Meatless Monday: The City Girl Sandwich

"I'm what you call a bona fide city girl"-Carrie Bradshaw, Sex & the City.

I love city life. I love the noise, the fast pace, the diversity, and the general sense that in the event I'm attacked on the street, even if people are too callous to help me, they they will at least be there to hear me scream. Ok, so I don't love that last part, but as far as I'm concerned, the opportunities and excitement of city living  makes dodging reckless drivers, overpaying for drinks, and looking over my shoulder on the walk home from work everyday totally worth it. With that said, however, I also appreciate country life, and have recently found myself enamored with the Pioneer Woman, her life on a dairy farm, and the culinary masterpieces she churns out of her kitchen. I couldn't help but be inspired by her Marlboro Man Sandwich, named for her cattle wrangling (though hopefully not cigarette smoking) husband. But I wrangle a poodle, not cattle, so I did what I do best, and made this sandwich my own, in a very city girl type of way.

I knew immediately I wanted to make my version of this sandwich vegetarian, largely because I can't afford grass fed beef, and don't eat much red meat in general. I used portabello mushrooms specifically because of their rich, meaty texture. I also didn't use butter, but you'll see what I did use instead later...

Oh chopped garlic, how I love thee.

The PW's recipe uses provolone, but I really wanted the sharpness of gorgonzola, because I'm a city girl and I don't have patience for mild cheeses.

So I didn't use an ounce of butter to saute the vegetables--a sharp contrast to the almost whole stick of butter used in the PW's original recipe--because I used rendered bacon fat and olive oil instead. I really wanted a deeper flavor base for this dish, that olive oil on its own just could not provide. I had pan fried some bacon with rosemary for breakfast that morning, and saved the fat in the pan specifically for making this dish (see pan in background). But I also keep a jar of bacon grease in my fridge just for cooking purposes (yes, I save all bacon grease). But because I do so love olive oil, for its flavor, and life prolonging qualities, I also used a generous amount of rosemary infused olive oil in which to saute the vegetables. No regrets.

The PW's recipe also called for sherry, but I've never even tasted sherry, let alone have it stocked in my pantry. But I did have bourbon, because I always have bourbon in my pantry. Always.

The most important part of this processes was letting the vegetables simmer to let the flavors really develop.

And the best part of the flavor developing process is the taste test. During the taste testing/flavor developing process, I realized two things: More bourbon is better and using bacon fat was the best idea ever!

I toasted my baguette in a little bit of pan jus and olive oil

And nothing says love on a sandwich like a bit of cheese and a few minutes under the broiler

 

This city girl could eat this sandwich everyday. I must say, this is one of the best things I've ever created in my kitchen. The vegetables had this complex flavor from the worcestershire and the bourbon, with a slight bacon finish that paired so well with the blue cheese. I literally patted myself on the back for this one, but the credit really goes to the Pioneer Woman. She's a freakin genius!

The City Girl Sandwich

Print this Recipe!

Olive oil

Rosemary Infused Olive Oil

Rendered Bacon Fat

Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 lb portabello mushrooms, sliced lengthwise

3 Whole Bell Peppers, red, orange, and yellow; sliced into rings

2 small onions, thickly sliced

1 tbsp chopped garlic

4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup Bourbon

2 tbsp Sriracha 

1 French Baguette

Gorgonzola Cheese

Slice mushrooms lengthwise, generously season with salt and pepper and set aside. Heat on medium-high heat, melt 2 tbsp of bacon fat and 3 tbsp of rosemary infused olive in heavy skillet. Saute mushrooms in 3 batches, about 2 minutes each side. Remove from heat, and cover with foil.

Add more rosemary infused olive oil and bacon fat to pan, and add onions, peppers, and garlic to pan. Saute about 5 minutes, until tender but not flimsy. Remove from heat, cover with foil and set aside.

