Grilled Portabello Mushroom Sandwich with Basil Mustard Sauce

This is a recipe from the spa cuisine collection of SpaIndex.com: Guide to Day Spas and Stay Spas and was created in connection with the mustard festival held every year in Napa Valley.

The recipe is easy, fast, and rich -- it has an intense taste which is necessary when you are counting calories. As the recipe states, only a tiny bit of the sauce is needed or it's too rich. I used about a tablespoon on my sandwich and although it was delicious, it was too much and I scraped some off. The thin schmear was much better.

I like the idea of using small mushrooms and buns as "mushroom sliders" but for my version, I had a large portabello and a ciabatta roll, so I used those.

This is also an easy but thoughtful sandwich to make for vegetarians which will come in handy this holiday season when everyone else is eating leftover turkey sandwiches. Grill some mushrooms and set them aside for your vegetarian guests so you can make this for them day after Thanksgiving.

Get the entire recipe and tips by clicking the link above. This is my synopsis:

1 mushroom cap, brushed with garlic olive
1 bun, brushed with garlic olive
1 tablespoon of mayo
Splash of lemon juice
Dab of Dijon mustard
handful of chopped basil
salt, pepper, and cayenne

Grill bun and mushroom 4 min each side until cooked. Mix remaining ingredients, top bun with basil mustard sauce, and serve.

Turkey, Stuffing and Apple Cranberry Butter Sandwiches

Well, this sure turned out tasty! It's your basic turkey-stuffing-cranberry sandwich you see on every menu around the holidays (and maybe even in your own home), but what surprised me was the cranberry condiment.

I had sliced, roasted turkey from my freezer to use up, and I was hankering for a sage-y savory taste. I had a box of stuffing mix in the pantry to use up (I'm really going great guns with my clear-the-pantry project in March), so I made a batch of simple Stove-Top stuffing (hey, I'm not proud) to which I added a great deal more poultry seasoning, and as soon as it was finished cooking, I molded it into a buttered loaf tin and chilled it. Later, I was able to slice very thin slices of this stuffing for sandwiches.

With the first sandwich, I had just a teaspoon left of cranberry relish, but I wanted more cranberry flavor, and I remembered I had a jar of Trader Joe's Apple Cranberry Butter. So, I used two frozen (and now used up) slices of Alquonquin Molasses bread, toasted and then spread with mayo, a quick shake of poultry seasoning on the mayo, a thin slice of savory stuffing, a schmear of apple-cranberry butter, and then the sliced turkey. A quick shake of salt and pepper later, and this was heavenly.

The flavors were perefect, and so was the really tart and tangy cranberry apple butter -- I liked it a great deal more than regular apple butter. I made this sandwich all week for lunch.

Use it Up Points:

Freezer: Roasted turkey; Bread (last of this frozen bag)

Pantry: A box of stuffing mix; spices, a jar of apple cranberry butter;

Pot Roast French Dip Burritos

Sounds odd, doesn't it? I add additional pot roast slices to use, and some Au Jus, and a French Dip came to mind.

No buns, however. Ironically, I have not not purchased store-bought bread products since I joined the Bake Your Own Bread Movement (see my BYOB category for details) in January, and, I've made 12 loaves of bread, crackers, croutons and buns -- but I didn't have any bread for a French Dip sandwich. Fail.

What I did have, however, was a packet of raw tortilla dough. The only pantry items I have to use up from my pre-BYOB period is a package of raw tortillas, a frozen bag of mini sesame seed rolls, and several boxes of frozen mini Croissant dough from Trader Joe's. Nothing will convince me to make my own croissants from scratch, so, BYOB or not, those are sticking around.

Anyway, I digress. These paper thin dough sheets are just quickly toasted on a dry skillet to puff up and brown, and make for a fast and fresh tortilla. I toasted the tortilla dough in the pan until it was browned, and set it aside. I quickly sauteed leftover pot roast until it was toasty, and then added a scoop of mashed potatoes to the pan, and swirled those around until they were hot and pretty brown from the pot roast scrapings.

