30 Gourmet Sandwiches #5: Open-Faced Toasted Almond Sandwich

Had a bit of a virus over the weekend (i did that previous recipe before) and im mostly better, my tastebuds are a bit nerfed. Maybe thats a good thing, come again? almond and cheese was it?

Spared no effort getting just the right things for this. Proper fresh sage, fresh lemon, toasted almond flakes, olive oil, and proper parmesan, none of that grana padano stuff im always buying instead. For the crusty bread though, well actually i still have the heels of that loaf in the freezer. Ok that one sounds less impressive. But i think it'll work well!

Almond flakes, sage, lemon juice, and a bit of grated lemon zest from the outside. I don't know how much olive oil to put in this, ill just start with a little bit and add more if i end up with dry powder instead of a paste.

hard to really puree this stuff as it sticks to the sides eagerly, but I think this is fine? it just needs to be spreadable?

This smells really nice already, maybe this will be a good 'un. Well, we still gotta add a cheese that smells like toe jam.

Fancy fancy cheese! Yes i have a cheese flaker. This is probably enough, its a strong flavour.

wow its transformed a bit under the grill! hopefully i haven't overdone it. I like a crispy top though. Im having both slices because.. im hungery.

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A fun and imaginative pairing that I think really works! Mine did come out a bit dry though, i think I should have used more oil. I didn't really get any hints on proportions. I dunno if i'd make this again, but maybe thats just because the ingredients arent something i typically have to hand...  if someone wants something a bit unique though i think it'd be as easy crowd pleaser... cut it into smaller slices and it'd be a great canape!

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #4: Fish Sandwich with Chilli-Lime Dressing

Somethings fishy... oh its the fish.

I picked out a chunky looking white fish fillet (hake), fresh "crusty" rolls, lettuce, tomato, coriander, and some seasonings for a special mayo sauce.

Ok so it says to dredge the fish in cornmeal... i dunno where to get that but i have cornflour. Should I have used breadcrumbs? uhhhh probably... it doesnt look very breaded in the image tho. anyway I also decided based on the image that i should mix the flour with seasonings too, to jazz this fish up a bit! I got salt, paprika, chili powder, black pepper, ginger and amchoor (indian dried mango)!

oh this fish is bigger than I expected, nice. Its frying well in a little oil while i prepare everything else.

I was so tempted to cook the fish in the garlic, but it says to put it straight into the dressing so i guess ill crush 2 cloves straight in a small bowl...

added lime juice, mayonnaise and plenty of chilli powder! i had a hot one and a mild one and i just sort of mixed them, so... now i dont know how hot this will be.

Tasted it, seems good! the zingy garlic and lime comes through. Good job me.

This bread i got yesterday was so fresh.. its starting to go a bit stale already... i think ive accidentally cut it a bit poorly.

slathered on plenty of that mayo sauce and a tidy layer of tomato slices...

Yeah im really regretting how wonkily i cut the bun now...! I still have to fit in lettuce and coriander. Sorry i didnt get a snap of the cooked fish but it looked really good. Things have become chaotic in the kitchen, im trying to hold a sandwich together and its dripping mayonnaise everywhere and I DIDNT SLICE THE LETTUCE YET AAA

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Ah damn this tastes.. really good actually. The spicy crispy fish, tangy lime and tomato, coriander and mayo... these all go together really well. I guess its a lot like the BALT, flavour-wise. I just... i cant say its perfect when i managed to get this many fish crumbs on my carpet. If i picked a baguette and maybe cut it proficiently... maybe that'd make it reach full marks!?

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #3: Sausage and Peppers

This time im not just back from shops, its sunday i have all the time i need. and frozen paninis to defrost.

I dunno what american's "sweet italian sausage" is but i managed to find some sausages with red wine and garlic, if that aint what italians would put in a sausage then i dunno what. Also we got olive oil, mixed peppers and an onion.

First we pan-fry the sausages with a bit of olive oil. Im using my big-ass huge pan. You could make paella in this I reckon.

I slice the onion and peppers into thin strips and put them to one side while the sausages cook. I opted for a selection without green peppers, because in this country they suck ass and sometimes you get an ultra bitter one. Who invented eating unripe peppers?

once the sausages are coming along, we can make room for the veg.

we can thaw the paninis in the oven, then they'll be warm and hopefully a lil toastie.

hmm it feels wrong to cook so much vegetable without any seasoning... so im adding a generous sprinkle of orange pepper. it's got salt and black pepper, and the orange should add a fruity acidity.

