Low Carb Ham Sandwich

The humble ham sandwich. I can't count how many times I took one to school, or made one up in the kitchenette at work. Tart it up with some pickled cucumbers, or keep it simple with a little bit of mayonnaise- the traditional hang sangwich is here to stay.

As a child it was always white sliced bread. Sometimes it would be the legendary red and white striped Fields of Skibbereen loaf. In later years it was usually granary or multiseed bread- thinking I was making the right choices. But if you're trying to lose weight or cut back on your sugar, the 'good' bread isn't much better than the 'bad' bread.

(healthy sub with homecooked ham)

Enter Maria from mariamindbodyhealth.com and her brilliant 'healthified' breadroll and sub recipe. I'll usually get 8 rolls from this recipe, which works out to a little over 3g of carbs per roll (using almond flour). She's got all the nutritional information listed clearly on her page anyway so you can do the math pretty easily.

This recipe uses psyllium husk and so is an easy way to get some fibre into your diet. You can pick this up at the Quay CoOp in the city, or order it from amazon. Make sure it's ground very finely- I'll always use an old coffee grinder to make sure it's as fine as can be.

Yesterday, dinner was a joint effort. S knocked out a quick batch of these rolls and I knew exactly what to put in them.

In the weekly shop S had picked up a lovely 1.8kg ham for a little under a fiver. That size ham gave us two good dinner portions and loads left over for snacking/ tomorrow's lunch. What happened next is adapted from my mum's Christmas Eve ham recipe.

Ingredients

1 Pale Ham Fillet

For The Glaze

Sugar-free syrup

Mustard Powder

Cloves

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/360F.

1. Put the ham fillet in a saucepan of cold water and bring it to the boil. Once it's boiled, turn it down to a medium heat and allow to cook for about an hour (about 40 mins per kilo is a good rule of thumb).

2. Take the ham out of the water and allow to rest.

3. Line a baking tin with tinfoil (makes clean-up easier) and place the ham in the centre. Use a sharp knife to make a few small criss-crosses along the fat/ rind on the ham.

4. In a bowl, combine a tablespoon of sugar-free syrup, two teapoons of mustard powder and mix well. Use a pastry brush to paint the glaze along the fat/ rind sides of the ham.

5. Once you have used up all the glaze, stud some cloves into the crosses you made in the fat. Push them in well. I'll usually use about 15 for a medium size ham.

6. Bake (uncovered) for about 20 minutes, until the glaze has turned a lovely dark colour. It should also smell amazing.

7. Once out of the oven, allow to stand for about 5-10 minutes before carving. Here's what mine came out looking like- you can see the glazed rind at the front of the picture:

To serve, stuff a couple of pieces of that lovely ham in one of those 'healthified' rolls. 

I'll usually have mine with a little bit of French's mustard, some mixed leaves and a small bit of grated cheddar. Fabulous!