Pretty Sandwiches Aren't Always Good

We went to Ginger Hop last night. It was completely mediocre. Which is unfortunate, when they bring you this pretty banh mit with sweet potato fries. The sandwich fillings were fine. The bread was awful, though. It was squishy supermarket brand "French" bread. No, I take that back. It was worse! How hard is it to get a crusty baguette, folks?
On the positive side, the fries were quite good. And they have a nice beer menu. And I had a lovely ginger infused cocktail. Just don't order anything else!

Pesto and Roast Beef are meant to be together

Or at least Little Angie seems to think so. Our latest Sandwich Night creation was inspired by a sandwich Beth used to order at a place in St. Paul called Francesca's. Francesca's was in a few locations in or near downtown St. Paul through the 1990's and early 2000's. They had awesome sandwiches, salads and soups, plus killer desserts. My favorite thing on their menu was an African chicken peanut stew. And the brownies with giant blackberries on them. Beth was a fan of the pesto roast beef sandwich. It was on focaccia with a pesto spread and sliced roast beef. I'm pretty sure there was lettuce, tomato and red onion on it as well.
To recreate it, and give it a good Sandwich Night twist, I started by making my own roast beef. Here's a good trick to make a garlicky roast beef. Get 4-5 cloves of garlic, slice them in half, make cuts all over the roast and shove the garlic into the meat. Then I pat the whole roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder and herbs. I roast it dry, until it's rare. I made this a couple days before Sandwich Night and Beth and I ate so much of it that I picked up some sliced roast beef at Cossetta's for backup. Whoops! Their roast beef is not as delicious as mine. Hah! It's still pretty awesome, of course.
Onto the sandwich!
I decided to offer two bread choices: ciabatta rolls and rosemary focaccia. I mixed the pesto with a little mayonnaise to make it spread nicely. Plus I offered lettuce, sliced red onion, romaine, spinach and sliced provolone cheese. I made two different sandwiches to try out the bread options. Both were delicious, but I think I liked the one on focaccia better. That Francesca always knew best!We had a feast of side dishes with the sandwiches. Jenny brought appetizers--little toasts with blue cheese and squash or Italian sausage, white beans, tomatoes and parmesan. Laura brought this lovely veggie soup. Karen brought apple crisp. I think there was another dessert, too. All I know is that I was stuffed by the end of the night!
We watched our Minnesota girl Rae get sent home from ANTM. It was the dreadful interviewing skills week. It is my second least favorite show in each cycle. The worst is the acting challenge. So cringy! I don't they are going to do it this time. I guess the CW shows didn't want an ANTMer walk on role this year?

I still like sandwiches, yes I do.

Some of my loyal readers have been gently reminding me that my blogging has been sparse of late. It is true. I don't have any great excuses, just being busy and distracted from my life's work of sandwich eating.

I have been getting my sandwich groove back lately. Last week I had a double feature of my favorites-a North Beach sub from Buon Giorno for lunch and a curry mock duck from Bun Mi for dinner. I followed that a couple days later with a stunner from Salty Tart: roasted squash, wilted kale, blue cheese and honey butter on a baguette. Friends, do this to humor me-get some honey butter and blue cheese and spread it on French bread. Now isn't that just the most delicious thing?

Speaking of Bun Mi, I have been eating lots of sandwiches from there . I love that place. I know I've posted before but you should really check it out. My friend Ethan and I went there for lunch today, as a matter of fact. I got the Bun Mi special--that's grilled pork and special eggs. It's so good. The pork is nice and spicy and the eggs are scrambled and slightly sweet, almost like the egg you get with sushi. Ethan got the Vietnamese Classic, which is pate, bbq pork and roast pork. This is the first Bun Mi I had and it was great. I think I'll have to get it next time, now that I've mostly worked through the menu. We both got fries as well. The fires are lightly battered and served with spicy mayo. Seriously, Bun Mi, are you trying to kill me with your deliciousness?

Come on Over!

It's high time for another Sandwich Night, to celebrate the continuing saga of America's Next Top Model lucky Cycle 13.
Come on over this Wednesday. Beth's finally home from her cross country bicycle trip so she chose the sandwich! We'll be eating pesto roast beef sandwiches, just like they used to make at Francesca's in St. Paul. (And if you remember those awesome sandwiches, drop me a line and remind me what was in them--roast beef, pesto, lettuce, tomato? red onion? cheese? focaccia...). My friend Laura is dipping into her CSA box and making potato leek soup.
The show starts at 7:00. We'll be ready for you after 6:30!

