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Sandwich Roll With Tomatoes, Crayfish Salad, Basil, Parmesan And Sautéed Leeks

A fantastic sandwich, using the highly undervalued leek. That’s right. When is the last time YOU cooked with leeks? That’s what we thought. We made the rolls specifically for this sandwich, they have a center (which you can’t see on the photos) of pesto-infused dough. It was a grand experiment, but in reality they didn’t rise quite as expected. This was our best specimen of the lot.
Sandwich Roll With Tomatoes, Crayfish Salad, Basil, Parmesan And Sautéed Leeks

Jamie’s Bruschetta Appetizer

This is another of Jamie Oliver’s recipes we decided to make along with the “ Grilled Eggplant Crostini Appetizer” and the “Fava Bean Crostini Appetizer” both from his delicious book “Jamie’s Italy“. It’s basically tomatoes, basil olive oil and a slice of bread. The key is as always to use great ingredients for great results. We tweaked it a little like we always do since we believe in creative liberties.
And today we just launched the free Amazing Sandwiches iPad application. [...]

Hummus, Grilled Feta and Roasted Pepper Sandwich

A few weeks ago, we had a friend visiting for the weekend.  He is a recent convert to the omnivore lifestyle – after over 30 years of a purely vegetarian diet.  Food is nearly like a religion and each style has its adherents who hold to it with zeal and conviction that borders on fanaticism.  So when our friend converted, we were so thrilled that he had chosen to walk the other side that we now consider it our mission to ensure [...]

Review: ‘Luxus Bagel’ at the Bagels Corner In Copenhagen, Denmark

There are some thinks that don’t translate so well across cultures. Bagels might be one of them. It was a dreary afternoon in Copenhagen, Denmark, when I walked into the Bagels Corner. A bit hungry I could not get myself to settle for a plain cream cheese bagel, so instead I opted for the luxury bagel (Choice of smoked salmon, shrimp, pesto chicken, Mexican chicken, etc). I decided on pesto chicken, and selected a whole-wheat bagel with rolled oats on [...]

The Big Bad Wolf Burger

Sometimes a man needs to be a man, and that’s when he makes “The Big Bad Wolf Burger“. Oh yeah, 1/2 pound of patty with basil, cilantro, oven roasted garlic and blue cheese chunks. What a great 4th of July celebration that was. Inspired by the moment, I topped it off with crispy hash browns and a jackfruit/avocado rough guacamole. I can’t even begin to tell you how good this burger is, but this is so far the best burger [...]

Grilled Eggplant Crostini Appetizer

Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s book “Jamie’s Italy” this is one of our favorite appetizers so far this year. It also looks beautiful. The crunchy toasted pane siciliano bread and the smoothness of the eggplant (or Aubergine as we call it in Denmark), goes very well together and fills your mouth with flavor and adventure. Eggplant seems to be largely a forgotten vegetable in the US, at least in SoCal (Southern California), and really it’s a wonderful ingredient in many dishes. [...]

Caprese Panini Sandwich

We love caprese salads so much we had Phil’s BBQ change their menu and serve it at our wedding (They did a great job too). So, it should come as no surprise that we had to try and turn the art of the caprese into a sandwich. A panini sandwich to be exact. It has all the classic ingredients: Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For the bread we went with our own homemade pesto-sourdough bread, but any [...]

Fava Bean Crostini Appetizer

This recipe originally comes from Jamie Oliver, from his book “Jamie’s Italy“. We recently bought it and very quickly fell in love with his down-to-earth simple taste foods. Absolutely gorgeous. This is how we made our fava bean crostini, which turned out beautifully. In the background, you’ll notice some other crostinis which were also inspired by Jamie and which we will write about in future posts.
Fava Bean Appetizer
Grinding fava beans to paste in stone mortar

Appetizer of Avocado With Lemon/Olive Oil/Cilantro Dressing

Wendie bought these avocados for a salad, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to toast some bread and make a few avocado appetizers. Some would call them mini sandwiches. They’re dead simple and very refreshing when the weather is hot and you have a Sunday evening on the patio with a glass of red wine and Clapton and Bob playing in the background.
Appetizer of Avocado With Lemon/Olive Oil/Cilantro Marinade

Sandwich With Carne Asada, Cucumber, Feta, Cherry Vinegar And Radishes

Living close to Mexico means there is a constant influx of great Mexican cuisine. Carne Asada is one of those things that are very popular in San Diego, and it is essentially a long slice of skirt of flank steak, usually marinated or rubbed, and then grilled. It is fantastic when done right. Wendie got us a couple of these steaks, and of course I had to go make a sandwich out of them. I opted to add some ‘green [...]

Phil’s BBQ Beef Rib Panini Sandwich

We just got married, and we were very saddened by the Icelandic cloud of ash that kept several of our Danish friends from attending our wedding. But everything can be a blessing in disguise. We didn’t tell our caterer, Phil’s BBQ, so we ended up with extra beef ribs in the freezer. While we miss our friends, at least we have ribs. And as the old saying goes, “if life gives you ribs, make rib sandwiches.” And so here we [...]

Roasted Pork Sandwich With Tabouleh Salad, Italian Salsa Verde And Swiss Chard Side Dish

This sandwich is an imprompty improvisation made from ingredients we found around the house. The roast pork is from the night before as is the tabouleh. The Italian Salsa Verde is from our wedding, where is was both served for dinner and given as a gift to the guests. The Swiss chard is from our vegetable garden, and the roasted garlic- well let us just say we make sure never to run out of roasted garlic.
Roasted Pork Sandwich With Tabouleh Salad, [...]

Fresh Basil Pesto

Pesto is a wonderful spread or topping for sandwiches and appetizer, in addition to its obvious uses in pasta. It’s very easy to make yourself, and when our sweet basil plant starts to grow out of hand we always have a use for the basil. If you live near a well stocked grocery store (We have Trader Joe’s here in California), look for a bag of basil and try this yourself if you don’t have the plants.
Pesto Recipe

3 cups of [...]

Pizza Recipe: Green peppers, Tomatoes, Olives, Parmesan/Pecorino Romano Cheese, Grilled Chicken

One of the pizzas from Wendie’s surprise birthday party, this one has some grilled chicken (with a very nice spice blend including smoked paprika), two cheeses, olives, tomatoes, green peppers and onions. The dough is a pizza dough with honey I sort-of invented (based loosely on our Lavash crackers recipe), and the tomato sauce has a wide range of spices, most noticeably a hint of fennel.  We had 13 guests and I made a total of 9 pizzas and I was stunned [...]

Pizza Dough With Honey

Pizza Dough With Honey Recipe
Total time: 2 hours (including rising).
Will make enough dough for 4 pizzas.  The remaining dough can be frozen until your next pizza craving demands satisfaction. This is a variation of the basic pizza dough in that we have added honey and a little more yeast and salt. This makes the dough just a little sweet, and more tasty, which can be a fun variation when making homemade pizzas.