Food is Food: Sandwiches

Showing posts with label Sandwiches. Show all posts

Guess what?! I cloned myself! (See previous post if you're confused.) Yeah, I cloned myself, and my second self just made me lunch! The best lunch EVER! Well, okay, that didn't really happen, but I was able to time naps perfectly today, which left me with a few hours to make a REAL lunch and hopefully shower (I have a holiday party tonight so if I don't fit the shower in now it will have to be later with ALL of my kids hanging in the bathroom around an iPad).

Anyway, about the sandwich. You know those bags of pre-shredded Brussels Sprouts? I think they're genius, and almost always have one in my fridge (especially this time of year). So for the sandwich... heat a tablespoon of butter or olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat and sauté two tablespoons of chopped onion and three tablespoons of shredded sprouts. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until they're all brown and caramelized. Remove, and place a piece of your favorite bread in the skillet (I of course put more butter on the bread). Add a piece of white cheddar, then the sprouts and onions, then another piece of cheddar and top with bread (more butter). Grill like you would a grilled cheese! Voila! It's really, really good.

Hello Internet People. I'm sorry I've been a little absent, but this has been a busy and emotional week. Therefore, I present to you this scatterbrained post of odds and ends...

Many of you have been curious about the infamous "cookie stacking" Instagram post (infamous, really Siri?). The origin of this layered dough can be found in this recipe for Peanut Butter Honey Cookies. I was instantly intrigued to see if by stacking two blobs of dough on top of each other, the result would be a cookie that spread less, as suggested. Well, perhaps I did something wrong, but my cookies just ended up looking like butts, so... delicious recipe, however. Honey? Peanut Butter? Yes.

Last Thursday I was all set to appear on the Today Show, and you may have caught a glimpse of me even, however, breaking news about the Pope's whereabouts interrupted my segment. Of course, I didn't mind in the slightest, and it was actually very exciting to witness... yet another reminder of how surreal it is to be a small part of a news institution like Today. If you're interested in the recipes I was planning on preparing, you may click here: Buffalo Chicken Dip and Ultimate Queso Dip.

Last night, I was very honored to be a part of the launch of Keurig Kold, a revolutionary new drinkmaker that brews perfectly chilled beverages like Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and so, SO much more. It is available for purchase today on their website... check it out!

And finally, I wanted to repost this recipe in honor of a great woman, Lucy. If you've been following my blog for awhile then you probably know this sandwich, but to have known the woman behind it was something else. The heavens above gained a beautiful soul. Team Lucy forever!

When we were visiting The Voice set over vacation, I discovered something FANTASTIC. My almost-three-year-old PICKY eater will eat tuna salad! You see, television sets are a dangerous, dangerous place for little kids. There are scattered jars of M&M's and jelly beans and gum (so much gum!) and then trays of cookies and bars and sometimes they bring out something called Cookie Pie and serve it with ice cream and I die. Like I said, television sets are dangerous places for grown women who write food blogs. Anyway, I was bribing Etta to eat SOMETHING healthy before she dove into the candy jar, and tuna salad it was. We had tried it at home before, but after eating "The Voice" tuna (weird) I realized what I had done wrong. Mine was too chunky. This was whipped, and fluffy... a spread-like consistency. So when I got home, I decided to put my tuna in the food processor. It was delicious! Some mayo, some garlic salt, fresh lemon juice and salt and pepper...

Now we make Tiny Tuna Melts for the kids on crackers with white cheddar, and grown up versions on sourdough bread with sliced tomato and avocado. I pop both versions under the broiler and watch until the cheese gets bubbly and slightly golden (adding the avocado for the adult sandwiches at the end). You should definitely try the food processor trick for your tuna if you haven't already!

Tuna Salad

(Serves 4-6)

Printable Recipe

12 oz. tuna (I like solid albacore in water)

1/2 cup light mayo

Juice of half a lemon

Garlic salt

Salt and Pepper

Drain tuna, and place in food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Place in bowl, and add mayo and lemon juice. Stir until smooth. Add garlic salt, salt and pepper and taste until desired consistency is reached!

