Pastries in Ireland
The food in Ireland was lots of meat and potato type things, which honestly we got a little tired of after a week, but the one thing I almost cried over leaving was the pastries. Like so many countries in Europe, corner markets, bustling cafes, and friendly street carts are full of fresh pastries every morning. One we fell in love with, is the Jambon. Ironically, in Ireland I think these have a reputation for being junk food- the kind of thing you could find in the hot counter at every gas station, but I imagined an American-ized version with puff pastry. There’s nothing surprisingly new about these- it’s simply ham and cheese wrapped up in a flaky soft pastry, but man they were good. I noticed the Irish versions tended to have a bit of a white sauce involved as well, but we made ours simply with ham and cheese and they were delicious! These make a great snack, breakfast or brunch, appetizer, or game-day food. They can be prepped and frozen, eaten warm or cold, and easily re-heated. It’s a great (and EASY) recipe to have up your sleeve!
How to Make Jambons
The beauty of this recipe is in the simplicity. 3 ingredients, people! A package of puff pastry- and if you’ve never used that before it’s found in the freezer section of the grocery store, cheese, and ham.
Irish Cheese
Now obviously I went straight for Irish cheese. Check the deli area and look for Kerrygold; Dubliner is a great option as it has a wonderful flavor and melts well. You can definiltey just use any type of cheese you like, but I do love a good Irish cheese!
I either buy a pack of ham steaks, or simply go to the deli counter and ask them to cut you a couple slices that are about 1/4″ thick, which you can cube up at home. Definitely cut them tiny, that’s part of the beauty here.
Assembling Jambons
I roll out my puff pastry just a bit larger than it naturally is. You’ll want to cut square shapes so do that geometry in your head and make sure you’ll get even squares. I prefer 6 squares per sheet for breakfast/brunch/snack size, or you can do 9 squares if you’d like small, appetizer size ones. Be generous when you fill them, especially with the cheese. That dough is going to puff up and increase and you want to have a nice creamy center to bite into. I form little mounds on top so they can melt down.
Then you’ll just take the edges and pinch them shut like this (you might notice I’m showing a smaller size on this photo below). Give them a quick brush of egg wash before they go into the oven. They can also go into the freezer at this point! You can freeze them pre or post bake if you’d like to prep ahead for something.
When they puff up in the oven, the tops that you pinched together come apart, and that’s okay! That’s actually what’s supposed to happen. You want them puffed and golden brown- but don’t overcook because then they’ll be crispy instead of flaky and soft.
I like the bottoms just a bit soft, so you crunch into those flaky layers and meet a pile of creamy gooey cheese and salty little bites of ham.
These are great for a party or brunch because you can prep them and keep them in the fridge and then bake them right before serving. You can also re-heat really easily in the oven, but they’re great at room temperature, too!
Try these out and let me know what you think. It may not be the same as a trip to Ireland, but you can at least experience the pastries!
