Yatta!

The long awaited Heroes season premier/calzone sandwich night arrived!
I'm skipping the "are calzones really sandwiches" question. They have bready stuff on either side of filling. Enough said.

First, the ingredients: I went to Cossetta's, of course. I got the dough, pizza sauce, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and olives there. Their pizza dough is so good, I don't know why you would even bother trying to make your own. Homemade dough always tastes so yeasty, unless you put a couple days into it.
I also picked up spinach, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, parmesan, and ricotta. I made a lovely ingredient buffet so everyone could assemble their own concoction (that's my favorite Sandwich Night arrangement!)

Kate, Karen and Angie came. The assembly area was such a frenzy that I didn't really keep track of what anyone was putting in their calzones. I do know that Karen made two--a veggie and a meat-tastic. Which was fortunate since half of the veggie went home with Angie to give to Mandy. (Calzones were Mandy's idea in the first place!)

We tossed them into the oven in time to catch the second half of Dancing With the Stars (seriously, who are half of these "stars" who are dancing? Do they expect the magnitude of Wayne Newton to make up for the D-list qualifications of some of the others?)

Then it was on to the big event! Heroes! Calzones! Lovely!

Manny's Tortas--yipee!!

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Manny's Torta's are delicious.
I wrote a funny post about them but then Blogger ate it when I added the picture.
Trust me. They are worth the trip to South Minneapolis. Those are the Vegetariana and the Cubana. The Manny's Special is pretty good too.

State Fair not a haven of sandwiches

I know, I know. A trip to the Minnesota State Fair is all about eating. Don't get me wrong. I love the State Fair. I LOOOOVE the State Fair. I went three times this year. I love eating at the State Fair. I plan my visits around what old favorites I'm going to eat, what new things I'm going to try, etc. Surprisingly, my must eat list is pretty much devoid of sandwiches.
Why?
Are State Fair sandwiches inferior to the plethora of deep fried treats on sticks? Are they less interesting than than the abundant culinary oddities like fried cheese curds?
I think my answer is that there are very few truly unique sandwiches available. I mean Deli Express, the crappy gas station sandwich maker has a booth at the Fair. I kid you not. They even have microwaves, just like at the gas station...
So, is there room for a sandwich in the middle of the calorie fest of Pronto Pups, mini donuts, cookies, roasted corn, pork chop on a stick, malts, hand rolled pretzels, etc., etc., etc?
Yes. There is one sandwich I always make room for: the Gizmo

The Gizmo is sort of like a Sloppy Joe. But with Italian sausage and covered in melted cheese. They're awesome. This year I got it twice. The first time I shared with Beth and Karen. The second time I just shared with Beth. Next year I'm getting one all for myself!

Try them next year--the stand is way up Machinery Hill, by the end of the sky glider.

Eggplant...parmesan!

Yes, yes we did indeed enjoy the fabulous grilled eggplant parmesan sandwich a couple of weeks ago.
I went with the unorthodox suggestion of grilling the eggplant rather than frying it. Why? Because grilled eggplant is fabulous. Slice the eggplant into think slices, then salt it down and let it drain for half an hour or so, then rinse it, pat it dry and brush it with olive oil, then grill it for the most succulent, creamy and delicious thing ever.
Mmmm...
But on to the rest of the sandwich. I took an whole loaf of ciabatta, split it lengthwise and spread the open parts with garlic butter. That went into the broiler to get crispy. Beth made a light tomato sauce from all the stuff we had canned lately. We spread a little tomato sauce on the bread, layered on some eggplant slices, then more sauce and provolone and parmesan cheese. Rinse and repeat, then top with the rest of the bread. I wrapped the whole thing in foil and put it in the oven to melt. Then we sliced it into pieces. Yum!
I served it with a salad made with cantalope, onion, feta cheese and lettuce with an herb vinaigrette. Really, it was the perfect late summer sandwich meal.

The company wasn't bad either--Karen and Kate (the regulars) and our friend Marcia, a sandwich night newbie who withstood the meal and our constant ribbing about her recent "not date." Yeah right. Angie, unfortunately, had to bow out with a summer cold. And I know those suck since I've got one right now.
What's next? Karen drew the next one for the Heroes Season 2 premier on September 24 and it's CALZONE!
(Take that, mr. anonymous)

Sandwich Night!!!!

So they are re-running episodes from season 1 of Heroes.
We haven't seen Angie is ages since she's been in the north woods encouraging her broken collar bone to just heal faster damn it!
Kate's last day at the museum is next Tuesday.
Why not celebrate with a sandwich and a little boob tube viewing?
I have chosen from the list--Eggplant Parmesan!
Why? Why not? I love eggplant. And I just bought a bunch at the farmer's market. And we just canned about a bazillion tomatoes. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Monday, August 20. Wanna come?

All Hail Mustard!

I got a chance to visit the Mustard Museum in Mt.Horeb, Wisconsin the weekend before last. This place is a trip. There are thousands of jars of prepared mustard from all over the world, plus jars and tins of dry mustard. There are hundreds of mustard serving bowls and spoons. There is a French's Mustard mascot costume (it's a giant mustard container, of course). And then there is the artwork. Check out this fantastic French's Mustard magazine ad depicting all of the sandwiches you can make with their mustard!


Check out some of those combos: "Southern Ham" contains deviled ham, sweet pickles, mustard-mayonnaise and peanut butter? Hmm....I think I'll reserve judgement.
The other half of the Mustard Museum is a giant store selling hundreds of mustards, hot sauces, salty snacks and "Poupon U" t-shirts.
My friend Amy (different from the Heroes finale Amy--half of my friends are named Amy) and I spent a good amount of time browsing mustards. Then we found out you could sample any of the mustards before you buy them. Well, that was a fun activity! Some were great, some not so great. I ended up buying Apricot Ginger Mustard, Walnut Dijon, and Country Garlic Mustard.
Amy went nuts and bought half the store, including Chocolate Merlot Mustard (fantastic on pretzels) and Chili Dog Mustard (which would be good on chili dogs, I guess?)
We spent the drive home sampling mustards with pretzels and then I had the brilliant idea (bear with me here) of combining the Apricot Ginger Mustard with chunky peanut butter on a flour tortilla. It was incredible! My new favorite sandwich! It's good on wheat bread, too.
So I guess I had better try the Southern Ham, huh?

OK

It's been a surreal week here in Sandwich Land. Beth had a close call, driving over the 35W bridge moments before it collapsed. She actually saw the huge cloud of dust from her rear view mirror. We're both okay, just shaken a bit.

So, please be patient while I prepare the next post about my trip to the mustard museum last weekend. I promise it will be worth it.