Invasion of the Little People

There’s something about bacon and the prospect of making fun of overly emotional short girls that can really draw a crowd. There was a record crowd at Sandwich Night. I lost track of how many people I invited a few days before the event. I was justifiably distracted by the fact that my parents, my brother and his family, and Beth had been visiting me in a chaotic whirlwind during the two weeks leading up to this momentous event. I started to add up the “yes” RSVP’s and I was getting close to a dozen people. Yippee! That’s a lot of bacon.
I bought and fried up 3 pounds of bacon the night before and even though it was a very impressive pile, it just didn’t seem like enough. What would Sandwich Night be without a last minute Everett’s bacon run, anyway? That way, I fried up the 4th pound of bacon right before my guests arrived. I’m told they could smell it halfway down the block.
I also got farmer’s market tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, sourdough, whole wheat and Baconnaise. I whipped up some spicy mayo with sriracha and Hellman’s, too. I stood the bacon up in a deep bowl, which impressed my guest mightily. “Bowl of bacon!” became the rallying cry of the night.The twelve Sandwich lovers included lots of Sandwich Night newbies, including my friend Kristine who was making her first visit with Tinkerbelle since Tink moved from her house to mine. It was a happy reunion, although Tinkerbelle pretended not to care, the way cats do.
After the BLT’s (And yes, the bacon went. All of it. Fast.) we settled into the season premiere of ANTM. My friend Toni knows Rae, the homemaker/mom from Minnesota, so we were all excited to see how she did. Toni couldn’t make it for the sandwiches but did manage to show up for the second hour of the premiere. Thank goodness! She got to see Rae win photo of the week. Even though these poor short girls haven’t got an actual chance at modeling, it should be an entertaining season. Just like always!

I've been a bad blogger

So sorry--things have been chaotic lately.
How 'bout I make it up to you with a very special Sandwich Night next week?
Wednesday, September 9 is the much anticipated premiere of America's Next Top Model Cycle 13: Revenge of the Little People. That's right--no models over 5'7" need apply! Oh, it should be grand.
I'm choosing that easy, late summer favorite, BLT's for the occasion. I'll have tomatoes, lettuce, breads, bacon, avocados, and Baconnaise. Mmmm....
The show starts at 7:00. See you next week!

Vegan sandwiches can be delicious, too

What's that, you say? A vegan sandwich at Sandwich Night and Angie was there? It's true! I have already raved about the new sandwich cookbook I picked up, 'wichcraft:craft a sandwich into a meal-and a meal into a sandwich. This was the first sandwich I actually made from it. I've been too busy drooling over the book to get around to making anything. The only thing about the book that keeps it from being all out food porn is the lack of a centerfold.
The sandwich I chose was a summery beauty-chopped chickpeas with roasted red peppers, black olies, lemon confit and parsley. It was on country bread.
The flavors were fantastic together. There was lots of thyme, oregano, and rosemary in the chick peas and peppers. I picked up pitted olives with thyme since I didn't feel like pitting the nicoise olives called for in the recipe. They worked quite well. And the lemons were really special. They are cured in salt, sugar, onions and garlic for a few days, then packed in olive oil. They are nice and tangy and not sour at all. I would imagine that letting them sit and mellow out in the oil for a couple weeks will make them even better. Which is why I will feature them in our next Sandwich Night on August 11. More on that later.Angie came over and my friend Gina (her first SN!) Karen was feeling under the weather and couldn't make it, unfortunately. Of course Angie had to go her own way with the sandwich, but she didn't add cheese, mushrooms, or hot sauce like you might expect. No, she made a triple decker, for more deliciousness.
We cruised around what terrible options there are on summer Tuesday night TV (More to Love!?!) and finally I subjected them to the highlights show from America's Next Top Model Cycle 1. It's a doozy--Brazilian waxes, bible thumpers, snarky Elyse, and how not to behave when rich French guys take you to dinner and a show (i.e., don't read the bible the whole time.)
Next up will be a very special Sandwich Night since Kate will be here!!! She's back from Israel and stopping in town for a few days before she heads off to grad school in Michigan. In her honor we will once again consult 'wichcraft and make roasted leg of lamb with lemon confit, mustard greens and black olive mayonnaise. Entertainment TBA. I can hardly wait!