I spread the potato thinly on the tortilla, layered the pot roast on top of that, and then heated the au jus for dipping.

It's actually a lot tastier than it looks and it used up more leftovers. I'm on a mission! A mission, I tell you. I've reached a point where the more space I clear in my freezer, pantry and fridge, the happier I am. I think I just reached Grocery Saturation, and considering I often grocery shop for entertainment (nothing excites me more than the "new" counter at Trader Joe's -- how pitiful is that?), that's saying something.

Chores, Drawers and More

I had one of those busy kitchen-task oriented days this weekend. I got some energy and tackled many niggling organization problems which were bothering me, and as I was in the kitchen, whipped up some basics for the coming weeks.


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Chiefly, I organized my Bento Lunch supplies. I’m am avid lunch packer and use of several different types of Japanese styled lunch boxes. Some thermal, some not, some large, some small. When I was new to the Bento Hobby, which I adopted after following the wonderful Mr. Bento Group on Flickr (and related Bento Box groups) I naturally went hunting for every type of accessory and cutesy tool I could find. As time has passed, I find I rely on my tried and true boxes, and, as I’m packing for myself and no children, I don’t find I use many of the cutesy decorating or garnishing tools – my lunches are colorful and varied and usually healthy and that’s good enough for me.

I wanted my extra supplies, many of them new and unused to go to a bento-packing mother who was hopefully new to the hobby and enthused about waste-free lunches for her child. Biggie of Lunch in a Box to the rescue! This Bento Packing Queen, who receives a great deal of press for her lunch packing skills and tips, digitally introduced me to a new bento enthusiast here in my city, who will be the benefactress of my extra supplies.

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Next, I prepared for my year of BYOB. I need to be prepared for bread making as an organized science. This means not hunting for the yeast, the gluten, that little box of cornstarch, and darn it, where is the baking powder? One complete shelf was organized with all baking supplies, including flours, rising agents, and more. Hooray for the 99 Cent Store and its wealth of plastic containers. I have the new Artisan Bread in 5 book, but I wouldn't even open it and enjoy reading it until I’d organized my bread making pantry. Done, except for one thing. I need to head over to Smart and Final and get a food service plastic bin for my fridge for my basic starter dough. I’ve seen those over and over and I want one.

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Next, I dealt with some leftover ham. I made Alton Brown’s City Ham on Saturday because Kat’s version looked so darn good. I am but a solo diner here, so I couldn’t make the whole hog (no pun intended), even though ham (well -- any pork) is my favorite sandwich meat. I just followed the method for making just a small boneless ham (not the canned kind, blecch – just the half-cut shrink wrapped boneless ham you find in the butcher aisle which I typically buy to shave into lunch meat). While I liked the recipe, it didn’t knock my socks off any more than other sweet and salty ham glazes. Good, but not a must-repeat for me. Granted, I suspect this would be much better on your traditional, bone-in baked ham, for the wow factor. So, I have a container of sliced ham for sandwiches, soups and the like, but ended up with a big hunk of ham from the round end after I got tired of slicing. Hmmmm. Let’s make ham salad and talk about mirepoix.

Kate’s Ham Salad

Hunks of baked ham
Handfuls of mirepoix (diced celery, onions and carrot)
Lots of Green Herbs
(I used Thyme, Parsley, Oregano)
Mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper

First I whirled the ham in a bullet blender in short pulses. I did not want ham paste. I just wanted it to shred, so with every few pulses, I opened the cup and emptied the shreds, and repeated until the entire chunk was reduced to nothing but a big bowl of pink shreds about the size of long rice.

Next, I took several handfuls of mirepoix, and added fresh and dried green herbs, salt, and pepper, and mixed thoroughly. I blended the chopped ham and mirepoix, added a few dollops of mayo, and mixed gently. Serve on toasted bread as a sandwich or on crackers.

Let me tell you ... this stuff is good and if you even consider buying Underwood Deviled Ham Paste after trying this (assuming you did beforehand), I’ll personally have you over for lunch and convince you to stop buying that stuff. Unless it’s for your bomb shelter.

