For many of us, the days after Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a seemingly never-ending supply of leftover-ham sandwiches for lunch. Delicious, yes. But repetitive. Enter the Christmas-ham toastie, a little more decadent than your average sanga and with as many possible variations as there are leftovers.
Take this version, by Melbourne fromagerie Maker & Monger in collaboration with premium outfit G McBean Family Butcher. It’s compiled with a trifecta of cheeses: gouda, Comté and cheddar, and turns the flavour factor up to 10 with smudges of Dijon mustard, a black cherry jam glaze and buttery leeks.
Live in Melbourne and can’t wait until after Christmas? Or just want to check out how the experts put together a toastie? You can pick one up at Maker & Monger’s Prahran Market stall, where they’ll be available as part of a for two weekends only: December 16 and 17, and December 23 and 24.
Maker & Monger uses L’Amuse Signature gouda and Marcel Petite Reserve Comté.
Maker & Monger x G McBean glazed ham toastie
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
100g gouda, grated
100g salted butter, room temperature
8 slices sourdough tin loaf bread
50g butter, chopped
3 white stems of leek, finely chopped
Dijon mustard
200–300g sliced leftover Christmas ham (Maker & Monger uses G McBean Family Butcher glazed ham), cut no thicker than ½ cm
300g Comté, grated coarsely
300g cheddar, grated coarsely
1 jar black cherry jam, or leftover ham glaze
Pinch Murray River pink salt
Method:
In a bowl, fold the grated gouda through the butter with a fork until it’s mixed well. Spread your butter and gouda mixture on one side of each slice of sourdough, then place bread on a chopping board, butter-side down. Set aside.
In a frying pan, melt 50g of butter on low–medium heat. Once melted, add leek and cook down until the leek is translucent and soft (3–5 minutes). Once ready, place your cooked leeks into a bowl and set aside.
Now it’s time to start assembling. With your slices of sourdough bread lined up on a chopping board, brush 4 of the 8 slices with Dijon mustard on the non-buttered side. Place 50–100g of glazed ham on top.
Add Comté and cheddar to the leeks and mix until well combined. Put approximately 150g of this mixture on the remaining 4 slices of bread that don’t have the Dijon mustard and ham. Then pair each slice of bread with the Comté, cheddar and leek mix with a slice with Dijon and ham to make sandwiches, then wrap in baking paper.
To toast, if you’re using a sandwich press, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to heat. When the press is ready, place your sandwich in and lightly press down to close. Otherwise, cook in a frypan.
Cook for 3–5 minutes until the outside is golden brown and the cheese has melted. A minute before the toastie is ready, carefully lift the baking paper up and glaze the top of the toastie with a brush of cherry jam or leftover ham glaze.
When the toastie is ready, cut it in half, add a good sprinkle of Murray River pink salt on top and serve immediately.
