The Noble Sandwich

 

When I was growing up, sandwiches were for lunch, never dinner. And were, according to my father’s rules about table manners, the only food you picked up with your hands (we never, ever had fried chicken). But today, my family enjoys a good hearty sandwich for supper. And with summer coming, we’re looking for lighter meals. We may be fooling ourselves about lightness, but it’s a change from casseroles or meat and potatoes.  Here are some of our favorites—note that these are what I call knife-and-fork sandwiches and wouldn’t be good picnic fare. I have excluded a Dagwood because it’s complicated, and I think I’ve shared it before. These suggestions are all for one sandwich.

The Colonial Open-Faced Sandwich

I think this is pretty universal, but I always associate it with Colonial Country Club because that’s where I first ate it more years ago than I care to remember. I haven’t been there for quite some time, but last I knew it wasn’t on the menu, but you could ask for it.

Ingredients:

1 slice rye bread

Sliced ham

Sliced turkey

Sliced Swiss cheese

Thousand Island dressing

Sliced hard-boiled egg.

Layer ingredients in the order listed. Whether to toast the bread or not, is up to you. At Colonial, it’s served with a pickle spear and cole slaw.

Sub sandwich Alter/Burton style

This is a copy of our favorite sandwich at a local chain. We vary the ingredients to suit each person’s taste.

Ingredients:

Hoagie roll coated with mayonnaise, mustard, Thousand Island dressing, ketchup, whatever you want. I prefer mayonnaise.

Meat – your choice. Jordan, Christian and Jacob like turkey and pastrami; I prefer ham and capricola or mortadella; you can sub deli roast beef, roast lamb, salami, whatever you want.

Cheese – we generally use provolone, but you can use Swiss, cheddar, etc.

Shredded lettuce

Chopped tomato (except for Christian)

Splash of red wine vinegar

Scattering of dried oregano

Parmesan

Layer it in the order given

The Marshall Field Sandwich

Growing up in Chicago, Marshall Field and company was a magic place. I’m pretty sure I ate this sandwich in their restaurant called The Verandah. I was delighted to come across it recently.

Ingredients:

Thousand Island dressing

2 Tbsp. butter

One slice rye bread

Shredded iceberg lettuce

2 slices Swiss cheese

3 slices deli turkey breast

1 slice tomato

Pitted black olives (I omit because olives and I are not friends)

Sliced hard-boiled egg

8 slices bacon

Butter the bread and then layer ingredients as listed through turkey breast. Cover with Thousand Island dressing

Use tomato, egg, olive (speared on a toothpick) and bacon as garnish

Roast beef sandwich

This has a more descriptive name, but I can’t remember it and can’t find the recipe.

1 slice rye bread (you can easily make this a regular sandwich with two slices bread or a hamburger bun; we found the recommended brioche bun was too much bread.

A couple slices deli roast beef (lamb would be good, if you like it)

One or two slices cheddar

Sliced tomato

Thousand Island dressing

Sauteed shallots – I keep quick-pickled red onion in the fridge and found them tastier than the shallots. But to sauté shallots, slice very thin. Spread olive oil in skillet and put sliced shallots in cold skillet. Raise heat to medium high and cook, stirring frequently, until they are browned and caramelized. They burn quickly, so don’t step away from the skillet. Drain on paper towels before using to garnish sandwich.

Quick pickled red onion

Slice one red onion thinly, making uniform slices if you can. Pack into a glass jar. In a small pan, heat 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup water, 2 Tbsp. sea salt and 1 Tbsp. sugar (you might increase sugar, depending on your taste). Heat until sugar and salt are melted. Cool slightly and pour over sliced onion. Let sit uncovered until room temperature. Then add cover to the jar and refrigerate. Will keep in fridge for some time.