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Next, I worked on my expiring mirepoix. It wouldn't keep fresh for much longer, but cooked, I will get another week or so out of it. So, about mirepoix. I use it not just for stews and other entrees, but for sandwiches, so I keep Trader Joe’s finely chopped fresh mirepoix on hand. It’s a 14.5 oz medium size tub in layers – one layer of celery, one of carrot, and one of onion, in a rough chop. Just Jenn has a picture for us. Now, before you judge me for buying a convenience produce item, when you live alone, buying small size bags of produce and fruit is a challenge, unless its Farmers Market Weather. I hate wasting produce and buying smaller bags and pre-chopped mixes is actually more economical and convenient for me.

The tub has neat and pretty layers, and this is nice, but not useful when I want to dip into it. The first thing I do, is empty out the entire contents in a big bowl and mix it up with herbs, and then put it back into the tub and keep it in the fridge.

When I use a handful of mirepoix for sandwiches, I run another rough chop through it, to make it a bit smaller. Don’t overlook chopped carrot as an excellent salad addition in your tuna, egg and chopped meat salads – its just as crunch as celery and lasts a lot longer in the fridge. You get that little burst of color and sweet taste and it really comes in handy when the celery has gone dodgy. To make up for the lack of celery taste, just add celery seed.

So that brings me to this weekend, after the Ham Salad. I could tell the last of the mirepoix wasn't going to last much longer as it was past its prime. I didn’t want to waste it, so I melted some butter in a pan, and flash fried several thyme stalks. I removed the stems, kept the leaves in the pan, threw in the last of my mirepoix, and sauteed the heck out of it until it was deeply browned and caramelized (even the celery). I then added the last knob of Roasted Garlic Meyer Lemon Compound butter I had in the fridge -- perhaps 2 tablespoons from a container -- and browned it all to a liquid. When I had nothing but a pile of buttery brown veggie goodness, I emptied it from the pan into a sealed container for the fridge. As soon as it chilled, the butter sealed the veggies. Now, a quick scoop into my precooked, buttered, roasted veggies will help me spruce up any number of quick entrees –

– A spoonful in a pan, with an egg for a fast omelet
– A spoonful in any lackluster soup or stew
– A spoonful in any rice or pasta for a fast side dish
– A quick bit of intense veggie flavor to any pan-fried fish or chicken
– Or heated in a pan with other meats and then folded in tortilla for a quick wrap.

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Finally, I handled a nagging Drawer Organizing task. I found all my plastic containers, their lids, and organized those into an easy to reach spot. I then took an empty box and took out every extra fork, spatula, unused ice cube tray, salt shaker missing its mate, unused ugly coffee mugs, a glass candy dish I never use, a plastic thermos that I dislike, and, finally, that awful Tupperware container that gives me so much grief by refusing to cooperate with its lid. Yes, it was costly, but the grief it gives me wasn’t worth it, I can’t be bothered to exchange it, so why am I burdening myself with this?! NO more! I boxed up all my kitchen orphans (32 items! Hooray), posted the box on Craigs List in the "free" column and 1 hour later, it was all gone to a happy bachelor for his apartment. As my mother puts it "Look at how much real estate you just cleared." It feels wonderful.

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So there you have it! How I spent my Sunday in the kitchen! I was so busy working I didn’t photograph my efforts, not that you’d find it interesting to see. Except that ham salad, I’m going to make a sandwich and photograph that tomorrow.

I deserve a cake or pie or something, don't I? I have a vintage cake recipe on the menu for this week, for just that reason.

Roast Chicken Chutney Sandwich

This was a fast one! I'm now a member of the BYOB Group (Bake Your Own Bread) so I'm busy clearing the freezer of my store-purchased baked goods. I am down to just a few frozen bread products, including these ciabatta rolls. I was in the mood for a spicy, flavorful, and warm sandwich today, to perk up the grey drizzling atmosphere around here. All of these ingredients came from Trader Joe's. Not intentionally (although I do shop there more than any other store), but it just happened to turn out to be a Trader Joe's Concoction.

