I wish I could tell you it’s been too hot for real cooking and that I’ve been making salads and cold appetizers like this to avoid heating up the kitchen, but the truth is that I was cooking up a storm last Saturday. Besides maybe going to the beach, it was way too hot to enjoy the outdoors. Well, it was too hot for me, so I stayed indoors with the A/C cranked up and had some fun. At least this dish was a cool one. The recipe for these pecan-cream cheese stuffed ham rolls comes from Pig: King of the Southern Table by James Villas, one of my favorite books.
Fortunately I had some pecans in the house left over from a batch of Homesick Texan’s chocolate-pecan chewies I’d made recently.
The recipe feels like a cheat because it’s yummy but so easy. You mix up the pecans with room temperature cream cheese, a bit of heavy cream (just to moisten things up), and cayenne. Then you chop up two slices of the ham that you’re going to use in the next step and mix that in. I have to imagine the variations on this are nearly limitless. You could go more or less spicy, or maybe a little sweeter. Perhaps sliced turkey instead of ham. Walnuts would work well. I wonder about capers or chopped olives?
The mixture gets spread on slices of ham. There’s no need to worry about making it pretty for this step…
because once you roll them up, they look pretty much perfect no matter what you do. Finally you chill them for an hour or two to firm up the filling and to make them a little easier to slice before serving with tooth picks. A great make-ahead dish. I bet they’d be nice with deviled eggs on the side.
A great summer appetizer! I agree that some deviled eggs would be a perfect pairing
i’ll have to plan for that next time
This would be perfect for a summer get together!
definitely
I love James Villas! And these look wonderful. Perfect for this weather too.
i really love every James Villas recipe i’ve ever tried
He has two that I am trying to work up the guts to try: The fried brains and eggs dish, and turtle soup. With real turtles.
I think I might manage the brains better than the turtles. Is that strange? I just have trouble with the idea of eating reptiles!
That looks fantastic! In Malaysia it’s hot all year round so I’ve gotten used to cooking and eating in a hot climate. It only gets a little tricky when I have a bowl of soup that’s spicy at the same time.
But…. I shall get myself some ham and cream cheese nonetheless!
well, isn’t eating spicy food good to cool you down?
If you are referring to the aftermath of sweating then maybe.
Ha, yes, maybe that’s what people mean when they say spicy food is good for keeping cool.
Perfect. I had to make something for a building picnic last night and even potato salad was too hot to do (but I did it– even with no ac in the kitchen). This would have been perfect. I think Villas is a genius. I’ve been making his pickles for 20 years.
oh really? i don’t think i’ve ever made one of his pickle recipes.
I love this. I spent all weekend rolling pimiento cheese up in ham. All weekend.
that sounds tasty
Very nice… be good with very thin Prosciutto too