Thousand Island dressing

These sandwiches call for Thousand Island, and I never ever buy commercially prepared. You do you, but here’s a basic recipe:

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

½ tsp sugar

2 Tbsp.  chili sauce

2Tbsp. pickle relish

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 hard-boiled egg, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Open-faced sandwiches for a quick, easy, and cool summer supper

 

Sophie keeping an eye on the cook in the kitchen.
After all, sometimes a bit of cheese falls on the floor.
Accidentally, of course.

The French have mastered the technique for this treat they call a tartine. Sounds sophisticated, but it’s really what you and I know as an open-faced sandwich. No, I didn’t need my fictional character, Irene, to teach me that. I’m a big fan of these easy-to-fix meals. All you need is a piece of bread and something to put on top of it. But it’s not that simple.

First you need a good piece of bread—artisan breads are probably just right. Sometimes a good, sturdy piece of rye is the best accompaniment for your toppings. In France, they trim the crust off bread for tartines. Recently I made an open-faced sandwich with the sourdough bread I love, but the crust proved difficult to cut. Trimming is good idea. You want to toast the bread and then give it a coating that will not only add flavor but will be a barrier between the toast and the toppings to prevent sogginess that might come from, say, sauteed vegetables. For a breakfast sandwich, spread butter or jam or cream cheese. At lunchtime, try spraying with olive oil or smearing with hummus or mayonnaise.

Vegetables deserve a dressing too, even if it’s a simple vinaigrette or lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Be sure vegetables are thinly sliced or diced so that they are easier to deal with. And things that might roll off, like capers or sliced scallions? Put them first on the bread, so the schmear will act as glue to hold them.

Finally, arrange the ingredients attractively—I keep quoting my mom who said food is half eaten with the eye. Think of the sandwich as a small chaucuterie board. What looks good next to what?

When you think of an open-faced sandwich, what comes to mind? Avocado toast? Lox and bagels, especially since I like mine on a slice of Jewish rye? A Kentucky Hot Brown? The possibilities are almost endless. Here are two I liked: one a new non-recipe I just found and served, the other a classic I’ve ordered and made for years. Caution: you need a knife and fork to eat these.

First, the new:

Roast beef and blue cheese open-faced sandwich*

(for one sandwich, amounts approximate and you can vary to taste)

Bread – I used sourdough but didn’t trim the crusts and wish I had; rye would also be good

Olive oil

Roast beef – deli style, thin-sliced about ¼ pound or two or three slices

Mayonnaise – 2 Tbsp

Fresh horseradish – 1 Tbsp.

Blue cheese – ¼ cup, finely crumbled

Fresh beet, steamed or roasted – about ¼ cup, finely diced

Simple vinaigrette – 1 Tbsp.

Watercress leaves – ½ cup

Toast the bread and spray it with olive oil. Combine mayonnaise and horseradish and spread mixture on toast; layer roast beef, blue cheese, beets. Drizzle vinaigrette over sandwich. Top with watercress.

And the classic. Years ago, this was served at Colonial Country Club but was not on the menu (that may still be the case—I don’t know). You had to ask for it. I have since approximated it at home many times. This is from memory, so it is a bit vague:

Rye bread

Baked ham (not smoked) – 2 deli slices

Roast turkey – 2 deli slices

Swiss cheese (or provolone) – one large slice

Thousand Island dressing, either homemade or bottled – I am sure Colonial had a house-made sauce, but I find this a good substitute. Use enough to cover the sandwich, but don’t drown it.

Hard boiled egg slices to decorate – (optional)

This is pretty self-explanatory. Just layer it as listed in the ingredients, but be sure to toast the bread and spray with olive oil.

Serve with a pickle spear.

*This was a description, not a recipe, published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The idea is attributed to Linda Gasserheimer

 

There’s tuna in my closet!

Years ago l discovered a mom-and-pop fishing business in Oregon. They don’t use nets, so the dolphins swim along next to their boat, and their tuna and/or salmon is only cooked once during the canning process (most commercial fish is cooked twice). With their product, you get pure, clean fish—no additives. But you must order by the case. No individual sales. Yep, I have a case of tuna in my closet. You can only eat tuna salad so often, so I find other ways to serve it. With summer and sandwich time coming, here are a couple of suggestions. Please don’t be afraid of the anchovies!

