Category Archives: Meats

Prosciutto Pizza with Pesto and Portobello Mushrooms

We recently went on a short weekend getaway to Santa Barbara, and on the way home we decided to stop by the Mario Batali pizzeria in Los Angeles called “Mozza.”  We shared a Fried squash blossoms with ricotta pizza which was excellent, but did lack a little bit of oomph. It was bland I guess, but good. We were sitting at the bar, watching the chefs prepare the dough, and learned a new technique to keep the bubbles in the edge. So we thought we would give it a try, and make a similar pizza in style, but with much more taste in it.

Prosciutto Pizza
Prosciutto Pizza with Pesto and Portobello Mushrooms

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Chicken Sandwich



One sandwich I have never gotten around to liking is the chicken salad sandwich. Perhaps it’s because I was introduced to it at a deli counter. The mayonnaise was so plentiful that I could hardly taste the chicken. Since then I’ve stayed away from all chicken salads, and supermarket deli counter foods for that matter.  Still searching for a quick meal last night I decided to attempt to make my own and thereby kill two birds with a single chicken breast: rescue the chicken salad from mayonnaise hell and make a week night meal in time for Anders and I to enjoy a date night (go see the movie Unstoppable).  Both were handily accomplished.

Chicken Salad Sandwich
Chicken Salad Sandwich

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Roast Beef Panini

Spring has arrived in San Diego. The weather is warm, our vegetable beds are loaded with freshly planted tomatoes, and we are just finishing a couple retainer walls that give us a few hundred more feet of planting space. Life is good. And to celebrate, we made this lovely (and simple) roast beef panini sandwich.

Roast beef Panini
Roast beef Panini

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Juici Patty With Coco Bread

On the scene reporting from Portland, Jamaica at the Frenchman’s cove: Juici Patty with coco bread.

In Jamaica, patties are made from a sort of think filo-dough with various fillings: Chicken (spicy), beef, lobster, shrimp, vegetable or soy. They are sold from a chains of stores spread over the island, each of which are as hunger inducing as staring at cardboard. However, don’t let their boring interior put you off.

Essentially two major chains are vying for the hearts of the locals: Tastee, the original chain, and Juici Patty, the copy-chain. Having tried both, I have to join the revolution and vote for Juici Patty. Their patties are more crunchy, and with better filling. On warning though, if you click on the link, your computer will start playing some pretty awful music without warning. Such is the power of marketing and sales in Jamaica…

For the purposes of this review, I chose a chicken patty, with coco bread. I realize this is odd, taking a patty which is already baked in dough, and then wrapping it in even more bread. But, this is the way of the local, and who am I to argue with cultural traditions. The coco bread also justifies the review, since anything wrapped in bread is a sandwich in our book.

Juici Patty With Coco Bread
Juici Patty With Coco Bread

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Triple-Decker Chicken Avocado Sandwich

There are occasions when my enthusiasm goes a bit overboard… This is one such occasion, where dinner turned into a monster sandwich. By the way, nerd moment; the top photo reminds me of the “alien” in the movie of the same name. Anyone see the resemblance?

Tripple-Decker Chicken Avocado Sandwich
Triple-Decker Chicken Avocado Sandwich

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Meatball Sandwich with Sautéed Beech Mushrooms

There is something oddly alien and organic about beech mushrooms that just makes them pop in photos. As an added benefit, they also taste really good, and you can usually pick up a bunch from your local Asian grocery store. Cut of the base where they are all connected and treat them like ordinary mushrooms after that. This sandwich brings out the best of the mushrooms, because they are so prominent compared to the other ingredients. We opted for a brief sautéing with olive oil and thyme.

Meatball Sandwich with Sautéed Beech Mushrooms
Meatball Sandwich with Sautéed Beech Mushrooms

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“Little Ujin”: Roasted Duck Panini

After a visit to the local 99c Market (Asian grocery store), we got inspired by their roasted ducks and decided to make a panini sandwich. We have to admit though, the duck was of pretty poor quality which ruined the sandwich once we ate it, but if we had had a decently home-roasted duck we both feel confident this would have been a great sandwich. We also partly made this because of Ujin, who at the time had been interviewing us for an article in a Chinese youth-magazine. Respectfully we named the sandwich after her.

Roasted Duck Panini
Roasted Duck Panini

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Meatball Sandwich With Homemade Sour Cream Dressing And Fried Sage

We’re not sure this is a classic Danish open faced sandwich in the sense that the toppings are a bit untraditional. Fried sage and Dukkah? That’s not what you would typically see in a Danish sandwich shop. But the concept is very typical: Meatball sandwiches are seen everywhere and classic toppings includes sweet pickles, lettuce and mushrooms. We just improvised on the theme, adding a bit of San Diego flair…

Meatball Sandwich
Meatball Sandwich

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Chicken Salad with Apple and Pecans

Since this was my first attempt at chicken salad, I used a recipe from Food Network as my guide. But I changed it up tremendously to make it nearly unrecognizable.  The chicken was grilled instead of poached; celery was replaced by fennel (celery is one of the few vegetables that I just don’t like); the herbs were doubled (many recipes are just too timid with the use of herbs); and some of the mayonnaise was replaced by sour cream (my attempt at a healthier and more tangy salad).

Chicken Salad Sandwich
Chicken Salad Sandwich

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