Category Archives: Sandwiches

Grilled Zucchini Sandwich With Oven-Roasted Tomatoes & Parsley-Jalapeno Paste

If you’ve been in San Diego for the past few weeks, you would be wondering where is that glorious San Diego sunshine that we are known for. It’s been nothing but rain and overcast skies and nary a day above 70 degrees. Of course, for our mid-West and East coast friends, you are now reading this with great disdain for our inability to tolerate any temperature below 70. We can’t help it – we are spoiled. In my case though I don’t mind the colder weather as much as I mind what it means for the backyard garden. It is in the decline of production that I see the first signs of the end of summer, and am reminded that I need to get the jackets cleaned before the winter really hits us. The tomatoes have yielded the last of their crop; the cucumbers have given up their valiant fight; the basil plants are beginning to go to seed and the zucchini – that prodigious producer – has finally kicked the bucket. Time to pull up the old plants and start with the winter garden. In the meantime, here’s a sandwich that serves as an ode to summers past: grilled zucchini with parsley-jalapeno paste and roasted tomatoes. We made this in the good old days of summer.

Grilled Zucchini Sandwich With Oven Roasted Tomatoes And Hot Salsa Verde
Grilled Zucchini Sandwich With Oven Roasted Tomatoes And Hot Salsa Verde

Continue reading Grilled Zucchini Sandwich With Oven-Roasted Tomatoes & Parsley-Jalapeno Paste

Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey

Reason number 1099 why I love living in Southern California: fig season! We don’t have our own fig tree – a gardening oversight that we plan on remedying soon. We have the perfect spot picked out and Wendie has done her research to determine which variety to grow. More on that later. Between the local farmers markets and generous friends we’ve eaten more figs this season than in our entire lives. We love eating them fresh from the tree and have also experimented with making preserves, jams, sandwiches and this latest use – on pizzas. This little configuration was served as dessert in a recent pizza party: fig and goat cheese pizza with caramelized figs and onions.

Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey
Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey

Continue reading Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey

Zucchini Fritter Appetizer With Sun Dried Tomato

Once again, we had a refrigerator full of leftovers, so we decided to make a few appetizers for a midday snack. There is no great or deep background story, no childhood memories or frustrations. Just a simple appetizer.

Zucchini Fritter Sandwich With Sun Dried Tomatoes
Zucchini Fritter Sandwich With Sun Dried Tomatoes
Continue reading Zucchini Fritter Appetizer With Sun Dried Tomato

Hummus And Buffalo Mozzarella Sandwich

This is a simple sandwich for people in a rush (well, assuming you have the ingredients available). You need some hummus, and a bit of really good mozzarella, like this buffalo mozzarella which is smooth and creamy. We make our own hummus, which is a variation on this recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Hummus. This is a spicy hummus with cilantro and banana peppers instead of the sun-dried tomato basil.

Hummus And Buffalo Mozzarella Sandwich
Hummus And Buffalo Mozzarella Sandwich

Continue reading Hummus And Buffalo Mozzarella Sandwich

The ArtiClogger: Monte Cristo Cinnamon Sandwich (Poway Style)

Our friends Shelley and Jens have a thing for stuff that is deep fried. Being from the south, Shelley grew up frying fowl, but Jens is Danish and just developed a taste for it after meeting Shelley (we think). In any case, their love is strong so for Jens’ birthday last month, they had a ‘bring stuff to deep-fry’ party. We had deep fried chicken legs and thighs and wings, battered deep fried shrimp, deep fried Twinkies (Better than un-fried I might add, although still disgusting), and of course we brought; Sandwiches. We were a bit shocked to discover this, but of course someone has done this before, and there is a famous sandwich called the Monte Cristo with turkey, ham and cheese, and served with sugar and jam on top; a sweet, possible dessert, sandwich. So, we made it (and it was good, but fattening like a neutron bomb in your belly). This was an evening party and we forgot our good camera, so please excuse the photo quality…

Monte Cristo Cinnamon Sandwich
Monte Cristo Cinnamon Sandwich

Continue reading The ArtiClogger: Monte Cristo Cinnamon Sandwich (Poway Style)

Review: Belen Artisan Bakers Ciabatta Roastbeef Sandwich

The Belen Artisan Bakery is owned by José. It is located in Escondido a bit of the beaten path. They specialize in European artisan breads, and so naturally we went there only to find they made sandwiches. We had a roast beef sandwich on ciabatta bread, with avocado, tomato and olives. The bread was perfect; just a bit crunchy on the outside, thick, and fresh and spongy on the inside, and you could clearly taste the freshness that so many sandwiches lack. Service was speedy, and sitting outside on their little patio a delight, despite the odd location and nearby road.

Review: Belen Artisan Bakers Ciabatta Roast beef Sandwich
Review: Belen Artisan Bakers Ciabatta Roast beef Sandwich - Lovely cut-through of the sandwich

Continue reading Review: Belen Artisan Bakers Ciabatta Roastbeef Sandwich

Crazy for Shrimp: Sandwich With Cilantro Lime Shrimp, Red Onions, Black Olives And Pesto

This sandwich is literally a result of a quick raid of our refrigerator. We found some shrimp and olives, the last of our sun dried tomato hummus, and a bit of blue cheese. So, we made a sandwich (of course). You may recognize the cilantro-lime shrimp from earlier sandwiches, as they constitute a quarterly craving. Moving from Denmark to San Diego, one of the things I thoroughly enjoy are the large shrimp. Every shrimp I ate growing up (not many) were tiny, no more than an inch long, and thin to. We did shrimp in numbers, and adding those to a sandwich like this would have taken maybe 25 to 30. It’s such a joy to bite into the larger more succulent shrimp and really taste the meat, although the danish ones are by no means bad at all.

