I love celebrating Easter, mainly because it means I get to make sandwiches with the leftover ham. This year, I decided to come up with a new sandwich that satisfies all year round.

I had way too much cabbage, but I didn't want to go to the trouble of cooking it, so I came up with the idea of pressing it raw into a panini. Low and behold, it worked. With Swiss cheese, the result was something like an earthier, crunchier Reuben with honey baked ham standing in for the usual salty-sweet combo of corned beef and Thousand Island dressing. To see how I made it and get the recipe, read more.

When assembling, be sure to put the ham down first, then the pickles; on the first try, I put the pickles directly on the bread, which caused tragic sogginess once it hit the panini maker. This sandwich would also probably work in the oven, but I recommend the panini press in order to thoroughly cook the cabbage.

Original recipe

Honey Baked Ham and Cabbage Reuben

Ingredients

1 cup raw cabbage, cut into strips
4 slices wheat bread
4 teaspoons spicy mustard
6 slices Honey Baked Ham or similar
12 sandwich-size bread and butter pickle slices
1 tablespoon salt
2 slices Swiss cheese

Directions

1. Prepare the cabbage: place in a colander and salt generously. Place the colander over a bowl and allow the cabbage to "sweat" for at least one hour or as long as overnight. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Heat a panini press to medium.
3. To make each sandwich, spread 1 teaspoon of the mustard on one slice of bread and cover with ham. Top with 6 pickle slices, followed by half the cabbage.
4. Spread mustard on the second slice of bread, lay swiss cheese over cabbage, and place second slice mustard-side down on cheese.
5. Heat in the panini maker until cabbage is just wilted and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
6. Cut in half and serve immediately.

Makes 2 sandwiches.

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