RB The Ham From Hell

Red Bikes (Won a month in France), Day 5

At our first farmer’s market in Carpentras and I purchased a hunk of jambon fumé the size of my head. This was not intentional. I’d meant to buy a few slivers for lunch, just enough to round out the gruyere and baguette we’d gotten from the cremerie and boulangerie. But a little too much enthusiastic pointing and nodding landed me a 62 Euro ($75) piece of ham which also doubles as a deadly weapon.

Meat miscommunication aside, the market was mind-blowing. Hundreds of stands topped by shaded awnings shelter ceramic crocks of green, black and inexplicably red olives, petite rounds of chevre, hubcapped sized wheels of gruyere, every variety of boiled candy sweets, bread, produce with actual dirt still on it, super-cute pants (which I now wear everywhere because they have a tie waist and allow me to eat!) and classic Provencal tablecloths and linens. We spent the morning wandering through these wonders until our bag got too heavy. Then we bought another bag.

History is everywhere in France. Living in America, it’s easy to think of the past as something you see in a movie or find in a museum. After dropping our new baby (the ham) in the car, we walked down the street, passed through a first century AD Roman triumphal arch, visited a 14th century synagogue and then an “Ancienne Cathedral.” A priest in flowing white robes was standing atop the cathedral steps greeting congregants as we walked in. If it wasn’t for the young couples in shorts and the shops lined with post cards just across the way, we could have been living 500 years ago.

For lunch we settled down in the plaza with cheese and bread, and I began to fantasize about what to do with our ham once we got it home and underneath a knife large enough to cut it. I imagine the rest of our time in France will be marked with croque monsieur and chicken cordon bleu but maybe, just maybe, we can get a bit more creative than that...

Ham Stuffed Endive

3 heads of endive
1 chicken boullion cube
3 ounces of bleu cheese
2 ounces of prosciutto or ham

Bring 2 quarts of water to boil and dissolve a boullion cube in it. Poach the heads of endive for ten minutes. Let the endive cool and carefully peel off the leaves. Using your creative culinary mind, roll the prosciutto or ham & a small piece of cheese up in each endive leaf. Skewer with a toothpick and serve as an appetizer.