Sweet & Spicy Grilled Ham & Cheese

Today’s post is a twofer. It’s a good use of leftover ham AND a twist on grilled ham and cheese. Did you know that this month is Grilled Cheese Month? As a member of Cabot’s Cheese Board, the folks over at Cabot Cheese send me goodies every now and then. I recently got a nice box of cheesy goodness, just in time for Grilled Cheese Month.

What to do? What to do? And then it hit me in the middle of the night. I’m serious. I got up around 3am last night to, well, visit the ladies room pee and this grilled cheese sandwich came to mind. Here’s what was running through my head ‘I’m kinda hungry. I should go get a piece of that leftover ham. No, I better not. It can wait until tomorrow. You know what would be good? A grilled cheese sandwich with some leftover ham and jalapeno jelly on it. Yup. Maybe I’ll make that in the morning.’

To me a perfect grilled cheese sandwich is made of the following components:

• Good bread, toasted with a nice crust, but not so crunchy that it cuts the roof of your mouth.
• Melty cheese. Not too much but enough to get that stringy effect.
• Meat is good but not a big slab of meat that slides out of the sandwich when you go to take a bite. That’s just downright annoying.
• A twist. Adding something different, like a chutney, special mustard or spread gives an everyday sandwich that little something special.

For my sandwich I used whole grain bread, some of my homemade jalapeno jelly, leftover ham cut into cubes (important!) and two cheeses – Cabot Monterey Jack and Seriously Sharp Cheddar.

The ingredients for my sandwich: Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar – because I love cheddar but find it’s a little grainy and oily when melted; Cabot Monterey Jack because it has the melting quality I like in a grilled cheese sandwich and would complement the cheddar.

Spread a thin layer of jalapeno jelly on each piece of bread. Grate enough cheddar to cover one slice. Trim the ham of any fat or other bits you don’t want in your sandwich. Think of it like you’re adding bacon bits to your sandwich. It’s a lot easier to take a bite and get a little bit of ham with each bite instead of a big hunk of ham that can slide out of your sandwich.

Grate some Cabot Montery Jack on top. The Kitchen IQ extra coarse grater worked perfectly for this.

Put your sandwich together and butter both sides of the bread. Toast in a non-stick pan over medium heat. See how the two cheeses melt together and there are little bits of ham in there?

See how nice and stringy the cheese is??? By the way, the other end of the cheese is in my mouth. Seriously! (And, yes, that IS a chocolate Easter bunny in the background.)

So if you’ve got some leftover ham hanging around, I strongly encourage you to dice it up and make this grilled cheese sandwich. You won’t be sorry!