Banner 4 Sandwich Day

Yesterday I achieved a new high in sandwichness: 4 of them in one day!
I met friends at the Citizen Cafe for breakfast and I decided to try their fried egg sandwich. It was very simple--too simple for my overblown taste buds, perhaps. It had one over hard egg, two homemade sage and pork sausage patties and some butter on a ciabatta roll. The sausage was really tasty--delicately flavored and not too salty or greasy. The sandwich actually worked, once I settled into it, but some hot sauce would have been nice. Hee hee!
Then, I had to follow my prosciutto panini yearnings for lunch. I made two sandwiches since I was cutting off the narrow end of the bread, you know.And finally, I turned my leftover Ted Cook's pulled pork into a sandwich for dinner. Luckily we had a hamburger bun! The pulled pork is relatively new to the menu and you should check it out. The portion is enormous--I got three big dinners out of it. I reheated my leftover jo-jo potatoes with it. They got soggy, but they still tasted good. Also--I took all the mustard greens left from my failed attempt at using them on a prosciutto panini and stewed them up as a side. Delicious.

Goat Brie? Yes, Goat Brie!

I'm still using up the giant hero leftovers. I've reached the prosciutto, which took me back to memories of the Warehouse Panini Parties this past spring. I decided to revisit the prosciutto. fig jam, and goat cheese panini.
I stopped at the Seward Co-op and picked up a loaf of Miche bread from Rustica Bakery, a jar of fig jam and soft ripened goat cheese. Yes! I was standing there with a little log of chevre in my hand looking at the other fancy cheeses when I spied the wedge of soft ripened goat cheese. For real? They make goat brie??? That log of chevre went right back on the shelf.
I have made three paninis on the Miche bread so far:
Prosciutto, fig jam, goat brie, mustard greens (couldn't find arugula, unfortunately). The mustard greens were a little weird, a little too mustardy. They made the sandwich taste vegetal, I guess. It wasn't unpleasant, but it also wasn't the bitey zip of arugula I was looking for. The goat brie was lovely--subtly goaty and it melted well.Prosciutto, goat brie, honey. This one was too salty. I think the goat brie brought out the saltiness of the prosciutto and the honey wasn't assertive enough to calm it down. It definitely grew on me as I ate it, though. (Oh lord, pun SO not intended!)
Goat brie and fig jam. This, my friends was the winner. While it did not accomplish my goal of using up prosciutto, it did make me very happy. It also proved the point that fig jam and goat cheese are meant to be together!

Giant Hero Leftovers Are Yummy

It seems we always over buy meat for the giant hero. Which is lovely, since I get to make sandwiches out of them for a whole week. For example:
On Wednesday, I made Italian roast beef, provolone and walnut Dijon mustard on multigrain sourdough for lunch. I wisely zapped it in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Perfect.
Wednesday night I made myself a meatball sandwich on a hamburger bun. I added leftover pepperoni and mozzarella from the giant hero, plus pickled jalapenos. I toasted it all up and ate it hot in approximately 4 bites. Little Angie came by and made herself a kitchen sink sandwich with lots of hero leftovers, meatballs and pickled jalapenos on multigrain sourdough. It was a monster!
For lunch on Thursday, I had porketta, provolone, country garlic mustard and lettuce on multigrain sourdough.
On Friday I made salami, hot soppresetta, lettuce, yellow mustard and country garlic mustard on multigrain sourdough. The mixing of mustards was quite delectable. I will do it again!
Even though I've been steadily eating my way through all of the paper packages from Cossetta's, there are still more left. So, let me know if you want to stop by for a delicious sandwich of cured Italian meats and fancy mustard!

HEROES FOR HEROES!

Aaah. The return of the giant hero. I missed you my friend. Isn't it pretty?
For this version of our giant hero, I wisely let Angie take the reins. She and Beth went shopping at Cossetta's, of course. The picked up salami, pepperoni, hot soppresetta, porketta, Italian roast beef, provolone, mozzarella, asiago, marinated artichoke hearts and a loaf of Vienna bread. They also stopped off at Whole Foods and got red onion, lettuce and marinated mushrooms. Then they came home and Angie went to work for an hour, chopping, slicing, layering and working her usual magic. She even made a veggie version for Robynne.
Once assembled, the sandwiches went into the oven for a bit, just to warm up and bring out the flavors. It was totally worth the wait. So delicious!
And we enjoyed Heroes, too. Looks like it will be a good season. I'd also like to note that my friend T celebrated her own Heroes sandwich night with pulled pork sandwiches! Yay! Let's spread the Sandwich Night movement, people!

Sandwich for an invalid day

I had some minor knee surgery last Friday so I've spent the last three days laying on the couch. I'm starting to get a little stir crazy, what with thinking about the giant hero tonight and avoiding bed sores. I was able to distract myself at lunch with this tasty number.
Grilled 1 Year cheddar and Branston's pickle on multigrain sourdough. Mmmmmm...I hope it holds me until Sandwich Night!

One day to go!

The Heroes premiere is tomorrow night! Beth and Angie are going shopping for the giant hero at Cossetta's. I can hardly wait! The fun starts around 7:00. The show starts at 8:00. Come on over!