Crazy for Shrimp: Sandwich With Cilantro Lime Shrimp, Red Onions, Black Olives And Pesto
Crazy for Shrimp: Sandwich With Cilantro Lime Shrimp, Red Onions, Black Olives And Pesto

Continue reading Crazy for Shrimp: Sandwich With Cilantro Lime Shrimp, Red Onions, Black Olives And Pesto

Breakfast Soft-Boiled Egg Sandwich

The breakfast sandwich is one sandwich that doesn’t get enough mention on this blog. Perhaps that’s because I’ve considered my breakfast sandwich choices to be too uninspired for this blog.  Some people’s idea of a breakfast sandwich is bacon, eggs, sausage, cheese or some combination thereof. Mine is much simpler – just an egg (either soft boiled or scrambled) that gets enjoyed on a weekend morning (typically Saturdays).  For me, Saturday mornings are rife with possibilities. It is the beginning of two uninterrupted days of freedom when I can indulge some of the little personal pleasures that are bypassed in the hustle and bustle of the work week. One of these is the breakfast.  On workdays, breakfast is a grab-and-go cup of coffee or tea and whatever fruit happens to be available at the moment, both of which gets consumed during my commute to the office.  If I’m particularly hungry, a boiled egg gets tossed into the mix, to be eaten when I arrive at work.  I look forward to the slower pace of the weekend breakfast. There I have a leisurely meal that serves as punctuation between my work week and weekend of freedom.  For the most part, the basic ingredients remain the same as the work week breakfast; what differs is the preparation and presentation.  The coffee/tea is served in a mug/teacup rather than my travel thermos; the single fruit is exchanged for a bowl of homemade fresh fruit salad; and the egg is served either scrambled or soft boiled, with or without a slice of toast.   Better yet is that I get to enjoy this sitting on my favorite garden bench (weather permitting).  It’s  a breakfast that is a sort of culinary exhalation – as if to say,  “Aaah.. it’s weekend and this is my time.”

Breakfast Egg Sandwich
Breakfast Egg Sandwich

Continue reading Breakfast Soft-Boiled Egg Sandwich

Pizza With Sautéed Leeks, Grilled Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Whipped with Lemon Zest

This summer we have introduced a new tradition in the Amazing Sandwich home – Pizza Cook-off Fridays. What started as dinner with a friend who came over to show us how to make pizza on the grill, has morphed into my new favorite evening of the week. The basic concept is this: get some friends together, Anders and I provide the dough and competitors bring their favorite wines and toppings for 3-4 hours of trash talking, ardent pizza making, even more ardent eating, and just a wonderfully good time.  So far, we’ve had some awesome creations: classic margarita with fresh tomatoes from our respective gardens; pesto with grilled mushrooms; feta with hummus, grilled pork and finished with tahini drizzle; smoked salmon with thin lemon slivers; apricots with prosciutto and arugula. But my favorite so far was one entry from last weekend: sautéed leeks with garlic, grilled oyster and shimeji mushrooms, buffalo mozzarella and then topped with dollops of a whipped goat cheese/lemon zest blend and sprinkled with fresh thyme.  It was divine. I mean really…it was soo good it bears repeating – it was divine!  We whipped the goat cheese with a fork, added some lemon zest and bit of olive oil.  After baking in the oven, it was so light and creamy and the lemon just gave it the perfect amount of tang.  I can’t wait till Friday – we might just make this one again.

Leeks with grilled shimeji and oyster mushrooms and topped with whipped goat cheese
Leeks with grilled shimeji and oyster mushrooms and topped with whipped goat cheese

Continue reading Pizza With Sautéed Leeks, Grilled Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Whipped with Lemon Zest

Crab Cake Sandwich With Focaccia Bread

For the past few weeks I have been berating Anders that he has abandoned his sandwich making craft. Berating is a bit strong – more like a strongly nudging.  He has been focusing on taking photos while I make the sandwiches.  This week, he heard me and made this tasty sandwich that proves even more than his passport and birth certificate, that he is indeed from the land where smorrebrod was born.  It was one of those evenings when I just got home from work and crashed with no thought as to dinner. I was in the middle of one of those marathon phone conversations with one of my girlfriends when Anders came through the door, smiled and nodded in my direction and headed to the kitchen.   He was a man on a mission.  15 minutes later, his mission became clear. He returned to the living room with this dinner sandwich that was so good to look at that I felt guilty eating it.  Not too guilty though.  Costco membership that made purchasing the crabcakes possible: $60/year and worth every penny and more.  Having a husband with smorrebrod making in his DNA: priceless!

Crab cake sandwich with cucumber, red pepper, and mozzarella on focaccia bread
Crab cake sandwich with cucumber, red pepper, and mozzarella on focaccia bread

Continue reading Crab Cake Sandwich With Focaccia Bread