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Archive for the ‘Sandwiches’ Category

Georgia Harvest

Posted in Fruit, Salads, Sandwiches, tagged on August 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

I’ve been going hog wild this summer, between the farmer’s market and my CSAs, I am completely out of control. Test subject Bill agrees, but he’s not complaining too much 🙂

Lettuce, melon, blueberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers...mmmm

Lettuce, melon, blueberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers...mmmm

Here’s an example of some of the fine produce I’ve pulled in recently. It’s hard work opening my CSA box and getting to the farmer’s market early enough to hog all the good stuff for myself, but it’s worth it. (This past Saturday I was there at the crack of dawn because I heard a vendor was going to have raspberries. DUDE. I was there before they were.)

And from this fine haul I had an exceptional dinner – a BLT (using my own homemade bacon from pastured Georgia hogs, tomatoes and lettuce from my CSA), sweet corn from the farmers market (got

You can't see the bacon too well in the BLT, but trust me. It's in there. Hehe.

You can't see the bacon too well in the BLT, but trust me. It's in there. Hehe.

some in the CSA box too but that got blanched and frozen), a little salad and cantaloupe and blueberries for dessert. I just have to say…that CSA canteloupe was the bomb diggity. Usually I’m kind of meh when it comes to this particular melon, but this was so fresh and sweet I ate every last morsel. It was better than dessert.

And it’s only the beginning of August now. It’s not over yet. I love living in Georgia.

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Reluctant Heritage

Posted in Cheese, Norwegian, Sandwiches, Soup, Spinach, Spreads, Vegetables, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , on September 13, 2008| 1 Comment »

I have a lot of Norwegian ancestry. I get excited when Norway is in the news. I root for Norse athletes in the Olympics. My home town is full of “I-wegians” (Iowans of Norwegian descent) and is one of the few places where you can find lutefisk on the Sunday brunch buffet. It’s probably that lutefisk that made me run screaming in the other direction when confronted with traditional Norwegian cuisine.

But the challenge was put out there by a few of my family members to try some Norwegian food, and far be it from me to back down from a challenge. So earlier today I hit the web in search of some palatable recipes to celebrate my heritage.

Skeptical? You betcha. Lutefisk recipes? Uff da. They abound. But to my delight I did find a number of recipes that not only sounded edible, but even downright tasty. Since I had a large amount of spinach calling my name from the fridge, I decided on Spinach Soup, or Spinatsuppe.

Spinatsuppe

Spinatsuppe

I followed the recipe with a few minor exceptions. First, I halved it since there’s only two of us in the house. Second, I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Third, I used regular pepper instead of white pepper since I was out. The recipe was deceptively simple, yet yeilded a delicate soup with really rich flavor. The hard boiled eggs on top were a little strange to me at first, but considering I love hard boiled eggs on a cold spinach salad it made sense. They were a nice touch. I would definately make this again.

This dish was too light to be a meal on its own, so I took the opportunity to make Alton

Alton Brown's Roasted Vegetable Spread

Roasted Vegetable Spread

Brown’s Roasted Vegetable Spread. This stuff is the bomb diggity. Not only is it rediculously easy, but it is TASTY. I spread it over my homemade bread, lightly toasted, and had a fantastic meal.

So the Spinach Soup definately warmed me up to some dishes from my ancestry. I’m not sold yet, but I’m definately planning on persuing more Norwegian recipes. I found some interesting ones here. More on this later.

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Gourmet Sandwich and Kung Faux Pas #3

Posted in Kung faux pas, Sandwiches, Spuds, Vegetables, Vegetarian, tagged , , , on September 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »

There’s something special about a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s crunchy, gooey comfort that is difficult to match. However, I made a something of a grilled chese sandwich today that would make the Waffle House imposters hang their heads in shame.

I got some asian eggplants and sweet red peppers in my last CSA bag and was looking for a way to use them. Typically I’d harvest some basil from my lame-o plant on the back deck, grab the chili oil and do a spicy basil eggplant dish. But I stumbled upon the recipe for Eggplant and Pepper Parmesan Sandwiches and since I had some goat cheese on hand, decided to go for it.

Eggplant? Oh yeah, baby.

Eggplant? Oh yeah, baby.

Not having any baguettes on hand – but did have freshly baked bread – I used my own bread for the recipe. No tapenade, no problem. I diced up kalamata olives, hit them with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and was pretty proud of myself. I subbed gruyere for the parmesan just because I love gruyere.

This one was a 10 out of 10! I probably made some obscene sounds while I was eating it.

Unfortunately, not every dish can be a success. I had planned some Baked Sweet Potato Sticks to accompany my gourmet sandwich. I pretty much followed the recipe, which was probably the problem. Instead of paying attention to my sweet potatoes I was screwing around on the internet. Instead of watching my time and temperature I was picking out a wine for the meal. Kids, you might want to look away.

the PC term for BURNT.

Overbrowned: the PC term for BURNT.

Kung faux pas #3: do not blindly follow time and temperature guidelines on a recipe. Don’t let this happen to you!

As an interesting side note, this dish set is older than I am.

So the sweet potato sticks got a little “overbrowned.” But they actually still tasted ok…if you’re into charred cardboard.

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