Add a drizzle of olive oil to pan, and return mushrooms to pan. Add bourbon, worcestershire, and sriracha. Allow to simmer for about 3 minutes, then add peppers and onions. Simmer vegetables another 2-3 minutes. Add more salt, worceshtire and/or bourbon as needed. And an extra squeeze of sriracha for good measure. Remove from from pan, cover with foil, and set aside. In the same pan, keep just a very small bit of jus and add olive oil. Toast a halved baguette in olive oil until browned and crisp. Top bread with vegetable mixture, and sliced gorgonzola. Put under the broiler for about two minutes, until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately, and enjoy.

Meatless Monday: Apple, Cheddar, and Arugula Sandwich

I know you though I forgot about Meatless Monday, but here it is, albeit after the close of business, but let's not split hairs here. I have always been intrigued by the concept of combining apples and cheese.  I was first introduced to this concept through season 5 of Top Chef, which featured my all time favorite contestant, Carla Hall. She made some kick ass apple pie and paired it with a simple wedge of cheddar. ::sidebar:: How she didn't win fan favorite that season is BEYOND me! I mean sure, Fabio was kinda cute and fresh off the boat from Italy, but take away that accent and he loses much of his charm. Carla's personality, however, just could not be beat and she's totally my friend in my head! Fabio could've been my lovah in my head, but it's obvious that he's put on some weight, so I think I'll pass:: But back to the apple and cheese. I remember thinking the combination of apple and cheddar cheese sounded strange and delicious, but soon forgot about it. Fast forward to a few weeks agao, when one of my favorite food blogs, A Cozy Kitchen featured an apple and cheddar crostini.  I was instantly reminded of my fascination with the combination, and vowed to recreate their recipe. But the beauty of my inability to follow directions is that it allows for creative freedom, which is exactly how I created this sandwich.

The foundation of any good sandwich, is the bread. I'm a huge fan of French baguettes, however, finding the perfect baguette is a labor of love that often results in me shelling out $3 for an acceptable, but not exceptional baguette from Whole Check Foods. On top of that foundation, there must be flavor and moisture agents. I ABHOR mayonnaise, but I cherish any opportunity to use dijon mustard. And what would cooking be without a wild card, like say a spreadable blue cheese? Oh yes, I went there.

My obsession with pepper knows no bounds, as I am enamored with arugula because of it's peppery bite. And the fact that's it's a green leafy vegetable packed with essential vitamins and minerals makes it the ideal alternative to water logged, and nutrient lacking lettuce.

Print this Recipe!
Ingredients
1 Granny Smith Apple, cored and thinly sliced
2 oz NY Sharp Cheddar, thinly sliced
1 oz Gorgonzola Dolce
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
Fresh Arugula
1/4 French Baguette, split down the middle

Spread each side of bread with mustard and blue cheese, add arugula leaves, and intermittently layer with apple and cheese slices. And if you're anything like me, top with a little fresh cracked black pepper, and enjoy.

Croque-Mademoiselle

Anyone that knows anything about French cooking knows that it can range from the ridiculously complex and sophisticated to the absurdly simple and rustic. It's what I love about French food. It's also what I hate about it. Those same anyones that know anything about French food also know that the complex simplistic nature of French cooking is what elevates the humble ham and cheese sandwich to the out of worldly goodness that is the croque-monsieur and the croque-madame. I don't know the history of these sandwiches, but what I do know is that some evil genius thought to add dijon mustard, copious amounts of melted butter with a thick layer of a gruyere cheese saturated béchamele on the outside of a black forest ham sandwich, plus or minus a fried egg. What I also know is that when I came home after pole class and errands Wednesday evening, I didn't have gruyere cheese, black forest ham, or the patience to make a béchamele sauce. BUT I did have applewood smoked bacon, shredded extra sharp cheddar, and dijon mustard. I think you know where I went with this. A new sandwich was born...