Also, Tuna Avocado Toast and Tuna Casserole

Based on the YouTube comments appearing under the newly posted spring rolls video, lots of people missed the part about this not trying to be a specific recipe, but simply a demo featuring the magic that is damp, rice paper wrappers.

Don’t get me wrong; I love the “authentic” spring rolls I so often order at my friendly, neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant. Loaded with sweet shrimp, and bursting with vermicelli noodles, they are among the most delicious things ever invented.

However, I do reserve the right to soak rice paper wrappers in water, and… (I hope you’re sitting down for this) ...not make those! What you see here is just what I had on hand that day, and the next time I do a batch of these, who the heck knows what they’ll encase. If I have a point, that’s it.

Speaking of soaking in water, many commenters suggested that I dunk these in warm water for just a few seconds to hydrate, instead of the longer dip in cold water. I’ve tried both methods, and had more issues with the warmer/faster approach. They seemed to get too rubbery, too fast, which I found made the rolling harder.

Anyway, to each his own, and that goes for water temperature, filling ingredients, and dipping sauce. By the way, there are no ingredient amounts below, since that’s up to you entirely. You should be able to get “rice paper wrappers” at any large grocery store with an Asian food section, but if not, they’re easily found online. I hope you give these, or something similar, a try soon. Enjoy!

Click here to see our peanut sauce recipe video!

I'm trying to figure out how to start this post, but I'm extremely distracted by my own photo, because even though I just ate exactly what I'm looking at, I WANT ANOTHER. How do you say, this is the best grilled cheese ever? Oh, just like that. THIS IS THE BEST GRILLED CHEESE EVER. Of course, you have to be into the sweet and savory combo, and you have to not care that nothing about this is good for you. Meaning, I don't think bread that is slathered in mayo and cooked in bubbly butter as a vessel for ooey, gooey cheese is diet food. Eat some fruit with it or something, I don't care, just EAT IT. I followed this recipe... and loved how she added the sweet relish after cooking the sandwich on the stove. It kept it cool, which was a nice contrast to the crispy, hot sandwich.

Bread and cheese cooking in bubbly butter... all is right in the world.

You also might like this Grilled Cheese and Pickle Panini

I’ll do a proper pastrami one of these days. Maybe right after I get a smoker. But in the meantime, this pastrami-spiced beef flank steak should do nicely. As with all "cheater" recipes, managing your expectations is key.

You can’t get the texture and color of a real “pastrami” without the curing step, where the meat is soaked in a brine, before being spiced/smoked, but you can get pretty close to the flavor, using the spice rub seen herein.

We’ve used a similar technique to turn plain corned beef into “pastrami,” as well as create a duck Reuben; one of my favorite videos of all time. By the way, the ingredient amounts below have been adjusted slightly, as my spice rub was a tad bit overpowering.

I’ve backed down the black pepper and mustard, but as with all spice amounts, that’s really up to you. If you simply put salt and pepper on a flank steak, and grill it properly, you’ll have something delicious to eat, so keep that in mind as you rub your meat.

I ate mine fresh, but if you let it cool, slice it thin, and warm it up in a pan with a little splash of water, and a tiny pinch of sugar, you’ll have something even more pastrami-like. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

SPECIAL NOTE: I let my meat warm to room temp before grilling, so the inside reaches my desired temp a little quicker, and before the outside spice rub gets too black. Conversely, when grilling a steak, and there's nothing to burn on the surface, I generally like the meat cold, so the outside has plenty of time to sear, before the meat inside is done.

Ingredients for 4 large portions:

1 trimmed beef flank steak (usually 1.5 to 1.75 pounds)

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp kosher salt

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dry mustard
- For best results, cook to a medium. I pulled at about 135 F. internal temp, which will rise to about 140 F. as it rests.

-Serve with slightly sweetened mustard and rye bread

Not only does adding sweet potatoes to a burger bun make it more nutritious, delicious, and significantly more beautiful, but it also presents the perfect opportunity to get pass your flour amount phobia, and finally be able to make dough by feel.

Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from someone whose dough was way too wet, or dry, and I always think the same thing; why would you stop? Some actually tell me they had to throw out the whole batch, which is insane. Your dough’s too wet? Add some flour. Too dry? Add some water.

