Category Archives: Spices

Burger with Roasted Garlic Mayo and Caramelized Onions

This burger looks quite simple, but the onions make it very moist and delicious while the roasted garlic gives it a great taste. This is definitely one of our favorite burgers so far. In the next few weeks our kitchen is being renovated, and we’re not sure how we can keep up our frantic sandwich making pace. We will have access to an outdoor BBQ with a side stove, and… restaurants. Idea for BBQ sandwiches/burgers that can be easily prepared with no kitchen would be highly appreciated 🙂

Burger with Roasted Garlic Mayo and Caramelized Onions
Burger with Roasted Garlic Mayo and Caramelized Onions

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Tarragon Salad Dressing

Salad dressing, you say, how does that have anything to do with sandwiches? Well, one of our culinary experiments resulted in a delicious ham sandwich using this dressing as a spread.  Anders loves tarragon. I mean, he really loves it. In our love of gardening, we’ve made many attempts at growing this delightful herb but to no avail. As I write this, there is a plant languishing on our patio in complete defiance of all the love, attention and desperate hope that has been directed at.  But I digress. Lucky for us, we live close to a neighborhood grocery that sells fresh tarragon when in season, and when not, they sell huge bags of the dried stuff.   And when life gives you tarragon, why not make a tarragon salad dressing?

So here’s the recipe:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp dried tarragon
  • 1 tbs honey (or to taste)
  • kosher salt
  • fresh pepper

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, mustard, garlic and tarragon.  Mix well and taste. Depending on how well aged your balsamic vinegar is, you might not need the honey. The one we use is on the lower side of the price point and so does need a little help to soften the flavor.  Add honey, if needed.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking continuously. That’s it. We’ve make this dressing quite a lot and find that as good as it is freshly made, it tastes even better the next day after the tarragon has a better chance to infuse the dressing with its flavor. It works great as a dressing, tossed with boiled/baked new spring potatoes, grilled veggies and so many more.

But since this is a sandwich blog after all, the sandwich incarnation can be found here in this “Pepper Ham Sandwich With Tarragon Salad Dressing, Cheese, Roasted Garlic And Smoked Paprika.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Hummus Recipe

It’s easy to buy hummus in a store, but it’s almost as easy to make it, and much more fun. This is a call to action; stop buying hummus!

All it takes to make are chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini and garlic. Plus, add sun-dried tomatoes and you have sun dried tomato hummus. We use fresh cilantro or parsley as a topping, with a few roasted pine nuts, and you got yourself a really affordable and amazing appetizer dip. Naturally, we will be using some of this on our upcoming sandwiches :-).

Hummus with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Parsley and Roasted Pine Nuts
Hummus with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Parsley and Roasted Pine Nuts

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Sautéed Zucchini with Garlic and Lemon

This being winter, we thought we would provide a recipe for a summer garden favorite. And no, we do not find anything incongruous about this. What better time to start dreaming about the goodies of summer than now when the cold seems interminable. Okay, so as people lucky enough to live in San Diego which is as close to weather perfection as it ever gets in the US, we do not really experience winter – at least not of the snowmageddon variety.  Anyway, one of the veggies that will reward you with copious production is the zucchini. Two plants can produce enough for a family of four for the growing season. With our limited space, we’ve regretfully stayed away from it. Our rationale – we have a well stocked market within 2 minutes walk of our house and it’s pretty hard to give up tomato space.   So since we love zucchini but don’t always have it growing in the garden, we are so happy to be able to purchase was needed.

This little side dish is so simple, tasty and healthy. It is just bursting with flavor that we almost want to do a little dance as we eat it. Yes, it is that good.

Lime Squash Sauteed in Olive Oil and Garlic with Parmesan
Lime Squash Sauteed in Olive Oil and Garlic with Parmesan

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Pepper Ham Sandwich With Tarragon Salad Dressing, Cheese, Roasted Garlic And Smoked Paprika

One of our crazy experiments finally paid off. The addition of the salad dressing to this bread takes this simple sandwich to a whole new level. The bread, after toasting, is moist but yet crunchy. The dressing adds a ‘zing‘ to the ham. This sandwich reminds us of Woodstock: a mixed bag of nuts making sweet music together. Feel the love, add the dressing!

Pepper Ham Sandwich With Salad Dressing, Cheese, Roasted Garlic And Smoked Paprika
Pepper Ham Sandwich With Salad Dressing, Cheese, Roasted Garlic And Smoked Paprika

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Roasted Duck Sandwich with Valdeon Cheese, Cranberry Relish And Green Pepper

Roasted duck is a great treat, although the price for a duck in Poway is ridiculous. This is a sandwich we forgot to post dating all the way back to Christmas 2009. The cranberry relish was homemade, and just went perfect with the Spanish Valdeon cheese and the duck. For all you kids out there, it is very likely this was in fact Donald Duck. We’re sorry, we really are, we just couldn’t help ourselves (he was delicious).

Roasted Duck Sandwich with Valdeon Cheese, Cranberry Relish And Green Pepper
Roasted Duck Sandwich with Valdeon Cheese, Cranberry Relish And Green Pepper

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Ciabatta with Rembrandt Extra Aged Gouda, Jamaican Logwood Honey And Smoked Paprika

Combining something sweet with something spicy is an old tradition that has come back into fashion. It is no longer uncommon to see chili-infused chocolate in grocery stores, and the reason is of course that it works. We bought some amazing honey in Jamaica, which brings the best out in this great cheese, the Rembrandt extra aged Gouda. The smoked paprika takes it up a notch. The simple life.

Ciabatta with Rembrandt Extra Aged Gouda, Jamaican Logwood Honey And Paprika
Ciabatta with Rembrandt Extra Aged Gouda, Jamaican Logwood Honey And Paprika

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Potatoes Au Gratin

Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe

  • 1 pound of potatoes
  • 1/2 onion, cut into slices
  • 2 minced garlic cloves
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • Optionally: Add 3 tsp butter, spread out on top before baking.

Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Lay them out in a casserole. Mix everything else together and pour over the potatoes. If the cheese stays on top then mix it in. Place casserole in the middle of a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. If the potatoes starts getting burned, turn oven down to 450, and cover with aluminum foil. Leave them an additional 10 minutes in that case. We have  a very bad oven, we know.

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Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad Recipe

  • 4 roasted garlic
  • 3 tbs Mayo
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds (anis)
  • 1/4 grated onion
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 grated garlic
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Tarragon Mustard
  • 5 oz chicken pieces (picked from roasted chicken)

Mash the roasted garlic to a pulp with a fork, then mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Rejoyce, you are done!
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Corned Beef Coleslaw With Avocado on Demi Baguette Sandwich

Well, well, it seems we are to be featured in the upcoming Costco Connection magazine (March), with one of our recipes. We’re very excited of course, so make sure you read the next one carefully :). This was planned back in December, which means we spent Christmas contemplating St. Patrick’s Day inspired sandwiches. This is the one that was not chosen to be in the magazine, but which we really loved. It’s based on corned beef naturally, and it has a little green in it. We hope you enjoy, and check back at the end of February to see which one made the (cold) cut…

Corned Beef Cole Slaw With Avocado on Demi Baguette Sandwich
Corned Beef Cole Slaw With Avocado on Demi Baguette Sandwich

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