Ingredients
3 slices thick cut, applewood smoked bacon
1 egg, fried
2 slices whole wheat bread
3 oz shredded extra sharp cheddar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 oz rendered bacon fat (bacon grease, yeah son!)
Handful of fresh spinach and arugula
Fresh ground black pepper

On a heavy baking sheet, bake bacon in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. While bacon is in the oven, toast slices of bread until a light golden brown. Spread mustard on one slice of bread, and set aside. Place a heavy (or nonstick) skillet on medium-high heat, add bacon fat and a healthy dose of black pepper. Add unbeaten egg to skillet,  sprinkle the top with black pepper, and fry for about 2-3 minutes, until egg white is firm. Slide the egg around in pan, flip and fry it yolk side down for 15 seconds to 1 minute (depending on desired level of yolk doneness). When done, remove from pan, and set aside. Assemble sandwich by adding greens to mustard slathered slice of bread, add cooked bacon slices, and top with second slice of bread. Transfer  sandwich to the same baking sheet on which bacon was cooked directly onto the leftover bacon fat. Top sandwich with shredded cheddar, and place into a 400 degree oven for about 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and top with fried egg, and serve immediately.

I don't think I have to tell you about how awesome this meal was, but I'm going to. It was slap the poodle good. That's right. Whilst eating this sandwich, I looked at my precious Kona, and wanted to slap him in his cute little face. Ok, that's not true, but you get my drift. 

Oh and there's more! Thanks to a dear friend who is home from Japan for the holiday season, and insisted on meeting up for drinks on a weekday, I have a large can of pineapple juice in my fridge. This is an occurrence rarer than Halley's Comet, seeing as how I only keep water, coffee, or booze in my apartment. So I made a potent potable to accompany my profanely good sandwich, and this time I named it.

I can't believe my basil plant has managed to survive for over 2 months!

The Yankee Belle
1 1/2 parts bourbon
2 parts pineapple juice
4 leaves fresh basil slightly crushed
Pour over ice, stir, don't shake

You're welcome :)

Manchego & Basil Bacony Grilled Cheese

All hail the queen of bacon...and that queen would be me! I don't see you hailing...*waiting*...*hailing ensues*...that's better. Actually, now that I mention it, I wonder if there is some bacon themed pageant somewhere out there in this great nation of ours. Can't you just picture it? Somewhere in a fly-over state, there's some poor little 9 year old girl dressed like a 27 year old street walker with a fake tan, trannie make-up, and a painfully big smile plastered on her dead behind the eyes little face while she parades around a stage like a show dog trying trying to earn the love of her overbearing and tragically desperate mother by living out her unfulfilled dreams.  Ok, so obviously I have some strong opinions about child pageants, but I would gladly pay money to observe grown ass women participate in a bacon beauty pageant. That's just too good of an imaginary opportunity to laugh my ass off while burning with secret envy to pass up. But as always I digress.

Manchego isn't typically used in grilled cheese, because it's not a very melty cheese. I typically don't have the capacity to keep anything alive that doesn't poop or bark [and even then, I have my moments] but somehow I have managed to keep my potted basil plant alive and thriving for three whole weeks. So in celebration of the things that shouldn't be, I decided to combine these two ingredients to make the ultimate grilled cheese. Where's the bacon? Glad you asked. There's isn't any actual bacon in the sandwich, but I did fry it in left over bacon grease from my morning's breakfast. You read that right mi amores, left over bacon grease--don't knock it till you try it.

Ingredients
Sandwich
2 slices whole wheat bread
(lots) Machego cheese, sliced

6-7 leaves basil

Fresh ground black pepper

1 tbsp butter

3 oz rendered bacon fat (foodie speak for bacon grease)

you know I didn't just eat a grille cheese sandwich alone...

Lemon Roasted Broccoli

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 large broccoli crowns, chopped

1 lemon, juiced

olive oil

Sea Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Assemble sandwich by layering the sliced cheese with basil leaves. Generously season with black pepper. Heat bacon fat and butter in skillet on medium heat. Add sandwich to pan and press flat with spatula, hold for about 30 seconds. Cover skillet with lid and let sandwich cook for 2 minutes. Flip sandwich, press flat with spatula and let cook another 2-3 minutes on second side, or until cheese is melted and bread is browned and crisp. 

