Filed under Sandwiches …

Jan 23 2012
2 Comments
Beef, Sandwiches

Sunday Roast & More

Even before the last bite of last weekend’s carnitas were eaten, I was thinking about what slow-cooked meat I wanted to make next.  Never mind the fact that I spent most of my free time last week feeling queasy from reading Eating Animals.  I wanted beef.

I made an abridged version (no veal knuckles or calves feet) of Julia Child’s pot roast – chuck roast, wine, a little beef broth, carrots, celery, onion, turnips, garlic and thyme, simmered on the stove and then in the oven for a few hours until tender.

While it was cooking, I made almond milk.  I don’t know that I’ve ever had almond milk before, but knowing that I could easily make it in my Vitamix was enough to make me want to try it.  Quick, delicious, and pretty exciting.

I also baked a carrot cake in my new little bundt pan.

Voilà! The roast done roasted.

Pot roast, gougère, roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts

Not quite enough lemon-cream cheese frosting for my liking, but it will do.

Homemade quick pickles to make Brasa-like sandwiches with leftovers

Monday night dinner: leftover pot roast, sharp cheddar, pickles, spinach, and homemade horseradish mayo on a Rustica baguette

Our minds were blown.

Mar 10 2011
6 Comments
Pork, Sandwiches

Meatball Subs

I’m not a meatball sub person.

At least I thought I wasn’t for the first 27 years of my life when my only exposure to them was when my guy friends would order them at Subway and I would try not to gag.  It’s hard enough for me to look at any of the meat at Subway and not turn around and walk away, but the meatballs especially have always bothered me. I don’t know if it’s the actual meat or the sauce or watching the person dig around in the sauce with a big spoon in search of a meatball, but you couldn’t pay me to eat one of those sandwiches.

In addition to my fear of weird meat, I have a strong belief that sandwiches are better when they’re packed with veggies.  I recognize some exceptions to this rule, largely due to my profound love for Potbelly sandwiches and the blue cheese, roast beef, and bacon stuffed Blue Cow from Caffrey’s, but in general I prefer sandwiches with lots of veggies and little to no meat, and the meatball sub doesn’t really fit into that equation.

Even with my meat issues, I try to keep an open mind about most foods, which is why I didn’t immediately click away when I saw Deb’s Meatball Subs with Caramelized Onions on Smitten Kitchen.  Instead I stared, and I ogled. I had to have one.  I bookmarked the page, and a few weeks later, when I found myself with a baguette to make use of, I made meatball subs.  Man, have I been missing out.  Not on the Subway version, I’m sure, but on the homemade version.  The meatballs were tender, the sauce was perfect, and the bread was sturdy enough to keep it mostly contained (although I still wouldn’t recommend trying to consume one in public).  I kept mine simple and topped it with some provolone and giardiniera, while my boyfriend added provolone, sautéed onions and banana peppers to his.  He claimed that this was one of the top five meals we’ve ever made, and I can’t really argue with that.

Meatball Subs

from Smitten Kitchen, with a few adjustments

Serves 4-6 or possibly even 8

  • 2 baguettes (plus a few slices of bread for making breadcrumbs if your baguettes are really airy)
  • 1 1/2 lbs. ground meat (I used 1 lb. pork and 1/2 lb. bison)
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
  • generous 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 egg
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 3-4 cups tomato sauce (I used the sauce from this post)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups provolone cheese, shredded

Slice the baguettes almost all the way through, and scrape some of the bread from the insides.  Use a food processor to make breadcrumbs with the scraped-out bread, or use a few slices of sandwich bread if you don’t have much excess in the baguettes.  You’ll need about 1 cup or 1 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, so scrape out a little more if necessary.

Transfer the breadcrumbs to a large bowl.  Add about 2/3 cup warm water and the rest of the meatball ingredients except for the tomato sauce and cheese.  Mix until everything is evenly distributed, but try to not overwork it.  Form the mixture into golf ball sized meatballs, and set aside on a plate.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan with a lid.  Brown the meatballs in batches, making sure you don’t overcrowd the pan.  They’re pretty fragile, so don’t mess with them more than you have to and add a little more oil if necessary to prevent sticking.  We found that a fish spatula was the best utensil for gently flipping and handling the meatballs.

Once browned, transfer the meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels, and cook the remaining batches.

When all of the meatballs are browned, drain any remaining oil from the pan, and add the tomato sauce.

Return the meatballs to the pan, cover, and simmer on the lowest possible heat for 25-30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.

You might want to stir them occasionally to ensure that they’re cooking evenly.  While the meatballs are simmering, prepare the toppings.

My 3-meatball sandwich with provolone and giardiniera.

Boyfriend’s 6-meatball sandwich with provolone, sautéed onions, and banana peppers.

On the first night of meatball subs, we ate the better part of a baguette.  There were plenty of extra meatballs and I was already looking forward to the leftovers, so I decided during dinner that I needed to make more bread.  I literally ate the last bite of my sandwich, put my plate in the sink, and starting making dough. It was a smart move that resulted in the discovery of my new favorite baguette recipe and three nights in a row of meatball subs.

I guess I’m a meatball sub person after all.