(The cannery always has a supply of tuna; the supply of salmon is spotty, but when you can get it, it puts all other canned salmon in the shade. Alternative: Wild Planet or other canned product that specifies “wild caught.”)

Tuna melt

For too long I resisted tuna melts when everyone else was crazy about them. But finally I experimented, adapting Ina Garten’s tuna salad to my own taste. Another of my food biases was that I didn’t much like Swiss cheese; I wanted cheddar on everything. My goodness, have I learned. Here’s how I make a tuna melt:

2 slices rye bread

Sliced Swiss cheese as needed

Tuna filling:

1 7 oz. can tuna, water-packed

A drizzle of olive oil

1/2 c. minced celery (please remember to string the celery first—something I recently realized I never taught my children

1/2 c. green onions, sliced thin

2 Tbsp. Lemon juice or to taste

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. anchovy paste (you can omit, but it won’t be as good)

Mayonnaise to bind

Drain tuna. Flake it in small bowl and drizzle with olive oil (you can use oil-packed tuna, but my closet tuna is all water-packed). Add celery, onion, salt and pepper. Separately mix about a half cup of mayonnaise with lemon juice and anchovy paste. Dress the salad, mixing thoroughly, and taste for seasoning; if too dry, add a bit more mayo cautiously—you do not want tuna soup.

Toast the bread; top it with generous helping of tuna, and cover with cheese. Make sure filling and cheese extend all the way over the edge of the toast; otherwise you’ll get charred bits of bread which detract from appearance and taste. Broil (I suggest medium setting) until cheese is bubbly and melted. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley or minced tops from a green onion and serve immediately. You’ll need a knife and fork.

Makes two sandwiches.

Pan bagnat

Pan bagnat is a French sandwich of lightly dressed vegetables, hard-boiled egg, tuna, and anchovy served on a roll, baguette, or other artisan bread. Despite the French origins, I like to make it on a ciabatta roll (Italy’s answer to the French baguette). While some recipes call for a larger round loaf (with the top sliced as you would do if you were using the bread to serve soup or a dip), I prefer to use ciabatta rolls (Italian) and make individual sandwiches. Note: you must prepare this at least four hours before serving. Overnight is okay.

Two ciabatta rolls, split

6-7 oz. canned tuna (ether oil-packed or drizzled with oil after flaking)

1 hard-boiled egg, sliced thin

¼ seedless cucumber, sliced thin

½ small red onion, sliced thin

1 Roma tomato, sliced thin

3 anchovy fillets, or 2 tsp. anchovy paste – divided use

¼ c. sliced, black olives (optional because I do not eat olives)

For the dressing

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. red wine vinegar

½ tsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. olive oil plus 1 tsp.

Salt and pepper

Split the roll and scoop out a bit of the center bread, so that it is hollow and ready for the filling. In small bowl, mix 1 tsp. olive oil and one anchovy fillet. Using a pastry brush, brush that mixture all over the inside of the roll. In the same bowl, mix garlic, vinegar, Dijon, remaining two anchovy fillets and 2 Tbsp. olive oil; if any of first mixture remains, just incorporate it.

Layer vegetables and tuna on the bottom piece of bread, usually in this order: cucumber, tomato, onion, tuna, olives, egg slices. Drizzle vinaigrette over all—you don’t want a soggy sandwich, so you may not want to use all the dressing; just save it for another use. Put top on sandwich and press hard.

Wrap the sandwich in foil and put it in a plastic bag. Weigh the sandwich down for about ten minutes—a large heavy can of vegetables will work or a saucepan of water. Theoretically you could stand there and press on it for ten minutes, but that would get tiresome.

Refrigerate at least four hours before serving. Makes two sandwiches.

