|
|
We love lavash crackers, and I mean really love them, and we’ll typically eat them just plain. Sometimes though, it’s good to add a little extra, and since we were grilling vegetables yesterday, we thought this little appetizer would be a great way to use the lavash. In this case we didn’t score the lavash before baking so instead we broke it into large rustic pieces. That’s another great way of presenting them, and of course with bigger pieces comes the opportunity to layer other ingredients on top.
 Lavash appetizer with Olive Tapenade, Grilled Zuchini and Roasted Garlic …Continue reading Lavash Cracker Appetizer with Olive Tapenade, Grilled Squash and Roasted Garlic
What do you do when life gives you fried chicken? Well, our answer is to make fried chicken sandwiches of course (What else would you expect from this blog). This is a great ‘leftover’ sandwich for the day after, and as you can see we added a little bit of everything (including pasta, which we can consider optional, but we had to try). If you wonder why the cheese is melting up, it’s because we toasted the bread opened, and then put the top on  . This is also one of those sandwiches that require an extra hour on the treadmill afterwards, so proceed at your own risk.
 Fried Chicken Sandwich with Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Mustard, Roasted Eggplant, Sweet-Dill-Pickles, Pasta, and Salad Dressing …Continue reading Fried Chicken Sandwich with Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Mustard, Roasted Eggplant, Sweet Dill Pickles, Pasta, and Salad Dressing
This is an old favorite of mine, going back to my college years. At my dorm, one of my friends’ dad worked for a large company that delivered meats and groceries for supermarkets. As a result, they were sent huge amounts of samples, which they stored in two large freezers. When he visited the dorm, he filled his car with samples for us all to enjoy. This included giant steaks, fast food pizzas, and meats of all types. So while my life up until then consisted of pizzas and chili, this was a challenge. You can’t just plop a steak in the microwave and eat it, so all we could really do was learn how to cook it right. As a consequence, our ‘kitchen’ began evolving some pretty advanced culinary tastes, and soon started to realize that there is more to life than fast-food pizza, and cooking is not really all that hard. One of the results of that time is this dressing, which we made to accompany a batch of frozen falafel. It’s easy, and complements both the falafel, but also meats very well. We will be using it in a few sandwiches soon to be released.
…Continue reading Paprika Yogurt Dressing with Red Bell Peppers, Curry, Mustard and Parsley
I always loved the concept of being able to make our own cheeses, I mean, imagine the possibilities! Beer cheese, roasted garlic cheese, extra smelly poppy seed cheese, and then reality usually sets in. I have no clue how to make ‘real’ cheese, and while that may be a project worth pursuing someday, it’s not something you can whip together Thursday night. This is when Yogurt Cheeses comes in handy. Not really a cheese, they are easy to make, very light, and you can add whatever stuff you like. Oh, and they taste great of course. The recipe is dead simple, the cheese is cheap (if you’re on a budget), and you can use it for appetizers, snacks or just plain cream cheese sandwiches. Enjoy.
 Homemade Light Cheese with Chopped Green Onions and Roasted Garlic …Continue reading Homemade Light Yogurt Cheese with Green Onions and Roasted Garlic
This kafta sandwich is very spicy due to the black bean chili. We wanted to create something with more ‘umph’ to it, but also something fresh. So we came up with adding lemon and yogurt dressing to take the edge of the chili, and the combination really worked well. This sandwich will make your hair grow long and strong, and turn boys to men and men to sheep. It also goes well with any episode of Law & Order.
 Kafta Sandwich on Sourdough Bread with Black Bean Chili Sauce, Lettuce, Yogurt Dressing, Lemon, and Green onions …Continue reading Spicy Kafta Sandwich on Sourdough Bread with Black Bean Chili Sauce, Lettuce, Paprika Yogurt Dressing, Lemon, and Green onions
At our favorite shawarma shop on Strøget in Copenhagen, known as Shawarma #1 (presumably because the address is at #1, but also because it was the first shawarma shop in Copenhagen anno 1980), one of our favorite sandwiches is the kafta burger. When ordered, you must wait patiently while the patties grill for 10-15 minutes and frequently ask yourself “did they forget me?” In 20 years, they have never forgotten me, and the wait is always worthwhile.
