Umami Cooking

Still meaty with a dash of veggies, but better.

Crispy ham and cheese bread rolls

Trimmed and flattened bread slices are filled with ham and cheese, rolled, dipped in egg, covered with panko and deep fried for ten seconds. A fast and lovely snack to put you in a good mood.
Crispy ham and cheese bread rolls
Bread / quick bread+ Pork recipe
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 1 minute
Chilling 30 minutes
Total: 41 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Course: Snack
Cuisine: International
Label: Leftover Christmas ham
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Connie’s notes

It is a variation of the pepperoni and cheese French toast roll-ups in the archive. There are three differences though:
  1. Salty ham instead of pepperoni is used here.
  2. The cheese is aged cheddar, not Monterey Jack.
  3. Panko forms the outermost coating for added crisp.
Is this recipe better than the older one? I like them both, to be honest. Omitting panko makes the prep easier and faster, but I have to admit that the added texture and bulk that panko provides has its appeal.
The cook time below says one minute because there is no option in the recipe plugin to set it to 10 seconds which is really the accurate cooking time. The cooking time really is 10 seconds. If you cook the rolled bread in two batches, then make that 20 seconds.
To serve the fried rolled bread, you will want to cut them into bite-sized pieces. To make neat cuts and to avoid squishing the bread, use kitchen shears instead of a knife.

Equipment

  • 12 wooden / bamboo toothpicks

Ingredients

  • 6 slices loaf bread crusts cut off
  • 3 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
  • 6 slices ham
  • 150 grams aged cheddar (about 5 oz) cut into thick fingers
  • cooking oil for deep frying
  • 1 large egg beaten
  • 1½ cups panko

Instructions

  • Flatten each slice of bread with a rolling pin.
    Flattening bread and smearing with butter
  • Smear one side of each slice with softened butter.
  • Place a slice of ham on the buttered side, top with a piece of cheese, then roll to seal. Repeat until all the bread slices have been filled and rolled.
    Filling a bread slice with ham and cheese
  • Place the rolled bread on the plate, cover with cling film and cill for 30 minutes (up to overnight).
    Filled and rolled flattened bread
  • Start heating the oil in a frying pan or wok.
  • Roll each piece of bread in egg then cover with panko.
    Coating rolled bread in egg and panko
  • Secure each rolled bread with toothpicks.
    Ham and cheese filled bread coated in egg and panko
  • Drop the bread rolls into the hot oil, count five seconds, roll them over, count another five seconds and scoop out.
    Frying ham and cheese filled bread
  • Pull out the toothpicks and discard.
  • Cut the bread into thick slices and serve immediately.
    Crispy ham and cheese bread rolls
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