30 Gourmet Sandwiches #27: Roasted Beet and Chevre Grilled Cheese

 Once again, im not having any goats cheese so I settled for cream cheese since ive got some right now.

Wholemeal bread (close enough to 9 grain? i dont know how many grains) cream cheese, and pre-cooked beetroots since they're as cheap and easy as raw ones and that saves a step.

We butter the outside of the bread because we're going to grill it again. I don't think cream cheese is a good grilling cheese, but we'll see what happens.

One beetroot will do, cut into slices. trying not to stain anything... its actually so hard...

cream cheesed the inside and then put the beetroots on, might as well assemble in the panini maker because the other sides buttered.

I forgot to get sherry vinegar, but cider vinegar will probably do.. just a light sprinkle of that and some salt & pepper

cheesed up the top slice and lets SLAM it on.

***

The buttery toasted wholemeal bread was sooo appetising. and then yeah, the filling was just alright. Bit plain. It's my fault for picking cream cheese to replace goats cheese, though I probably would have liked that less. Beetroot in a sandwich is ok, its got a nice texture, but a bit like avocado, on its own its just... earth flavoured. It's just no pear and cheddar basically.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #26: Grape and Taleggio Grilled Cheese

 I've made a calculated decision to venture to waitrose and get the correct cheese again. Partially because I just dont really know what taleggio is like.

But I found it! One fancy block of taleggio, red grapes, and for the "honey wholewheat" the closest i could find is a malted multi-seed bloomer. It seems like it would match well anyway.

Ugghh this bread is too soft and this butter is diabolically hard. I guess i should stop buying cheap butter? And yes its been outside of the fridge for over a day. I can't be bothered to microwave it though the grills gonna melt it anyhow.

Now for the exciting cheese reveal! It feels like im unboxing some premium ingredient. I've never had this before, i guess its prettymuch like a brie?

Thats probably enough to melt nicely on everything.

Now i just cut some grapes in half.

Looks kind of unsettling like that! Quick lets slam the lid on and squash it into a delicious lunch.

****

Very nice, the talegg seems like a good grilling cheese that goes well with the flavourful wholegrain bread. The grapes are fine, they dont clash but im not so sold on them, they add a bit of sweetness and a lot of wateryness to an already oozing kind of sandwich. I might try making this again later but with cranberry sauce (leftover from recipe #16!) instead of grapes.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #25: Roast Beef with Horseradish and Cucumbers

We're really in the place to be for a roast beef, horseradish and cucumber sandwich. It's not really a go-to sandwich recipe for me, but maybe it should be...?

We got that traditional german pumpernickel/rye, roast beef, cucumber, a red onion, rocket/arugula, mayo, and I couldn't be bothered to buy a whole jar of horseradish when i have a tube of wasabi, which is basically the same thing!

Like for real, most wasabi in the uk is secretly horseradish dyed green. Anyway is this a good ratio? i have no idea. We'll just find out.

Since I already got that loaf of rye for the smoked salmon one, I figure thats close enough for "seedy wholegrain" bread. It's quite a crumbly and brittle bread for a sandwich though.

 

Now I can just chop a bit of the onion and cucumber for the sandwich. Red onion is a good one to use raw, the brown onions are a bit too.. yknow, oniony.

Like a pair of beef curtains... hmm thats making me extra hungry...

The crunchy veg...

And lastly, the aroogla. irregular. amoogus. leafs.

*****

Damn this is hittin... the dry beef, peppery horseradish and onion, and crunchy vegetables are so perfectly balanced. I think i did this one just right. Even the bitter, seedy bread feels like a good match. This is a good sandwich. 

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #24: Bistro Baguette

 This ones sounds conventional. The first challenge was finding a beef skirt cut, but morrisons came through.

Beef skirt steak looks nice, (its cheap too!) a sweet white onion, tomato, watercress, and since it didn't specify the mustard I thought i'd mix it up a bit with this swedish mustard, which is kind of a wholegrain and ground mix.