Living in San Diego, we wanted a way to re-create our own version of the kafta burger. So, we created this recipe, which is a mix of several other recipes found online. We wanted our own unique blend of spices; More spicy, more parsley, and of course with fennel.
 Kafta Burger Patties After Grilling …Continue reading Middle Eastern Kafta Patties
Open faced sandwiches can be beautifully stacked creations, but when squeezed into a lunch-bag, carried by 10-year olds biking to school in a backpack and thrown in a community refrigerator, open-faced sandwiches may not be the first choice of lunch.
Not so for my mom. She was a firm believer in open-faced sandwiches and made them as if I was eating at home, except, she wrapped them tight in cellophane wrap before stacking them in my lunch box.
As you might image, the end result was not always… appetizing. Cod roe sandwiches with remoulade and fried onions turned into cud roe salad with wet soggy onions. A once tantalizing potato sandwich with mayonnaise and green onions turned into something wet and soggy, almost like paste.
This sandwich, a cod roe creation, is my own personal rebellion against my childhoods school sandwiches. I reject the cellophane wrap method, and embrace exuberance.
 "Hallelujah" Cod Roe Sandwich with Parmesan Crisps …Continue reading ‘The Hallelujah’ Cod Roe Sandwich with Parmesan Crisp
These Parmesan crisps are very easy to make and great on sandwiches and with soups. Since we are using some of these for our sandwiches, we thought we would share this simple process.
 Parmesan Crisps …Continue reading Parmesan Crisps
Excited about the prospect of making paninis, and after holding out for a few weeks, we finally decided to get a panini press (well, Anders decided ). So down to the nearest Target and what do they have? Shelves up and down stacked with George Foreman grills. Now I didn’t grow up in the US so I don’t really know George Foreman, but he is certainly a very prolific grill maker. So, without a choice, we got a George Foreman grill which we put up next to Alessi wine bottle opener and the Georg Jensen beer bottle opener. After all, if you can’t name your kitchen equipment by name, how will you tell them apart?
Well, the grill is clearly no panini press. The bread barely got any of those distinctive grill stripes, despite a very long grilling session. It did taste great however, so we decided to add it to our growing sandwich collection anyway. You can’t argue with good food. However, we also decided it’s a borderline panini, hence the name.
 The 'Not a Panini' Ham and Cheese Panini Sandwich with Roasted Garlic, Onion, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Blue Stilton and Mozzarella …Continue reading The ‘Not Quite a Panini’ Ham and Cheese Panini Sandwich with Roasted Garlic, Onion, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Blue Stilton and Feta
There are times when a full sandwich is too much, and no sandwich is too little. Thankfully, for those times there are appetizers such as this. To justify adding this to the blog, I call it a ‘cracker sandwich’ (For which I received a scowl from my fellow sandwich maker). Anyway, the Saint Faron is a cheese we got at Costco this weekend. It’s very mild (So make sure to enjoy it at room temperature), and brags being a ‘French Triple Crème Cow’s Milk Cheese’. At the risk of being labelled uneducated, what is ‘triple crème‘ exactly? I mean, does it come from three different cows? Can I have their names? Someone explain this to me.
 Saint Faron Cheese Cracker "Sandwich" with Blueberries and Yellow Pear Tomato …Continue reading Saint Faron Cheese Cracker “Sandwich” with Blueberries and Yellow Pear Tomato
Growing up, I believe I had ham and cheese sandwiches maybe three times. My mom had found a recipe in a cookbook, and one day she announced she was going to make me a Hawaiian sandwich (The recipe included a piece of slices pineapple from a can, thus Hawaii). It was great, but once you open a can of pineapples you are committed to doing something with the remaining 9 slices, so my mom quickly stopped making the sandwich. A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about it (the dream also involved Jay Leno having purchased a personal Nuclear Missile painted bright red with warning signs, which was bolted down in his back yard with chains. Don’t ask, it was a dream). As you can imagine, it got stuck in my subconsciousness. I know, dreaming of sandwiches probably means we’re spending too much time writing this blog. Anyway, here is my variation of a Ham and Cheese Sandwich, without the pineapple.