1 ciabatta roll
1 fully cooked roasted chicken patty (cut in half, see note*)
1 slice of Black Diamond Sharp White Cheddar Cheese (one of my favorites, I am never without it)
Tomato Chutney
Cilantro Leaves

I split and toasted the ciabatta roll, placed one slice of white cheddar on one warm side, and spread TJ's tomato chutney on the other. It's a very spicy, curry-tasting ketchup, quite good. I was out of lettuce, so I just layered cilantro leaves on the cheese, and then quickly flash heated 1/2 of a roasted chicken patty* in a pan and added it. The warmth melted the cheese and released the cilantro's aromatics very quickly. This was a very flavorful sandwich. I quite liked it.

*Chicken Patty Note: In the deli case, TJ's has a few pre-cooked, pre-formed chicken patties. I believe one has feta and herbs, and this newest one is just roasted chicken. It is high protein and low fat, so I gave it a try. I was not terribly pleased with how "dense" it was. Like it was squashed and very firm, and too thick for my taste. I like thinner, panini style sandwiches and thin or shaved meats. So, using my slice-a-slice tool, I simply cut the patty in half, through it's horizontal middle. What you see then is a thinner, half patty, which I liked much better. Plus, the patties come 2 to a pack, and this method gives me 4 to a pack). The chicken was "true" in its flavor -- like a patty of rotisserie chicken.

The jury is out as to whether I'll buy the patties again - I'm leaning to "no" simply based on the dense texture -- but I will most definately make this sandwich again, with simple, moist grilled chicken. It would also be terrific with chicken salad.

Beef, Egg and Onion Sandwich

This was one of my father's favorite sandwiches, when he was alive. I remember my mother made this sandwich for him for lunch, or occasionally as a brunch sandwich, in place of breakfast. It's one of those nostalgic recipes you just grow up with, and you don't really know where it came from. My mother always used Armor Chipped Beef, the same product she'd use to make Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast (my all time favorite dinner as a child), and would occasionally soak it water first to reduce the salt level. Other times not, just snipped a bit into the egg and then peppered.

For my version, above, I used a dried cured Italian beef called Breseola, which is significantly less salty. It has a different, more complex flavor. I hate to say it ... Iliked my Mom's simple version better.

CHIPPED BEEF, ONION AND EGG SANDWICH

1 shallot
2 slices of dried beef or Breseola
2 eggs
Butter
Salt and Pepper
Toast

Saute the shallot in butter until soft, but not browned. Add 2 slices of dried beef which you have snipped into small strips with scissors. Sautee until soft. Quickly add 2 well beaten eggs, and gently toss until the eggs are done and the onion and beef are incorporated. Serve on buttered toast, as a sandwich.

SpaFlyer Sunday Brunch: Grilled Turkey Cheese Sandwiches

A simple and healthy sandwich of Swiss cheese, homegrown tomato, and smoked turkey, on hearty wheat bread, dipped in egg white and grilled until warm and toasty. Very tasty. Recipe made for SpaFlyer Sunday Brunch -- head on over for healthy spa cuisine.

Eat the Rainbow! BLT and Fruit

I was going to back a bento lunch today which had a Harriet the Spy style homegrown tomato sandwich, but then I remembered I had some pre-cooked bacon, and that was all she wrote.

Fruit Salad (Berries, Nectarine, Tangerine), 2 cubes of sharp cheddar cheese
Bacon
Lettuce
Mayo
Toasted bread
Slice of homegrown beefsteak tomato


I'm reminded that a B L T is the best sandwich. Ever. Even without homegrown tomatoes. WITH homegrown? It's almost sexual. Don't even try to deny it.

Simple Suppers: Egg Salad on Toast

It's really hot today. No cooking can be done tonight, so it's egg salad on toast with fresh tomato from my garden.

This simple sandwich always makes me think of my Mom. The men in our family wouldn't touch egg salad, so when she and I went up to the corner donut shop for lunch from time to time, this is what we ordered and split. They didn't muck it up with mustard or, Heaven forbid, pickle relish (which, although I like it, has NO place in tuna salad or egg salad), or even the tomato. It was just eggs, mayo, salt, pepper, lettuce, and do you want your white bread toasted, or untoasted? Pickle spear served on the side, with a baggie of chips. Nothing complicated.

