Cheese & Ham Pastries Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 14 minutes
Makes: 4 Pastries
Ingredients Needed
- Oil spray to prevent rice paper sticking
- 16 rice paper rounds
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 24 slices ham (around 320g/11.3oz)
- 12 slices Swiss cheese (around 240g/8.5oz)
- 40g/1.4oz green onions, sliced
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon butter or oil to fry
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 BRUSH - Spray a clean surface with oil spray. Take 1 rice paper sheet and brush on one side with the beaten egg. Repeat with two other sheets overlapping them over the other. Turn over and brush the other side with beaten egg.
Step 2 ROLL - Brush a little Dijon mustard and honey across the length of the rice paper. Then towards the bottom lay out 6 slices of ham, overlapping but leaving 1/2 gap at each end. Then place three slices Swiss cheese next to each other so that they cover the ham. Sprinkle a quarter of the green onions. Roll up from the bottom to the top so that you get a long snake. Coil up into a round.
Step 3 WRAP - Wipe down surface and spray with oil again. Dip one rice paper sheet in water and place the coil in the centre. When the rice paper is pliable, wrap around the pastry folding it over so that the ends of the coil are firmly wrapped up. Brush one side with egg and sprinkle with poppyseeds. Place on an oiled surface and repeat with the rest to make 4 pastries.
Step 4 PAN FRY - Place a large frying pan with lid on medium heat and add oil or butter. Add the pastries in the pan and place the lid on and cook for 7 minutes. Remove lid, turn over with oiled tongs and fry for another 7 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
Personal Note
Although Mr NQN and I both work from home, we actually end up not really seeing much of each other during the day. I'm working in the kitchen and my office and he is in his office for most of the day. And even at lunchtime I eat lunch on the go while cooking and testing recipes while he eats lunch in his office.
Dinner time is when we have time to catch up. And one night he said to me, "Did you know that I'm learning mandarin?". I don't have a gift for languages so if anyone can speak a second language I am very impressed.
"I'm learning it from Peppa Pig," he added, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
It turns out that it is quite a common thing for people to learn languages via Peppa Pig because the show gets translated into lots of different languages. The show also uses lots of short, grammatically correct sentances and everyday vocabulary and use repetition to help drum those phrases in. Let's see how he goes with learning mandarin using his porcine friend!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever heard that about Peppa Pig? And have you ever tried making pastries using rice paper?