Zo's Pork Heaven

This was taken 5 minutes into the party.  A quick photo snapped with my phone before these became nothing but a figment of everyone's imagination.

A few months ago Boy Toy and I invited some friends over to watch a football game.  We had the standard party fare - his awesome chicken wings, shrimp, cheese and crackers, chips and dip, and one of my favorite party foods, mini ham and cheese rolls.  Half-time hadn't even rolled around when I realized that both pans of rolls were completely gone. There was nothing but a few crumbs left to verify their existence.

I later found out that Boy Toy's best friend Zo was the culprit for hogging all the ham rolls.  I met said friend during the summer and was really excited to do so because I knew he was Boy Toy's BFF but much to my dismay, our first few meetings were less than cordial.  The friend totally ignored me and barely said three words to me all day.   I mentioned it to Boy Toy but was reassured it was nothing to worry about. It happened the next time we saw each other and yet again a third time and so on.  I took it very personally because I wanted nothing more than to be a nice happy group of friends.  I later came to realize that Zo is just....well, he's just an odd person to say it politely, and it's not just me that he totally ignores.

So fast-forward to this party where he scarfed down 48 of my ham rolls before half-time.  It seems that I hit a soft spot within Zo with these rolls. Information was leaked to me by a reliable source that he declared these rolls "pork heaven" and I haven't been able to attend a gathering since that also included him that I wasn't requested to bring these.

So even though Zo still can't bring himself to do more than grunt a greeting to me and it's still not clear what he thinks of me as a person, it's pretty clear that he likes my cooking. Maybe it is true that the way to a man's heart is through is stomach, but it's not his heart that I'm after. A simple "hello" would totally suffice. I do still take it very personally that he is not at least friendly to me, but every time I make these rolls for him I think maybe this will be the time that he breaks down and slips me a smile or something.  I'm beginning to wonder if there are enough dinner rolls in town to make that happen. 

In addition to great party food, these rolls also work well for breakfast or brunch. I usually prepare them the night before and pour the butter mixture over them just before baking. Sometimes the right kind of dinner rolls can be hard to find - I'm only able to find them at Walmart in my neck of the woods.  The recipe as written is enough for 2 packages of rolls but you can easily cut the recipe in half.  They are good and they will go fast!  If you want to be all fancy pants, I suppose you could take these out of the foil pans and bake them in a baking dish and then serve them on a nice platter but I like the fact that they have their own built-in baking/serving dish and you don't have to worry about accidently leaving your nice stuff at the party (guilty as charged!)

These are my favorite kind of dinner rolls to use.

Mini Ham and Cheese Rolls

20 slices honey ham
20 slices cheese (Swiss, mozzarella or provolone)
Dijon Mustard, to taste
2 Tablespoons poppyseeds
1 stick butter, melted
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Remove dinner rolls from foil package.  With a serrated knife, slice rolls in half lengthwise.  Spread Dijon mustard on both sides of rolls.  Place bottom half of rolls back into pan. 

Layer ham and cheese on bottom half of rolls and replace top half.  Using the serrated knife, cut each roll into individual sections, taking care not to cut through the foil pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the poppy seeds and next 3 ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops are golden brown.