Interestingly, another sandwich which I also identify with my mother and my youth involves eggs. She used to cut Armour Dried Beef (from a little jar) into strips with a pair of scissors, cut onions into long strips, saute them together with butter, and then add beaten eggs. This "Scrambled Egg with Chipped Beef and Onion" served on toast as a sandwich was absolutely delicious, but probably a sodium nightmare.

Tonight, my homegrown tomato was so vibrant and juicy, I may eat that as a sandwich tomorrow with nothing but mayo, salt and pepper. A Harriet the Spy Special -- from one of my favorite books as a young child.

What sandwiches instantly remind you of your youth?

Tea Sandwiches with the Slice a Slice

Hooray, it's here! The vintage Slice a Slice which I first saw on Robin Sue's Big Red Kitchen blog is now mine, courtesy of eBay.

I knew, as soon as I saw her post, that was something I had to have. I can't stand thick, messy, so-called "Four Napkin" style sandwiches or burgers. The Carl's Jr. commercials with the "If it's not all over your face" or "the place" or whatever that tag line is, and the dripping ketchup and meat juice, are an abomination to me.

I love thin, delicate sandwiches. I may eat more than one, true, but I'd rather eat two very thin sandwiches than one monster sandwich that I have to open my mouth like a python to take a bite. No one looks good doing that.

The appeal of this vintage sandwich slicer is two-fold. First, I can't get thin-sliced bread in my area. Thin sliced varieties are available to East Coasters in the grocery store, but for some reason, brands like Pepperidge Farm won't sell them in California. It's difficult to slice your own that thin, unless the bread is sturdy. Bakeries don't slice it thin enough for my taste either, and when it's really fresh, it tends to mush and tear when they try. Second, the effect of reducing your sandwich to one slice of bread is a calorie and carb savings. Unless you eat more than one sandwich of course!

It has rubber feet which keep it solid on the counter. There is a wooden rod at the base, where your knife travels down. The holes in the device are slightly jagged, so the bread stays put (but doesn't get punctured) and believe it or not, the knife slides very easily down the center of the bread when it's being squeezed fairly tight. I'm thinking I'd get an even cleaner cut if the bread was slightly frozen.

So here it is ... one slice of bread, one slice of ham, one slice of cheese. Perfect!

Barefoot Bloggers: Sandwich de Parmesan Chicken with Lemon Vinaigrette Salad

Twice each month, the Barefoot Bloggers select and make a recipe by Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, and post our results on our blogs, and then discuss it on the group blog. This group is a welcome option for those of us who don't necessarily turn out the prettiest cakes, brave and daring confections, or bakery wonders. Sometimes a challenge is terrific with just simple, good food, with a stick of butter.

Challenge Two for June 2008 was a Parmesan chicken recipe, selected by Megan of My Baking Adventures. At first I had a less than gung ho reaction because I pictured breaded chicken in tomato sauce and cheese. But no, Ina's recipe is lighter and livelier (unusual for her!) and, as soon as I read it, I thought would make a wonderful little sandwich.

My contribution to the challenge is Sandwich de Parmesan Poulet avec Citron Vinaigrette Salade. I don't speak a lick of French, so that's a total affectation.

Away we go!

First, we're going to bread the chicken. I wanted thin, tender strips, so I just used two chicken tenders, and flattened them a bit more. I set up a small plate of flour, bread crumbs seasoned with Penzey's and fresh Parmesan, and a beaten egg. Dip the chicken in flour, then egg, and finally bread crumbs and Parmesan. In the pic below, I've already got my salad greens chopped and dressed, with a bit of extra lemon vinaigrette on the side.

Add the breaded chicken tenders to a pan with a pat of butter and a splash olive oil. Pan fry on each side until golden brown. These cooked very quickly due to the thinness. First one side ...

... then the other. Hey, these are looking pretty good! I'm pleased with myself.