 

How to build your own deli sandwich

 

Recently, I came across directions for building a six-foot sub (or call it a hoagie or a deli sandwich or whatever you want). I cannot imagine I’d ever need a six-foot sub, feeding thirty or more, but just in case…. Recipes come with a warning you need a van or truck to get the special-order six-foot loaf home and a six-foot table to work on. And it takes two people to flip the top layer onto the sandwich. You begin to get an inkling of why ready-made these things cost upward of $175.

Fortunately, you can make a smaller version at home pretty cheaply and without a lot of cooking or dirty dishes. Last night a friend was coming for an overdue visit—and a bit of business over a piece of writing she was helping me with. I offered dinner; she declined until I told her how I make sandwiches. Then she said, “That sounds wonderful,” and showed up at my door at five o’clock.

Reading those recipes gave me some good tips. The great thing about these sandwiches is that you can use whatever ingredients you want, leave out the things you don’t want, tailor it to your taste. Here’s a basic outline of what you need:

Bread or bun (I used sliders a lot, but the filling tends to spill out; a conventional hamburger bun might work better; of course you can always use Italian bread, but don’t use a baguette—too skinny, no room for filling.

Condiments – mustard, mayo, ketchup, whatever

Assorted cold cuts—ham, roast beef, turkey, chicken, salami, pastrami, bologna, corned beef; try to use two or three

Assorted cheeses—again use two or three, cheddar, American, Swiss, provolone, etc.

Tomato

Lettuce – head lettuce, shredded

Parmesan or pecorino, grated

Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

Oregano – just a sprinkling, dried

Optional: pickles, relish, olives, olive salad, whatever (if you add olives, you are entitled to call it a muffuletta)

My choices are pretty conventional, and I don’t always follow my own advice about two or three meats and cheeses. Instead, I pile on several slices of ham and at least two of provolone.

It’s important to begin by putting a layer of mayo or mustard on both sides of your bread or bun. Some people use mustard on one side and mayo on the other. This layer acts as a barrier and keeps the bread from getting soggy (not completely, especially if you use vinaigrette, but it does help). Then pile on in the order above. Be sure to chop the lettuce finely; works much better than a couple of floppy, big, old pieces. And slice the tomato thin, so it says in place.

This sandwich is standard—until you get to oregano, Parmesan or pecorino, and vinaigrette, but they make all the difference. Sprinkle dried oregano lightly—you want to taste it but not be overwhelmed. Be a bit generous with the grated cheese and careful with the vinaigrette which you pour over last. It will still make your sandwich a bit soggy. Here’s the vinaigrette my family likes on everything, from grilled salmon to sandwiches (I may have posted it recently; if so, forgive the duplication).

¼ c. olive oil

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

My family loves these sandwiches and sometimes requests them for supper.

 

 

 

Summer sandwiches

 

My family really likes sub-style sandwiches. Our favorites come from Great Outdoors, and a take-out order from them has frequently been our dinner. One of the treat things is that everyone can choose different ingredients—and believe me, we all have different tastes.

I don’t mean to take business from Great Outdoors—I’ve been a steady customer too long—but on our recent weekend at the lake, Jordan proved we can do similar sandwiches ourselves. She rocked it! Here’s what she did:

Ingredients

Bread – 6” sub roll is traditional, but Jordan used hamburger buns, and I have made single sandwiches on slider buns. You could use ciabatta, too.

Mayonnaise or olive oil

Lunch meat – your choice. The Burtons like pastrami, while I prefer turkey and ham, but there are several varieties of salami, pepperoni if you like it, etc.

Cheese – again, your choice. Christian and I like provolone; Jordan and Jacob prefer cheddar

Sliced tomato

Thinly sliced red onion

Chopped iceberg lettuce – sprouts would be good too.

Red wine vinegar – or vinaigrette (see below)

Sprinkling of dried oregano

Directions

Here’s the big thing we learned: spread the insides of both top and bottom breads with either mayo or olive oil, to taste—this provides a barrier so that the sandwich ingredients don’t make the bread soggy.