Chop broccoli into small bites, toss with chopped garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until roasty and delicious.

The sandwich was awesome, basil makes everything better, and though manchego isn't the meltiest cheese, the flavor is fantastic. And the bacon flavor was the perfect amount wrong and delicious. I am a genius.

La Comida: Jamón, Jamón con Patatas, Jamón con Huevos, y Màs Jamón

How many different ways can you eat jamon? Just ask the Spanish, the possibilities, apparently, are endless! I've never eaten so much pork in my life, let alone in a two week span of time! Obviously, the Spaniards are into ham. and sausage. and eggs. and cheese. and potatoes. and bread. and more jamòn. and NOT vegetables. How they don't drop dead at age 50 is beyond me, but I'm going to chuck it up to all the olive oil, red wine, walking, and LIVING life rather than working it. Quite frankly, jamòn was a recurring theme on most restaurant menus, became a the running joke of our entire trip, and will now forever hold a special place in my heart. Thank You, Spain!

In general, the food was good. Not great, not life changing, [for life changing food, go to Italy, as I plan to to do again in the next three years!] but good. The food lacked variety, for obvious reasons, and they Spanish just didn't seem as passionate about fresh, quality ingredients as some of their other European neighbors. With that said, I'll share some of my favorite dishes with you.

Paella de Arroz Negro

I didn't eat as much seafood as I thought I would, especially in Barcelona, mostly because the Spanish are really into octopus, and I'm really NOT. But the this paella was amazing. Shrimp with the heads still on and mussels really freak me out. But this dish was so good, I just detached the heads and got over my fear of mussels and kept it moving. I even ate around the octopus pieces. It was THAT good.

Chorizo

I can't put my finger on what makes it so great. Maybe it's the light saltiness, or the smokiness, or the fact that it oozes bright orange oil. I dunno, but this chorizo and tomato bocadillo with olive oil from a small bar in Madrid was the tastiest sandwich I had in all of Spain. It was so simple, yet really really good. I even bought some chorizo here and recreated this sandwich, which I of course followed with some vegetables. It wasn't as good as the original, but darn close.

Patatas Bravas

This was the house specialty at the Argumosa restaurant in Madrid. They don't look like much, but that sauce was effin delicious. And, when the potatoes where all gone, we sopped up the rest of the sauce with bread. Yeah, son. It's like that.

¡Sobrasada!

hands down, my favorite dish in Spain.

Served on bread with melted manchego at some restaurant in El Puerto de Santa Maria.  It was LIFE. CHANGING. It was SLAP YO' MAMA GOOD! I almost creamed my pants eating this dish. Seriously. I wanted to live in this sauce!  I tried to buy some to bring home, but sadly, what they had at the market required refrigeration.  But I think I may have  found it on a website in a jar. But if that doesn't work out, I'm sure I can work my Spain connections if I get desperate. Right primo?

Ribs

I think this pictures pretty much says it all. Dinner at Parrilla in El Puerto de Santa Maria. It took me three days to finish them. 3 glorious days! And if you didn't know already, hear me know, the Spanish [and all other Spanish speaking people] KNOW how to work a pig. Keep that in mind when eating Latin food.

Vegetables!
The Moroccans understood the importance of vegetables, God bless them for it! I was so hard up for some plant based food, I ate vegetables that I typically hate, like beets and pumpkin, and loved them!

The pumpkin and beets were sweet, and chilled, and scrumptious. why can't they taste like that here?!

Lamb Tangine

Where do I start on this one. First, there were more vegetables, generously seasoned and deliciously cooked. And the lamb, it was so tender, I could cut it with my fork. This was an expensive dinner for our first night in Marrakech, but totally worth it.

Honey Pastries

These sweet treats were delicious! I don't know what they are called, the green one was filled with pistachio, the other was some sort of deep fried dough and tasted of and cinnamon and with a hint of cloves, both were drenched in honey! There were so many different types pastries in the market, I wish I had tried more!  And I must mention the Moroccan honey. It had a distinct flowery flavor, it was a dark amber color, and tasted far better than any honey I've ever had here. I really wish I had made more of an effort to buy some, but that's what my next trip to Marrakech is for.

