Category Archives: Pepper

Hummus, Grilled Feta and Roasted Pepper Sandwich

A few weeks ago, we had a friend visiting for the weekend.  He is a recent convert to the omnivore lifestyle – after over 30 years of a purely vegetarian diet.  Food is nearly like a religion and each style has its adherents who hold to it with zeal and conviction that borders on fanaticism.  So when our friend converted, we were so thrilled that he had chosen to walk the other side that we now consider it our mission to ensure that his forays into the omnivore lifestyle are rewarding enough to cement his place as a member of our growing sect 🙂 “Thou shalt not backslide”.   Still, even with this new adventurous palate, his lifetime of preparing only vegetarian cuisine means that he is at a loss as to what to do when confronted with meat or fish.  He does well enough when dining out, but at home he needs to prepare vegetarian cuisine if he is to eat at all.

When he visited, he remarked that our blog is woefully lacking in vegetarian style sandwiches that he could create at home.  We have been remiss, and so have prepared this little sandwich in his honor. Subu, this one’s for you (more acts of repentance to follow).

Hummus, Grilled Feta and Roasted Pepper Sandwich
Hummus, Grilled Feta and Roasted Pepper Sandwich

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Review: ‘Luxus Bagel’ at the Bagels Corner In Copenhagen, Denmark

There are some thinks that don’t translate so well across cultures. Bagels might be one of them. It was a dreary afternoon in Copenhagen, Denmark, when I walked into the Bagels Corner. A bit hungry I could not get myself to settle for a plain cream cheese bagel, so instead I opted for the luxury bagel (Choice of smoked salmon, shrimp, pesto chicken, Mexican chicken, etc). I decided on pesto chicken, and selected a whole-wheat bagel with rolled oats on top. Looked great. Then the lady asked me for what type of cream cheese I wanted. Cream cheese? Whaaaat? I decided to see where this would go, so I picked the herb-cream cheese. She added a generous layer. Then the pesto chicken (lots of it), then lettuce, cucumber, corn, and finally she asked me to pick a dressing. I selected the curry dressing. Again she added a generous layer on top, and closed up the bagel. Oh dear!

Review: 'Luxus Bagel' at the Bagels Corner in Copenhagen
Review: 'Luxus Bagel' at the Bagels Corner in Copenhagen

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Grilled Eggplant Crostini Appetizer

Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s book “Jamie’s Italy” this is one of our favorite appetizers so far this year. It also looks beautiful. The crunchy toasted pane siciliano bread and the smoothness of the eggplant (or Aubergine as we call it in Denmark), goes very well together and fills your mouth with flavor and adventure. Eggplant seems to be largely a forgotten vegetable in the US, at least in SoCal (Southern California), and really it’s a wonderful ingredient in many dishes. People, wake up and smell the eggplant!

Grilled Eggplant Appetizer
Grilled Eggplant Appetizer

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Caprese Panini Sandwich

We love caprese salads so much we had Phil’s BBQ change their menu and serve it at our wedding (They did a great job too). So, it should come as no surprise that we had to try and turn the art of the caprese into a sandwich. A panini sandwich to be exact. It has all the classic ingredients: Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For the bread we went with our own homemade pesto-sourdough bread, but any regular sourdough will do just fine.

Caprese Panini Sandwich
Caprese Panini Sandwich
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Rhapsody In Green: Grilled Zucchini Sandwich

Many of the sandwiches on this blog are the result of a specific plan and shopping trip to realize an idea that one or both of us have. I’ll be sitting at work and have an idea that just must be pursued. More often than not, this means I have to make a trip to the grocery store to purchase one of more of the critical component for the dreamed-up sandwich. Other times, a sandwich just sort of emerges from the ingredients on hand- it’s a case of just opening the refrigerator and pantry doors and letting our creativity run wild. In Jamaica, we have a saying for that: “tun yuh han’ an mek fashion”. I won’t bother providing the literal translation, since, as with all languages, much gets lost in that endeavor. I suppose the nearest English equivalent I can find is: ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. Hmm.. even that attempt seems to dilute the essence of this colloquialism.

Anyway, this sandwich was one result of us making fashion by sleight of hand. The ingredients – pugiliese bread, blue cheese and salsa verde left over from the much-mentioned recent wedding @ and zucchini left unused from recent stir fry.

Rhapsody in green
Rhapsody in green

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Corned Beef Burger with Mayo-less Coleslaw

Just for fun, we thought we would ask if Costco would publish one of our sandwiches. That was in November 2009.  Imagine our excitement when they said yes! So, due to their long production time, we were scheduled for the March issue of the Costco Connection magazine. The editor asked us if perhaps we could make a St. Patrick’s day inspired sandwich, with corned beef. Of course we could, and with a deadline of mid-january, our Christmas consisted of making several corned-beef adventures since none of us have ever really used it (turns out corned beef is quite tasty). Of our many corned beef sandwiches (some of which we have published already here), we had two favorites:

The winner was this one, a delicious burger with a side of mayo-less coleslaw. Costco unfortunately ran out of space, so the coleslaw couldn’t make it in the magazine. This is, however, the entire recipe. Let us know what you think.

Corned Beef Burger with Mayo-less Coleslaw
Corned Beef Burger with Mayo-less Coleslaw

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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.

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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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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