Jambon Formage Tartines....What?

The open-faced French sandwich known as the tartine may sound sophisticated, but it happens to be the fastest method we know to produce dinner-worthy sandwiches for a crowd.  With an assembly line of halved baguettes and whatever fillings you desire, you can prepare 20 linear feet of tartine in no time flat.  Accompanied by a hearty salad and a platter of fruit, it's a lovely, light summer dinner.

The jambon formage tartine is an open-faced ham and cheese sandwich made more interesting by the additions of cured ham and fig jam. The recipe we adapted from Gourmet magazine calls for Manchego cheese, but we improvised with a classic Swiss for reasons of economy.  Fig spread is commonly found alongside the jams and preserves or next to the specialty cheese case in a well-stocked grocery store. The unique flavor is perfect with ham and makes this sandwich something special.  For the main ingredient, we found culatello (a close cousin of proscuitto) in the deli case at Costco and made the splurge, but a good quality, thinly shaved ham would make a fine substitute, as well.  

JAMBONE FORMAGE TARTINES

Makes 48 large sandwiches

• (24) 4" long demi-baguettes, split lengthwise (each half will make one tartine)*
• 16oz fig preserves 
• 1 lb (4 quarters) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 60 oz thinly sliced serrano, proscuitto, culatello or good-quality deli ham
• 48 slices of good-quality swiss cheese
• extra-virgin olive for drizzling
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange halved baguettes, cut side up, on XL sheet pans.  

Combine butter and fig preserves in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Using a spatula, spread a generous layer of fig spread on the cut side of each baguette.  

Divide sliced ham and cheese evenly among the sandwiches (finishing with the cheese on top).  Prepare cheese sandwiches without ham for those who don't eat pork as required.  Drizzle each sandwich with olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  

Bake sandwiches for 10+ minutes or until cheese has melted and baguettes have become crispy at the edges.  Serve warm sandwiches immediately. 

*If you can't find demi-baguettes, you can easily substitute full-sized baguettes.  This is actually the more authentic way to make tartines.   Plan on a serving size of 4-6" per person per person depending on the girth of your bread. 

BLT SALAD

Serves 36 generously

• 6 hearts of Romaine, sliced into 1/2" thin strips
• 32 oz good-quality, nitrate-free bacon
• 2-3 lbs vine-ripened or farmer's market tomatoes, cut into eighths
• 16 oz blue cheese dressing
• 16 oz wedge of blue cheese, crumbled 
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 degees. 

Slice romaine hearts perpendicular to the leaves to get 1/2" thin ribbons.  Soak chopped lettuce in cool water until well washed and shake dry in a colander.  Slice tomatoes into eighths and drain off excess seeds and juice.  Break blue cheese into small crumbles and set aside.

Arrange bacon slices on a sheet pan with plenty of space between slices.  When oven is warm, cook bacon until just underdone.  Remove pan from oven and carefully pour off rendered bacon fat into a heat-safe bowl.  Return pan to oven and cook until bacon is very crisp being careful not to burn.  Remove bacon from pan and allow to rest on paper towel until cool to the touch.  Once cooled, break or roughly chop bacon into bite sized pieces.

About ten minutes before serving, toss lettuce with tomatoes, dressing and crumbled cheese.  Season well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.   Just before serving, top salad with crumbled bacon, reserving a serving or two of salad as required for those who don't eat pork. Serve immediately.


FRESH FRUIT
For dessert, serve 8lbs whole strawberries, freshly washed on a large platter.  If cherries are available, 1-2 lbs of fresh cherries are also a welcome addition.