Layer ingredients in the order listed above, piling on as much as you want, but don’t settle for a single piece of ham and a single piece of cheese. You want a hefty sandwich.

We topped our sandwiches with a red wine vinaigrette that I happened on to in a recipe for salmon one night. It was so good on the salmon, we decided to use it lots of places.

Red wine vinaigrette

¼ c. olive oil

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, peeled and then pressed

1 tsp. Dijon

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

A variation of the sandwich makes use of Thousand Island dressing. At Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club, it was called the Colonial Country Club sandwich. It’s no longer on the menu, but you can ask for it by name and the kitchen will fix it. I’ve been making it occasionally for myself for years.

Ingredients

Rye bread

Ham

Turkey

Provolone

Thousand Island dressing

Toast the rye, layer the ingredients, and top with a generous amount of dressing. There may have been a hard-boiled egg, sliced, but I don’t do that. The sandwich was always accompanied by cole slaw, but I bet topping it with slaw or chopped lettuce would be a good addition. I don’t, however, much like bottled Thousand Island, so here’s a recipe for home-made.

Ingredients

1 c, mayonnaise

¼ c. ketchup

2 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish (dill will work if that’s your preference)

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 small onion, diced fine

Pinch salt and pepper

I intended to do a combined blog about summer sandwiches and salads, but this has gone on too long. Salads next week.

 

The everyday sandwich

Sandwiches seem to be all over the internet food sites these days. I first noticed this trend with an article on peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. It seems you either love them or despise them, with most people falling into the latter camp. This struck home to me because I’ve eaten those sandwiches all my life. My mother fixed them for me, and now my oldest son eats them while the rest of the family scoffs. We like to put some lettuce in the sandwich for a bit of crispness—and, you know, eat your greens every day.

It seems the sandwich, once as revered as peanut butter and jelly, was a staple in the South during the Depression, when rib-sticking food was hard to get. I’m not sure how my mom, who spent almost her entire life in Illinois, came by this southern tradition, but it was a staple in our house.

In other parts of the country, people experiment with additions—you can put pickle on the sandwich, or bacon, or cheese. But always that thick layer of mayo. I have been known to try a combination of peanut butter, mayo, cheddar, and bacon—in some regions that’s called an Elvis sandwich (or how much cholesterol do you want in one bite?). Today I’ve heard of people putting Siracha sauce on peanut butter sandwiches. I’m not a fan of that hot sauce, though I have a friend who puts it on almost every and anything, especially pimiento cheese.

Grilled cheese is another staple that’s in for revision these days. Many of us grew up on tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. To me, they present a dilemma—I never get them quite right. They’re either undercooked—the cheese still firm, the crust on the bread pale and limp—or they’re burnt. One grandson refuses my grilled cheese because they’re always burnt.

Now I’ve seen suggestions for modernizing that standby. I’ve tried adding pickle and bacon before cooking. That makes one huge and hearty sandwich! But it’s difficult to keep all the parts in place as you flip it, unless you let the cheese get gooey enough to hold everything before flipping it. I think I like the idea of adding just pickle better, and I have always liked tomatoes in a grilled cheese.

How about grilled pimiento cheese with tomato? Or grilled cheese with pesto? The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Then there’s the question of bread—traditionally these sandwiches have been made with white bread, what I call “cotton candy bread” because it sticks to your teeth and the roof of your mouth. I prefer a bread with more substance—a light wheat or a rye. And a modern technique I’ve begun trying—use mayo rather than butter on the outside of the sandwich to fry it.

My mom used to have a kitchen gadget that made round grilled cheese sandwiches. It was two round pieces of metal, attached at one end and each with a long handle. You made your sandwich the same way, fit it into the mold, clamped the mold shut, and trimmed off the outside bits of bread. We “grilled” by holding over a burner. The process sealed the sandwich shut all around—no leaks. You could use it for all other kinds of things—I remember banana sandwiches, I think, and egg. Sound familiar to anyone? I’ve looked online but don’t know what to call it to do a thorough search.