Ham and Cheese Roll-ups

I feel a confession coming on…Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been 18 days since my last cooking session.

I don’t know if it was the hangover from the holidays, or the madness of trying to get back into a routine, but I just could not get it together for the life of me to sit, plan and attack another recipe. Until I found this one.

Recipe #622: Rollitos de Jamón y Queso

Three ingredients? Only three ingredients – this was surely the one to get me back in The Project again. I never knew Nitza even found it acceptable to have a recipe with anything less than seven ingredients.

When I was little, I remember my grandmother used to make rollitos de jamón y queso for me as my merienda (after-school snack), but they were always just rolled up ham and American cheese. When I read that this recipe had cream cheese and Roquefort (I used Publix Blue Cheese because I couldn’t find Roquefort specifically that day) inside the ham, I was sold. This was like a grown-up merienda.

You mix the room temperature cream cheese and half the container of the blue cheese together until you get a smooth paste. You spread the cheese mix on deli-sliced ham (I used two ham slices at a time because I typically get thin sliced ham) and you roll the ham into a roll. You wrap the rolls with parchment paper and you put it in the fridge for at least two hours.

When ready, you unwrap the rolls from the parchment paper and you slice them, sushi style. You can eat them alone, or on top of a saltine cracker. But I must warn you, if you’re watching your calories, take one and run away. This is one addictive treat. And for those of you that aren't blue cheese fans, something happens when you blend it with the cream cheese that really softens the blue cheese tang.

I took them to the office in a Tupperware container and they held up at room temperature for a good part of the workday. It wasn’t long before word had gotten out that I had samples from The Project and there were plenty of taste testers involved. Before the day was done, all forty pieces were gone. Make this for your next party and let me know how it goes. Real easy and real good.