LARISSA ARNAULT (Nashville, Tennessee) is originally from Searcy, Arkansas. Her Mamaw Lucy was LUCY HARRIS of Weir, Mississippi. Larissa shares that “Mamaw Lucy was certainly the matriarch of our family, as many Southern grandmothers are. I would go to her house in the morning, and before I left that afternoon, she had made my doll a detailed dress, complete with smocking. She took time to do things that mattered the right way, but she didn’t waste time being extravagant for no reason. I also remember all of the women of our family (four generations) gathering around her TV each day for lunch to watch Days of Our Lives. Mamaw Lucy was a spiritual influence as well, and I vividly remember a print that hung in her kitchen called Daily Bread of a man praying at the dinner table.” Larissa adds that they always had these rolls at holidays, made with ham that was left over from the main meal.
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 packages (12 rolls in each) dinner rolls in tin pans
6 square slices Swiss cheese (quartered to make 24 small squares)
6 square slices pasteurized processed cheese, Cheddar, or American cheese (quartered to make 24 small squares)
24 pieces thinly sliced ham (folded into 2 × 2-inch pieces)
1 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2 In a medium skillet, melt the butter. Then add the mustard, poppy seeds, onion, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer on low to medium heat until the onion is transparent.
3 Remove the dinner rolls from the pan as one sheet and slice, placing the bottom half back into the tin pan they came in. Spread the mustard mixture on the rolls and layer the cheese slices and ham on top. Place the top sheet of the rolls on top and cover with foil.
4 Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the rolls are heated through. Serve warm.
MAKES 24 SERVINGS.