No matter how exact a recipe is written, you simply can’t go by measurements, volume or weight, and expect perfection. There are too many variables that effect how much flour is needed – like a cup of mashed sweet potatoes, for example.

The best strategy is to not add all the flour at once, and only add enough to achieve the soft, slightly tacky dough seen herein. One of the great advantages of video is being able to see what the dough should look and feel like.

Once you get comfortable with not worrying about exact amounts, but rather exact results, the world of bread opens up to you and your new-found powers. Now, you just need to practice, so with that in mind, I really hope you give these amazing sweet potato buns a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 large, 16 medium, or 32 slider-sized rolls:

For sponge:

1 package (2 1/2 tsp) dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's “RapidRise” Yeast)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup AP flour

Then add:

1 cup mashed orange sweet potato (also sold as yams)

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt

1 large egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 to 3 1/2 cups flour AP flour, as needed to form the right texture dough (see blog post)

- Bake at 400 F. for 15 minutes, or until browned. Large buns may take an extra few minutes, and the sliders-sized may take a minute or two less.

Your classic teriyaki burger is usually nothing more than a plain patty, which has been glazed in teriyaki sauce; and by “teriyaki sauce,” I mean a thick, one-dimensional syrup made from sugar, soy, and MSG. If you’re enjoying your third pint at a sports bar, these work out just fine, but good luck adapting them for your next cookout.

Here we’re using a different, drier approach, and adding the key teriyaki flavorings to the ground meat. This gives us a burger or slider with the taste of teriyaki, without having to deal with a sauce. This recipe should work no matter the cooking method, although a medium-hot charcoal grill would be my preference, weather permitting.

No matter how you grill these, I highly recommend they end up on a homemade sweet potato slider bun. Besides another way to tweak the humble hamburger, this clip was intended to be a sneak preview for some rather amazing buns. We’ll post that sometime Monday, just in case you want to add it to your 4th of July menu. So stay tuned, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients for four (4-oz) burgers:

1 pound ground beef (85/15 lean to fat ratio)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tsp sriracha, or other hot sauce to taste

2 tsp brown sugar

Miniaturized sandwiches don’t usually float my boat, or submarine, as they’re almost always not as good as the full-sized versions, but these mini Philly cheesesteaks really captured everything I love about the classic.

Thinly sliced rib eye is traditionally used, and it’s fried and chopped on the grill, before meeting cheese and bread. Since we’re going to “grill” these in the oven, we’ll use a nice, juicy skirt steak instead, which has a big beefy flavor, and great marbling.

It will brown up around the edges, yet stay moist and tender because of the fat and connective tissue. I also really enjoyed the double shot of the sliced provolone and provolone “cheez whiz,” which provided a great creamy, richness. The peppers and onions brought everything together, and long story short, I ate the whole tray.

This was great hot, warm, and cold, and that alone makes it a perfect choice for your Super Bowl snack spread. Also, stay tuned for the quick and easy pickled pepper and onion relish recipe I mentioned in the clip. I hope you give these mini Philly cheesesteaks a try soon. Enjoy!

Enough for about 48 mini Philly cheesesteaks:

12 ounce skirt steak, or flap meat, or rib eye, or NY Strip

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup of pickled pepper and onion relish (stay tuned for video), OR 1/2 cup of sautéed onions and sweet peppers

*once mixed, be sure to taste and salt the final diced steak mixture!

For the “cheez whiz” sauce:

2 generous tablespoons flour

2 generous tablespoons butter

1 cup cold milk

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cayenne

salt to taste

2 thick slices provolone cheese (about 2 to 3 ounces), torn up

48 slices of baguette

sliced or grated provolone to top the cheesesteaks

Once assembled, bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is browned

Food is Food

Category

Blog Archive

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts Grilled Cheese

Cookie Stacking and Other Things...

Tuna Melts: Big and Small

How to Make Fresh Spring Rolls – Authentic is as Authentic Does

Grilled Cheese with Sweet Relish

Grilled Beef Flank Steak “Pastrami” – Backyard Deli

Sweet Potato Buns – Great for Burgers, and Learning How to Bake Without Fear

Teriyaki Burgers and a Sweet Potato Bun Tease

Mini Philly Cheesesteaks – Winning the Super Bowl Snack Table

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