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Sep 15 2010
3 Comments
Sandwiches

Veggie Sandwich on Everything

This, my friends, is one of my absolute favorite sandwiches.  I’ve been craving it (and yammering on and on about how I’ve been craving it) for nearly a month.  I specifically remember talking about how badly I wanted a veggie sandwich on an everything bagel one morning in LA, which was nearly a month ago, and somehow it took until this weekend for me to eat one.  It also took me actually making bagels, even though I live within a mile of a Brueggers and drive past it almost every day.  I might have a tendency to overcomplicate things.

A veggie sandwich on an everything bagel is nothing new, but, in my opinion, it’s one of the best sandwiches out there.  You start with a bagel, slather it with cream cheese, pile on some veggies, and, for good measure, throw on a few slices of cheese.  You get to enjoy a nice, chewy bagel and a load of fresh veggies at the same time.  If you make it correctly, you’ll also end up with poppy seeds lodged in your teeth and cream cheese smeared on your face.  It’s all part of the experience.

An everything bagel with a thin layer of cream cheese on each half, piled high with cucumbers, cheddar, sprouts, lettuce, and tomato.  Perfection.

I used about a 60/40 mix of white bread flour and whole wheat bread flour for these bagels, and while they weren’t quite a bagel blunder, they weren’t the best batch I’ve ever made.  The outsides never really toughened up, so they were more like soft buns than chewy bagels.  Maybe I used too much wheat flour, maybe I didn’t bake them long enough, or maybe I didn’t add enough baking soda to the boiling water.  I’m still not sure.  If you’re looking to make a batch of bagels, I would recommend following this recipe.

Oh, I made bagel dogs, too.  Delicious!

May 27 2010
8 Comments
Sandwiches, Vegetarian

Black Bean Burgers

While looking back at the posts from the last month I realized that I’ve hardly posting anything but carbohydrate- or sugar-laden (but awesome) recipes: cranberry-walnut-quinoa bread, pita bread, mac and cheese, pizza dough, sugar cookies, cupcakes, and bagels – oh my!  If you were beginning to worry about my health and well-being, I can assure you that my diet consists of more than flour and sugar.  It’s just that perfectly browned, crusty loaves of bread are much more fun to photograph and talk about than the veggie wrap that I ate for lunch or the tuna salad I ate for dinner.  Trust me, tuna salad does not photograph well.  It takes something like these black bean burgers that are not only delicious and photograph well but are also a little more involved than a mixed greens salad or a veggie sandwich for me to mention it on here.  I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how to wash some lettuce leaves, chop some vegetables, and throw them in a big bowl.  How to make a decent bean burger is a different story, though, and this recipe is definitely worth sharing.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve always had a fear of making bean burgers.  I don’t think I’ve ever tried to make them before, and it’s because I’ve long been under the impression that bean burgers were finicky things that were bound to end up dry and crumbly.  If the rumors are true, these burgers are an exception to that rule.  They were extremely easy to throw together, and they kept together well in the pan.  No crumbling and no dryness; just crispy outsides and slightly creamy insides.  For any Minneapolis readers, these are somewhat similar to the southwestern veggie burger at Joe’s Garage, just without the corn and falafel.  And the chipotle sauce.  And all the other toppings.  Ok, they’re basically only similar in that they are lightly fried black bean burgers and I wrapped mine in a tortilla, but they’ve got a leg up on the Joe’s Garage burger because making them at home takes away the temptation to order french fries with basil aioli to eat on the side – a sure win for your arteries.

You could easily play around with the types of beans and seasonings in these burgers.  If you want something more falafel-like, you could swap out the black beans for garbanzos.  A chopped jalapeno would be a great addition, especially if you topped the burger with salsa and sour cream.  Let me know if you come up with anything good!

Black Bean Burgers

Adapted from Gourmet, Feb. 2009

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 tbsp plain yogurt

2 1/2 tbsp rolled oats

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Vegetable oil for cooking

Buns or tortillas

Lettuce, cucumbers, and cilantro-yogurt sauce for serving (see below)

(Makes two large burgers)

Cilantro-Yogurt Sauce

2-3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2-3/4 cup plain yogurt

Combine half the beans with the yogurt, oats, cumin, oregano, and cayenne in a food processor.  Pulse until it forms a paste.  You could also do this by hand, roughly chopping the oats, mashing the beans, and stirring everything together.

Combine the paste with the remaining beans and cilantro.  Season with salt, if needed.

Form the mixture into two patties.  For lighter appetites or if you’re serving a couple of sides, you could easily stretch this into three patties.

For the yogurt sauce combine the cilantro, cucumber, and garlic in a small bowl.

Add yogurt until you get the desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper.


Heat 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil shimmers add the burgers to the pan, and cook them until they’re slightly browned and crisp, flipping once.  It will take about five minutes total.

Get the buns or tortillas ready while the burgers are cooking.

I broke up about 3/4 of a burger to fit on a medium tortilla, which turned out to be the perfect amount.

I have a bad habit of dousing anything in a tortilla or anything slightly resembling falafel with hot sauce.  When I’m at home my falafel hot sauce of choice (as opposed to my egg hot sauce of choice or Mexican food hot sauce of choice) is Red Hot, and when dining out I’ll take whatever kind is available.  In an effort to make myself appreciate a broader spectrum of flavors I held off on the red stuff, and I’m really happy that I did.  The yogurt sauce and the crisp veggies were the perfect accompaniment to the burger.  It’s amazing what you can taste when you’re not preoccupied with your burning mouth and clearing sinuses.

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