Posts filed under 'Supper'
“This is the King of my Sandwich World”, my hubby said tonight when eating this delicious, fresh vegetable sandwich. When he said that, I knew I’d better share this recipe with my friends and readers.
I was inspired by the Farmer’s Market Grilled Cheese from Better Homes and Gardens, but of course catered it to suit our tastes better.
The basic idea behind this sandwich is to pick your favorite FRESH vegetables from the produce section or the Farmer’s Market and surround them with sourdough bread and gooey cream cheese.
The Sandwich King
Sourdough bread - 1 loaf
cream cheese, 8 oz
cilantro - 1/2 bunch
sliced tomato - 1 large
vidalia onion - 1 medium
jalapeno pepper - 1 sliced thinly
artichoke hearts - 1 can, chopped
fresh spinach - about 1/4 bag chopped
(I know the artichokes are not a fresh veggie, but we do love them on this anyway!)
First thing to do is bring a block of cream cheese up to room temperature, then beat it with a mixer. Add minced fresh cilantro and beat it together. This is your cheese spread. Do not refrigerate this before making the sandwiches. It will be impossible to spread.
Next, slice and dice all the vegetables just the way you want them. With my large and opinionated family, I keep everything in separate bowls and let each person decide what to put on their own sandwich. When it comes to the picky ones, I tell them it has to have at least two things and they can’t get something else out. (Otherwise, they’d likely end up with a boring peanut butter or bologna sandwich.)
Finally, build this like it’s a glorified grilled cheese sandwich. Butter on one side of each slice of bread. Smooth the cream cheese spread (liberally!) on one slice, topped with as many of the vegetables as you like. Press it together and grilled it on a hot skillet. (cast iron if you’ve got one)
The first evening we tried this sandwich, every single one of us was skeptical. We were all pleasantly surprised - so delicious! There is an amazing combination of fresh flavors in every bite, surrounded by this gooey cream cheese mixture that binds it all together. It’s an excellent, light-tasting summertime meal. And if you have a garden, a great way to incorporate your fresh vegetables into your menu in a new way.
*Consider using zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, avocado, … or come up with your own ideas.
August 1st, 2011
Good heavens, I really love Quiche! My husband calls it “one of those divisive foods”. I guess that means it falls into the same category as sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, and bleu cheese… foods that wars are fought over. Some folks are ga-ga over it, others gag. Very few people fall into the middle ground on foods like these. It seems like a lot of men think quiche is “gay” and are afraid that eating it will severely lower their manliness. (Wow! I hope their manliness is not that fragile!) Ladies seem to often think that it is just the ideal thing when eating together, say, for tea — especially if the quiches are very tiny and you can pop them individually into your mouth. I have no idea why - maybe we think it increases our femininity.
I made quiche for dinner last night. Normal-sized, not mouth-pop-able. To be safe, I also made French Onion soup and garlic toast, hoping there would be something on the table to please everyone. It was the first time I made quiche without a recipe - just “winging it”. I do have an old favorite of crustless spinach quiche which I got from an ancient cookbook in the early years of my marriage, but it has never gone over really well and instead of trying to improve on it, I just made this up as I went along.
The quiche I made last night, thankfully, turned out yummier than I expected. I just enjoyed it again for lunch. It’s crustless, but with a crunchy crouton topping. Here’s the recipe:
Spinach Quiche
6 slices of bacon
1 bag fresh spinach leaves
3 cloves fresh garlic
2 T. olive oil
5 eggs
3/4 c. milk or soymilk
1 1/2 c. shredded monterey jack cheese
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
croutons, crushed
Start by frying up the bacon as you usually would. I like thick sliced bacon - it’s what I always use. If you are using the thin stuff, consider increasing the amount to 8 slices. Drain the bacon on a paper towel and set aside. Discard the bacon fat and clean your skillet or switch to a large, clean skillet.
