With almost childish excitement I spotted a nice piece of goose prosciutto, a typical winter treat which couldn’t have found its way into my shopping basket at a better time. This Sunday will be the first Advent, the official start of all of my little christmassy traditions which I follow obsessively. Setting up the tree, baking lots of cookies and consuming more warm alcoholic beverages than I normally would are just some of them. Duck, goose and venison are to be found in my kitchen more often as well, another one of my seasonal habits.

Although it’s not December yet (or Advent), with today’s sandwich I welcome the time of joy and festive savouring. I start with a sandwich that combines the caramelized fruitiness from sour apples cooked in sugary butter with thyme and bay leaf with the smokey aroma of goose prosciutto. The meat is dark red with a strong smokey flavour, a bit too strong for my taste but still good. Its tenderness is topped with a thick layer of goose fat, you have to cut the slices really thin to enjoy it. It’s the same with duck prosciutto (which would also be fabulous on this sandwich) or smoked salmon, they should always be sliced as thinly as possible. At first, I wasn’t sure if this wintery composition between two slices of a French country loaf needed a further addition, but after the first bite I came to the conclusion that it’s all good!

Goose Prosciutto and Bay Leaf Apple Sandwich

For 2 sandwiches you need

white bread 2-4 slices (if you want a closed sandwich)
goose or duck prosciutto, very thinly sliced, 80g / 3 ounces
large sour apple, peeled, cored and thickly sliced, 1
butter 2 tablespoons
sugar 2 tablespoons
small bay leaf (stalk removed), chopped finely into tiny crumbs, 1
fresh thyme leaves 2 tablespoons

Melt the butter and sugar in a pan on high temperature, when it’s golden brown, add the apples, bay leaf and 1 tablespoon of thyme. Cook the fruit quickly for 1-2 minutes on both sides until golden and caramelized. Spread the apples and their juices on 2 slices of bread and put a few slices of the meat on top. Sprinkle with thyme.