Grilled Pesto, Ham and Provolone Sandwiches

New Year's week. Quiet. The kids and I stayed home. We ate leftover ham three days running. Nora invented a thing where you put ham on a saltine and call it a sandwich. Liam ate twelve.

I did not make resolutions. I do not believe in them. I made a small list in my notebook of things I am moving toward in 2026 — finish the move to the parish kitchen for Kettle, get Liam through second grade with confidence, get Nora through kindergarten with her stubbornness intact, keep showing up to group, keep going to Ma's on Sundays, keep making the pancakes Saturday. Nothing fancy. Nothing new. The list is the same list it always is. The doing is the resolution.

I called Meghan at eleven on New Year's Eve from my couch. She was on her own couch. Brian had taken the kids to her parents'. She had a glass of wine. I had tea. We talked for an hour. We did not say anything important. We never have to.

The kids saw the ball drop on TV. Liam made it to midnight. Nora made it to ten. They both slept until ten the next morning. New Year's Day was pancakes (burned the first one, the year-flip pancake), then a long lazy afternoon, then black-eyed peas at Ma's because Ma is superstitious. I am also superstitious. We ate the peas.

Group Tuesday. New Year's Eve was Wednesday so the Tuesday group was the last day of the old year. Bernadette had us name something we wanted to leave behind. I said the version of myself that thought 2025 would be easier than 2024. Bernadette laughed. She said welcome to grief math. I said yes. The room nodded.

Wednesday Kettle: first cook at the parish kitchen. The space is bigger. I felt small in it for the first hour. Then I got going. Eight quarts because it was new and I was figuring out the burners. Father Murphy came down and asked if I needed anything. I said burners that work. He laughed. They worked. They were just unfamiliar.

Saturday pancakes. Burned the first. Year flips. Ritual holds.

Sunday: leftover black-eyed peas. Ham bone in the soup. Ma was on the phone with Patrick most of the meal because Sean III had a fever. He is fine. Three-year-olds get fevers.

Food of the week: black-eyed peas with ham. The superstition. I keep it.

We ran that ham all week — sliced, on saltines, in the soup pot with Ma’s black-eyed peas — and I don’t regret a single iteration of it. If you’ve got ham left over from the holidays and you’re looking for one last good use before you move on, this is it: a grilled pesto, ham and provolone sandwich that takes about fifteen minutes and tastes like you actually tried. Nora called it a “fancy saltine.” I’ll take it.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 8 min | Total Time: 18 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 slices sturdy sandwich bread or Italian bread
3 tablespoons prepared basil pesto
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
3/4 lb deli ham, thinly sliced
4 slices provolone cheese
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Instructions

Mix the spread. In a small bowl, stir together the pesto and mayonnaise until combined. Set aside.
Assemble the sandwiches. Lay out all 8 bread slices. Spread the pesto-mayo mixture on one side of each slice. Layer the ham evenly across 4 slices, then top each with a slice of provolone. Close the sandwiches with the remaining bread, spread-side in.
Butter the outside. Mix the softened butter with garlic powder if using. Spread lightly on the outer faces of each sandwich.
Grill. Heat a skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Cook sandwiches 3–4 minutes per side, pressing gently with a spatula, until the bread is golden and the cheese is melted.
Serve. Cut in half and serve immediately. Good with a simple green salad or a cup of soup.

Nutrition (per serving)

Grilled Pesto, Ham and Provolone Sandwiches — The Ham That Kept Giving All Week