Next, crush and dice the garlic and put it into a large skillet with your olive oil. Set the heat to medium, and while it warms up, chop the spinach up into bite-sized pieces. Often, frozen spinach is recommended for quiches and other spinach recipes, but I say “the fresher, the better!” Add the spinach to your now-hot oil and garlic. Stir and fry for a few moments until the spinach is wilted. That’s all it needs. Then remove from the heat and set aside. (You now have both the bacon and the garlic-spinach combo waiting on the sidelines.)
In a large bowl, break all five eggs and whip them up with the milk, salt, and pepper. Use a spatula to add the cheeses, then the spinach. Finally, cut up the bacon with your kitchen scissors and add that, too! Grease a regular 9 or 10 inch pie pan and pour your quiche mixture into it.
This needs to go into a 350 - 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, sprinkle the crushed croutons on top and return to the oven. You know it’s done when the middle doesn’t jiggle and you poke a knife into the center and can see cooked instead of runny eggs.
ENJOY!
I’ll be honest about the thumbs up count: There are 7 in our family. 1 was not home, 1 did not even eat the quiche, 2 (the little guys) were forced to eat the quiche. My husband ate a little but LOVES French Onion soup, so he focused on that. Really, only 2 of us dug into this quiche and really enjoyed it. Divisive foods. Ugh.
Signing off now–
the chow hall chef
June 28th, 2011
For the last 6+ weeks (immediately following the roasting of our Thanksgiving turkey) - I have been without a functioning oven. I believe I am going through something similar to the stages of grief. First, disbelief, outrage, then resignation/acceptance… well, I’m not sure I can list all the emotions I have been through. I know for a short period it felt like a refreshing challenge. Then I went through a procrastination stage, thinking “I’ll bake Christmas cookies in January.” At the moment, I am back to anger, which is being directed at the repairman/manufacturer or whoever is responsible for me not having the required part.
All that to say, I have been stepping out of my box a bit and made fried rice last week. Usually my attempts at making Asian foods are pretty much failures. Usually, the best I can do is open a box of prepared egg rolls! Surprisingly, last week’s pork fried rice turned out well and most of us liked it. (My 6-year-old basically doesn’t like anything.) So this week, I tried again - shrimp fried rice for the shrimp eaters and chicken fried rice for the shrimp-detesters (me).
Again, this turned out unexpectedly well. And let me tell you - I don’t even own a wok. I’d like to own a wok. I just don’t have the space for one or the grace and finesse required to stir fry things in one, so it has always seemed a little pointless to wish for a wok.
So, here is what I used: Two skillets for stir-frying the vegetables (our family has seven members, so my largest skillet is still not big enough) AND a griddle for the rice/chicken/shrimp/eggs.
For the vegetable mix, I used:
sliced carrots
chopped green pepper
chopped mushrooms
chopped onion
a generous portion of coleslaw mix from Sam’s Club
sesame seeds
This was the easy part - heat the skillet to high, add some olive oil, and stir-fry everything. Once I see a little brown on the veggies, I turn it down, but keep stirring.
For the rice part:
Leftover rice - Apparently, fried rice should never be made with fresh rice. It should be 1-2 days old
tiny chopped chicken
tiny chopped shrimp
sesame seed oil
5 eggs
I divided the rice into two bowls and added chicken to one and shrimp to the other (gotta keep the shrimp away from the chicken). I heated my griddle to 375, sprayed it good with cooking spray and added a dab of butter for good measure. Next, I tossed the chicken/rice mixture onto the griddle and let it cook for about 5 minutes - trying to get the rice to start turning brown. I cracked 3 eggs into a bowl, whisked, and poured this on top of the rice, and began ’stirring’ it all up. Oh! And added a very small drizzle of sesame oil (it’s pretty flavorful stuff, I use it sparingly). Once the eggs were cooked, I placed this all in a bowl and repeated with the shrimp mixture.
Now the veggie part and the rice part is all ready to serve!
You’ll notice that I didn’t really flavor any of it with any sauces… At our house, everybody likes something different, so I serve the sauces at the table. Teriyaki, Sweet & Sour, Hoisin, and Sweet Chili are family favorites. (Mae Ploy Sweet Chilli is my personal best)
January 12th, 2011
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