All in all, I enjoyed the food enough. And guess what, I've been craving jamòn for days, lol! I now present to you a slide show of the collective eatings of España and Morocco.

::side bar:: I'm well aware that salsa music is a Cuban original, not a Spanish one. But I love this song :)

The "Luther" and other Fatness at the Beach

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend! I sure did, which is why I'm just blogging about it now. [still no policy post...I'll get to it I swear!] As to be expected on this momentous holiday [did you stop to remember our veterans?] there was beaching, boozing, and BBQing . I now present to you, my trip down fatness lane:

Saturday it rained off and on, so rather than hit the beach, we did Delaware TAX FREE outlet shopping! [I was a very good girl, purchased only vacation necessities and spent less than $50]. A breakfast fit for shopaholics was necessary, which, of course meant donuts!

"The Luther"  If you are a fan of the Boondocks, (start at 2:01) you should know what I'm talking about, lol.

Its actually a Prunewich from the Fracture Prune Donut Shoppe. If there is one near you, check them out. Best.Donuts.EVER!

*In my defense, its not actually as bad as the Luther, the donuts aren't glazed and its not a hamburger*

**Defense killer: It was effin' delicious and I didn't feel an ounce of guilt for eating it. Not one ounce**

***again, in my defense, I would never eat more than two of these a year, seriously***

The Donuts. Oh you thought I went to Fractured Prune and just got a prunewich? Umm....negative!

French Toast & Strawberry Shortcake. Orgasmic! And the coffee with cream, no sugar, was a perfect complement!

had to do the promo shot. Those are Joe's hands, not mine [obviously]

So I was too hungry to take pictures of the wings and pizza for dinner, but really there's nothing special about pizza and wings anyway. On to Dewey!

I did mention there was boozin, right? [that's Joe, Hill's boo-love, not some random white guy, LOL]

There was no way we weren't taking a pic with Allen from the Hangover!
*It should be mentioned that Dewey Beach Nightlife is very college night life like. It brings fond memories from UD*

Sunday at Rehoboth Beach!

You know, we actually didn't take a single pic of us lounging about on the beach. There was entirely too much girl talk going on for that.  And then we got hungry....

What the fastest growing burger chain in the country that's so good that even Obama [Hope & Change!] has been famously seen going there that's now at the beach and you wouldn't think its what you want to eat at the beach until you see it and the smell lures you in the door and before you know it you're ordering a meal??

That's right, it's 5 Guys!

The grease spots = love. Kinda like butter, but peanut oil instead.

The Rehoboth Beach tradition as dictated by Thrashers (best fries on the boardwalk) is ketchup is for burgers, salt and malt vinegar are for fries! <3

and then there was the cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and grilled onions. It was GLORIOUS.

I got a "Little Burger" rather than the regular because sitting behind us on the sand there was this Asian barbie doll chick with ridiculous breast implants and zero body fat, which was pissing me off as I was stuffing my face with 5 Guys. Go figure.

Great BBQ. Almost no pics.

So after the beach, I went Toya's for her first BBQ as a Wife and Homeowner [an hour north of the beach, yeah I was a road warrior!] Needless to say all that driving [with the poodle in tow] was exhausting. I was having way too much fun and too tired to remember to take pics of all the food I ate. But I do have these gems...

Lots of laughing, lots of boozing

Blueberry Yum Yum. Oh yes

Its a shame I didn't take pics of the food, there were the usual: burgers, hot dogs, potato salad. And there were some pluses, like mac n cheese, seafood salad and crabs. I actually did think about taking pics of the crabs, but by then I was already elbow deep in old bay. and besides, we all know eating crabs looks a lot like this:

not a good look, son.

But at the end of the day, or more like 2am, it was a great and tasty weekend.

Happy Memorial Day!