Richmond

Tonight's race is in Richmond, VA. I couldn't find any specific dishes for Richmond, so I looked at recipes from the state of Virginia. I do know that ham is extremely traditional in Virginia. I found a website that has Colonial Williamsburg dishes, and the Ham and Cheese sounded great to me! The description is: Sugar-cured ham and cheddar cheese on a pretzel roll with stone gound mustard, red pepper relish, and vegetable chips. I looked up recipes for Bavarian pretzel rolls, and found an awesome on here. The rolls are a little involved, but they taste so good! When the menu said the sandwich is served with vegetable chips, I wasn't exactly sure what kind it meant, so I just picked up some vegetable chips from the snack aisle. The red pepper relish recipe was on the website, I quartered the recipe. I used German stone ground mustard, which had little bits of whole mustard seed in it. This mustard adds a real punch, and tastes great on any sandwich. Please enjoy this delicious, historic meal!

Ham and Cheese on a Pretzel Roll with Red Pepper Relish

2 pretzel rolls (recipe to follow)

1/4 lb. sugar or honey ham

1/4 lb. white cheddar, sliced

1 cup red pepper relish (recipe to follow)

4 tbsp. stone ground mustard

Red Pepper Relish:
(makes 1 quart)
1 cup corn syrup
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ cup vinegar
4 cups red bell peppers, cored and diced
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
In a large saucepan, combine the corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, pepper, salt, and cloves and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the peppers and onion, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill thoroughly before serving.

Bavarian Prezel Rolls:
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons warm milk
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cups flour
kosher salt
1/2 cup baking soda


In a small bowl if using a bread machine, or in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix a 1/3 cup of the warm water (105-115 degrees) with the yeast and let stand until foamy.
Add the remaining cup of warm water along with milk, sugar & melted butter and swirl to dissolve the sugar. (If using a bread machine add mixture to bread machine at this point and continue). Add flour and mix on dough cycle or med-low speed. Remove dough from bread machine once it forms a nice a firm, pliable dough ball. Add more flour if necessary.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured table and knead for 2 minutes. Roll into a 2 foot long log and cut into 12 even pieces. Cover dough with plastic and a damp cloth and let sit for 10 minutes. Pat dough into rolls or form knots and arrange on a lightly floured surface about an inch apart and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let the pretzels rest for an additional 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425°. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets.
In a large stockpot, bring the cold water to a rolling boil and add baking soda.
Drop two rolls into the boiling water and boil for no more then 30 seconds, turning once. Carefully remove with tongs or slotted spoon and hold above pot and let drain. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat with the remaining rolls.
Arrange rolls on the oiled baking sheets and bake on the upper and middle racks of the oven for about 8-10 minutes, or until browned all over; shift pans from top to bottom and back to front halfway through, for even baking.
Let rolls cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

(carb lover's heaven...)