Lamb Burger back at Longfellow Grill

I'm not a huge lamb fan but I do enjoy the tasty Lamb Burger at the Longfellow Grill. After being off the menu for a while, it's back as a special. Yum!
And I can even eat it while everyone baaaas around me. So there.

One Week Warning!

We will be holding a Sandwich Night in honor of the season premiere of Heroes on Monday, September 22.
Following tradition, we will be serving a GIANT HERO.
Please let me know if you will be attending so we know how many pounds of salty cured Italian meats and cheese we need to pick up.
Yay!!!

Tour de Pastry ends with a sandwich, thankfully

My friend Ian organized a Tour de Pastry on Saturday. We rode our bikes to four bakeries and ate pastries. Not a bad plan! We pedalled in the misty drizzly rain from the Birchwood Cafe (cornmeal cherry scone) to A Baker's Wife (creme brulee danish) to Patrick's (coffee eclair, featured below) and finally to Common Roots Cafe.
Common Roots was a great place to end because they have beer. Oatmeal stout really plays well with the hazelnut brownie I ate!
By the end, I needed a little substance. So, we ordered a roast beef sandwich at Common Roots as well. It had kicky pickled onions on it. They bread was a little weak for the ingredients, but all in all it was a tasty treat!The rest of the day was spent trying to avoid the diabetic coma. Beth didn't stop shaking until Sunday afternoon. I can't wait for the next Tour de Pastry!

Oops, missed a few!

I consulted my tiny travel notebook to make sure I counted all of my sandwiches correctly and I missed two.
First there was the most expensive club sandwich ever from room service in Toronto. I know, we were steps from good food in the neighborhood, but sometimes it's nice to just kick back, watch cable and have someone bring you a club sandwich. It was pretty good, so no regrets!
Then there was the Mack-N-Awe Burger from the Mackinaw Pub in Thorold, ON. This thing had just about everything but the kitchen sink on it: BBQ sauce, bacon, grilled onions, cheddar, Swiss, mushrooms, tomatoes and lettuce. If there had been Thousand Island dressing, it would have been perfect.
Unfortunately, both of these sandwiches missed photodocumentation so you will have to make a mental picture!

Everything We Ate at the Canadian National Exhibition

We couldn't resist going to the Canadian National Exhibiton. We wanted to see how it compared to the Minnesota State Fair. Plus, there was an air show. Sadly, the CNE is a pale shadow compared to the MSF. The grounds are hot and exposed. There wasn't much to see, either. We did take in the air show, which was fun and full of noisy fighter jets and precision flyers. We saw part of a rodeo with bull riding. We saw the Harmonicats. And of course we tried out some of the food. We went to stands that looked busy and unique. Hopefully we sampled some of the CNE favorites. Here we go--see the list at the bottom!


From the top: pierogies, beaver tail with maple butter, bacon on a bun, lemonade, Montreal smoked meat sandwich, Ting Twist ginger ale, poutine, hot ice cream waffles.
Okay, the CNE gets points for some lovely foods. The beaver tail was amazing. The smoked meat sandwich was delicious. And I finally got to try poutine, which was not bad at all. Cheese and gravy on your french fries? Why not?
Also, in Canada, they call Canadian bacon, "bacon." Just like how English muffins are just called "muffins" in England. Funny! I wonder what parallels there are with American foods?

So Many Things to Tell...

Our trip to Buffalo/Niagara/Toronto was really fun. We actually relaxed and took an easy pace. We had some sandwiches and other local delicacies. We went to the Canadian National Exhibition to see if it could hold a candle to the Minnesota State Fair (it can't) and we took photos of everything we ate. That will be a separate post. Here are some sandwich highlights from the trip!

We compared competing beef on weck sandwiches in Buffalo:

That's the Anchor Bar (originator of Buffalo wings) beef on weck on the left. On the right is the beef on weck from Charlie the Butcher. The verdict? Go to the Anchor Bar for wings. Go to Charlie the Butcher for beef on weck. That sandwich is awesome!

Look at this pretty four cheese panini. The four cheeses are marscapone, swiss, feta, and mozzarella. There are some chopped up tomatoes thrown in for good measure. Delicious. This restaurant near our hotel in Toronto also served crepes. I love crepes. But not as much as sandwiches. Don't freak out.

This is a Spadina Street Hot Dog I got at the Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays game we went to. They fried the all beef kosher dog on a griddle, then topped it with almost caramelized onions. I added all kinds of relish and pickled hot peppers and mustard. There was only one stand selling such a lovely dog. The rest of the stands were selling regular old hot dogs. Nice find! Oh, and the Twins lost. Bummer. At least my tummy was happy.

And finally, here is the turkey club panini I ate when we visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. The turkey was sliced from a real roasted turkey breast and there was good bacon and sliced avocado and tomato on it. I can't remember the cheese--it was white and helped hold it all together.

Welcome Newberries

I featured the blog in my family calendar this year. Yes, Sandwiches I Have Loved is Miss September!
So, family calendar recipients, welcome!