I had a toasted rosemary baguette ready, and I'd already made the lemon vinaigrette and chopped salad greens. I lightly dressed the greens, put them on the toasted roll, added a chicken Parmesan tender, and then sprinkled the chicken liberally with more vinaigrette. I put the remainder of a small portion in an egg cup.


Voila! A sandwich of Parmesan chicken with lemon dressed salad greens. It was QUITE good and I'm pleased I made it. I changed the original recipe by presenting it as a sandwich instead of an entree, however, the biggest adaptation I made was with the lemon vinaigrette. It's quite a simple recipe really, just olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. When I read it, I thought "well you know, I *just* made Preserved Meyer Lemons (May 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine), which are loaded with salt and olive oil, so I thought why not use some of my newly preserved lemon? The ingredients are spot on.

I poured a splash of olive oil in a small blender cup, added 1/8 of a preserved lemon slice (half of a lemon quarter), the juice of half a lemon, lots of ground pepper, and a tiny smidgen of garlic aoili to emulsify it. No added salt because the preserved lemon was salty. I blended it up and it was just excellent. That salty preserved lemon contrasted nicely with the rich oil and tart lemon juice, and barely any was needed. I'll use that again for sure. Mmm, on fish!

Verdict: Simple and delicious
Skill: Not much of any, really
Repeat: Definitely

No Recipe Night: Carnitas Wrap

Technically this DOES have a recipe because I made the carnitas the night before, but this is all stuff I threw together from the fridge. Carnita recipe to follow another time.

1. TJ's olive oil wrap (they actually have less calories than tortillas and are very similar)
2. Spread with TJ's cilantro dip
3. Lettuce and tomatoes
4. Roasted carnitas
5. Cabot's low fat cheese
6. Taco Bell mild taco sauce

Wrapped up tight and then sliced. Was very good but way too big for one person, even with only one wrap. Lunch leftovers, if the wrap holds up.

One Heck of a Good Sandwich

I'm one of the many thousands of fans of a fun food blog called The Pioneer Woman Cooks, written by Ree, who is married to an obscenely sexy cattle rancher dubbed Marlboro Man, on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She cooks with obscene amounts of butter, cream, meat, bread, cheese, and all things fattening, but in a very down home fashion. No major grocery store chains, no little gourmet shops, in her neck of the woods. Canned biscuits are the norm, but what she does with them, oh my! Most of the time I can only look, because my arteries would harden and my zipper would burst if I ate that way on a regular basis. Her cooking could be considered downright irresponsible if it were not for the fact who entire family expends all kinds of calories wrestling cows and stuff.

One of her posts called The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich -- grilled cheese on rye with whole chili peppers, tomatoes, onions, and Dijon -- inspired me to adapt something similar for my own tastes. It was, in a word, excellent.

I stuck to the recipe pretty faithfully except two minor things: I used a Panini press instead of a frying pan, and, I used a light butter spread on the outside, instead of obscene amounts of butter, because I don't think the sandwich really needs any more than that -- although it would be good either way.

I generally stick to a recipe very closely the first time out, and then adjust in the future if I want to change it (except for obvious subs required by allergies, etc). I think any shared recipe deserves that much respect. In that regard, I always find it really funny when people write in comments about someone's recipe and say something like "Thanks for the Beef Stew recipe! I didn't have beef, so I substituted chicken chunks, and, we don't like tomato sauce, so I substituted Cream of Chicken Soup, and I didn't add onions or garlic, I added carrots and celery instead. It was okay, I guess. Not the best beef stew I ever tried. Probably won't make it again, but thanks for sharing it." Wha---?! I'm serious, you read stuff like that ALL the time.

On the flip side, the other posts that crack me up, are from the very bossy cooks themselves, who will accept no substitutions. I read a recipe for Mini Party Cheeseburgers from the 1950s. The woman posting said "This was how my grandmother made them, so you must use THESE condiments, and NO substitutions AND I MEAN IT, BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT ISN'T MY GRANDMOTHER'S RECIPE." Alrighty then!!!

Here is The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich, and now, one of mine, too!

Rye Bread
Cheddar Cheese
Provolone Cheese
Whole Chili Pepper
Tomato
Red Onion
Dijonaise