 Ham and Mozzarella Cheese Sandwich with Sweet Basil Leaves, Steamed Asparagus, Tomato, Dukkah and Mustard …Continue reading Ham and Mozzarella Cheese Sandwich with Sweet Basil Leaves, Steamed Asparagus, Tomato, Dukkah and Mustard
We love grilling on the BBQ, and we love sandwiches (obviously), so this sandwich was bound to come about sooner or later. Neither of us has done a lot of grilling growing up, so we’re discovering the joy of barbecuing together. We frequently use chicken, and have learned (after a few… mishaps) to get it moist and tender. Grilling chicken usually involves a marinade or a rub, since chicken by itself can be a bit bland. This particular recipe calls for teriyaki sauce, which is great for marinades.
 Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Cheese Sandwich with Squash, Onion and Fennel Seeds …Continue reading Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Cheese Sandwich with Squash, Onion and Fennel Seeds
Well, we bought one can of cod roe on our last visit to Denmark. That means you, dear reader, have to read about 3 different cod roe sandwich recipes as we munch our way through it. Luckily, it tastes pretty good. This second installment is cod roe with mayonnaise, sun dried tomatoes red bell peppers, and absolutely drenched in lime. Add a bit of onion for the unavoidable ‘crunch’ of course. Very nice. If you can find cod roe at a fishmonger, get it fresh instead of in a can. Cod roe by the way is a very common sandwich in Denmark, and probably comparable to the ‘spam’ phenomenon in the US. I imagine Americans may find a cod roe sandwich a bit weird, much as I as a Dane find anything with spam a bit weird. Let us know in your comments what you think.
 Cod Roe Sandwich with Mayonnaise, Lime, Red Bell Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato, Vodka Tomato Mustard, Onion and Dukkah
When I was a kid, every other weekend I would spend with my dad and my step-mom. They lived in an old house in a residential neighborhood outside Copenhagen, with a great big yard with lots of plants and flowers and tables tucked away in corners. We always ate lunch outside when the weather was good, and I remember at the time I didn’t like it that much because of the bees, but it really was an amazing place to enjoy a good meal.
When I came visiting, often the first thing that greeted me was the smell of baked liver Pâté. My step-mom made the best liver Pâté I’ve ever had, and while it baked the whole house would take on the flavor and everyone would start gathering in the kitchen when we knew it was just about time to remove it from the oven. Ten minutes before, we would start toasting some dark rye bread and setup lunch outside. We would all gather the plates, cutlery and work together as a team, knowing that the reward was just around the corner.
The sound of the old timer’s bell chiming was the most wonderful thing you’ll ever hear. As we sat outside in the sun, making our warm liver pâté sandwiches, a silence fell as we enjoyed that first bite.
Perhaps I make it sound overly romantic, but that’s my own experience with this pate. My step-mom’s secret ingredient was curry, and she never gave it away. A few years ago cancer overcame her, and we thought her recipe was lost forever. However, a couple of months ago while I was visiting Denmark, I asked my sister again if she had found the recipe, and to my surprise she had. Tucked away in a pile of papers that had gone unnoticed for years, there it was.
So now, for the first time in maybe 15 years, this pâté which I have named Maria’s Liver Pâté after my step-mom, has finally seen the light of day again.
And once more, the house smells like childhood and summer and bees and flowers, and everything is as it should be.
 Maria's Liver Pâté Sandwich with pickles and fried onions
It can sometimes be very hard to find a great liver paté in your local grocery stores. Thankfully, creating one from scratch is easier than you might think, and the result is amazing. This recipe was handed down to me from my step mother Maria, who wooed everyone she knew with this magic creation. It is simply the best liver pâté I have ever had anywhere, and that says a lot. It is also very easy to make, given you can find the raw ingredients, which are not that common anymore, but which any decent butcher should be able to divine.
 Homemade Liver Pate
|
|
