name. I want it on my shelf!
Deep9x at 6:57PM on 04/07/09
I only recently discovered the joy of sliced avocado on my sandwiches. Why didn't you all drag me to it a lot sooner? All those years in darkness...
inothernews at 9:02PM on 04/07/09
Another alfalfa hater here...why would I want a bunch of hairy things in my otherwise yummy sandwich? Pass, but extra avodaco please!
leeber at 10:08AM on 04/08/09
Ham with butter? Get out of my way, I'm gonna be sick!
Channa at 11:47AM on 04/08/09
@Channa Make sure you never eat a sandwich in France, then! Personally, I think butter is so much more delicious on most sandwiches than mayo.
Messily at 11:55PM on 04/12/09