Why does this smell so much like chinese stir fry? why does it smell like water chestnuts? That is not the smell i expected tbh.

Once everything is ready, we can start to layer up. The bread is warm all the way through, but it does seem like defrosting has made it more... delicate. it's softer on the inside and harder but more brittle on the outside. We must cram it carefully.

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It's not bad... its sausagey, its peppery. It's quite oily. Very heavy, though i did use 2 sausages. Why no sauce?

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #2: Fig and Prosciutto

 My nearest and dearest supermarket didn't have figs in, but fortunately they should still be in season, so I went on AN ADVENTURE to waitrose, a half-hour trek each way after work. Better be worth it!

Success! Gorgeous. Fancy.

This will also be a great excuse to bust out my old toastie maker that mostly sits on top of the cupboards. It has changeable hot plates, I've never used the panini mode before!

Honestly? So i made a later recipe that you haven't seen yet, and the panini bread I got at lidl is noticeably better. This one even smells a tiny bit sour, maybe from preservatives?

These figs though, ooh thats good stuff. They seem a bit firm and underripe, but big and fresh. Underripe can be kind of a good thing for a more savoury recipe I think.

For the prosciutto, waitrose offered a staggering selection of different kinds. I don't know whats good, so I just went with some smoked prosciutto crudo. That's what I think of when you say prosciutto.

Half a ball of mozzarella, it says to grate it but that seems harder than cutting it into thin slices.

Americans call this stuff arugula, but in the uk we call it rocket. You knew that right? Well well well, let's toast to it.

Whoa! I'm surprised how thin i managed to squish this panini, it was really chunky. Hope its alright in there.

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Not bad... I think the freshness really carries this sandwich, but it has this salty, olive-y flavour I can only really describe as "italian" or "french". You know what, not bad at all! I really thought the mild cheese and sweet figs would clash but they don't. I can't see myself adding this to a normal rotation, there are other ham-cheese combos out there more to my tastes, but im really pleased with trying it, it tastes like being on holiday.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #1: B.A.L.T.

 First recipe! B.A.L.T stands for Bacon, Avocado, Lettuce and Tomato. I'm a regular bacon sandwich enjoyer so this one's not too out there. I did just get back from the shops with the goods though and i'm RAVENOUS, so lets get to it.

I think my bacon usually comes out better when I grill it, but im hungry now and i want the control i want the power so ill fry them.

It doesn't say to toast the bread or not, but with all these moist ingredients it feels like toasted bread would make it way better. We're making GOURMET sandwiches here!

"mayo thinned with lemon juice" ok so ill just mix mayo and lemon together in a ramekin.

The ramekin was a bad choice... its a funny shape so its weirdly hard to get sauce back out of it with a knife, I ended up using a slice of tomato as a makeshift spatula.

Bacon layer! I'm going to do these in order of the acronym. It's not a TABL. I'ts not a LBAT. Dyslexics just trust me on this one.

I just bought this "ripe and ready to eat" avocado and you know what... its ripeness seems debatable.

These vegetables are fresh but also firm... im starting to regret doing these in the order, they are very slippery this way around.

I'm usually a "tomatoes in sandwiches" skeptic, i think it makes sandwiches too wet. But you can't have L.G.B.T. without the T. The same logic applies here.

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It's the most unwieldy and slippery bacon sandwich i've ever made! I think it actually would have been improved if I changed the order of letters a bit. It was the right call to toast the bread, the tomatoes made the whole thing sooo wet. I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot less with soggy bread. Normally I have bacon sandwiches with lettuce/rocket and brown sauce which makes them more bitter and sweet... but this lemon mayo combined with all the fresh vegetables and tomato... it tastes so fresh and juicy! To me this is really like a club sandwich, its a more refreshing and zesty way to bacon sandwich, and I see the appeal.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches: "A sandwich for every day of the month"

So, indulge me. One of the things that inspired me to start this blog, besides all the massive food indexes in video games, was this particular viral list of sandwiches I once saw going around the internet. I dunno, it just seemed like it had some fun and unusual sandwich recipes, and sandwiches are delicious and... usually easy to make.

In fact, i had remembered it recently and i had a URL saved in some bookmarks folder, and to my horror, the uploaded image was deleted! I searched the internet for what I could remember and i couldn't find it. But, harnessing the power of the incredible wayback machine, we found an archived version and i've reuploaded it for myself. And i thought... why not do that next then? 

Anyway sorry its not video games or anime, but I do what I want.

Let's get that bread.