I'm caramelising the onions with a bit of olive oil on one side, and cooking the steak with a bit of butter on the other side. I always think butter just kinda adds something with steak, I dunno. Should I have seasoned this? probably but it didn't say to... well maybe ill add the tiniest pinch of salt and pepper.

Chopped the tomato and pulled out the watercress pieces from the mixed salad bag. Yeah I know my leaves. Like a druid.

Chunk of baguettes sliced and ready. I think i'll spread mustard on the top side, so its next to the onion.

Trouble with white onions is I can't really tell when its peeled enough, so it looks like theres some harder bits in there, they become obvious when cooked.

w-cress is in, and ive tried to slice the steak diagonally. There's plenty of it, i think im maxing this sandwich out again. Is the hungry instinct taking over?

Tomatoes and onions are in.. can we squeeze it shut without spilling it everywhere?

***

It's good yeah. The steak really is a nice cut for a sandwich, its lean and not tough or chewy. I liked the mustard and onions with the steak. I dunno, its a bit boring? What if it had some like hot sauce or blue cheese sauce or something.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #23: Smoked Salmon and Dill on Pumpernickel

The classic gravlax combination sandwich. Gravlax, didn't i fight that wyvern in monster hunter?

I've got pumpernickel/rye bread, smoked salmon, cream cheese, a big bag of frozen dill, and a bit of lemon.

So I just learned that american and german rye bread are different? American style is sweeter and a bit more, well, bread-like in texture. This traditional german pumpernickel is dense and seedy, almost like an unsweetened muesli bar. Still, its fit for purpose. I'll slather plenty of cream cheese on it.

And smoked salmon, ive tried to bunch it up a bit to get some height in this sandwich, its gonna be really flat.

As for the lemons, it suggests to put in whole slices! I'll slice them as thin as i can manage, and cut the peel/rind off.

And the dill! I don't have big sprigs of this, but its actually quite a strong flavoured herb so i think this light sprinkle will be plenty.

***

Its ok... quite bitter... quite sour... the lemon pieces are way too strong, you should just squeeze some juice on the fish. Some black pepper or something would have helped this. And maybe bagel or tiger bread, something chewier.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #22: Sushi Sandwich

The most controversial sandwich yet, surely!

Rice crackers, soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger.. somethings missing...

There it is! Yeah I can probably purchase a large volume of sashimi from a specialist fishmonger, but I figured it might just be simpler at this point to treat myself to some takeout. I got some good looking tuna sashimi, and some other stuff for later... looks like this came with all the condiments I need, so ill put these extras away for now.

Cracker.

The sushi-grade tuna!

It sure looks like a huge glob of wasabi mayo on the reference image, but according to the text its wasabi paste, soy sauce and ginger (and seaweed but i didnt have it). Nice and fast!

**

The sashimi is a bit tough to be eaten this way... i guess because its not sliced so thin, the tuna can't be bitten off easily. A pointless effort, but its a classic flavour combination and the rice cracker is pretty similar to rice so it tastes nice because I like sushi. Barely a sandwich.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #21: PB, B&B

PB, B&B stands for "Peanut butter, banana & bacon." A bold combination of sweet and savoury.

Grilled up some bacon. Smells good.

Sliced up one banana, its a fairly long one so thats plenty of banana.

It says to toast some white bread, ill give it a nice light toast.

Gotta stir up this big tub of natural peanut butter like its a can of paint! I think it is generously slathered.

And now it says to "build layers until the sandwich is a hunk a burnin' peanut-butter love" ok dude. So like 2 layers?

Yeah i'd say its hunky. Then it says "hit the gym youll need to work this one off" yeah ill just get on the treadmind your own business machine how about that.

**

Honestly? Not that great. I feel like I'm eating MASCULINE CULTURE: THE SANDWICH. It's the ladbible of sandwiches. Its sugary, but not sweet. It's salty, but not savoury. It's dense, sticky, cloying and unrewarding. It's got that forced baconification fetish applied to the beigest of foods. Like chicken & waffles with neither syrup not hot sauce.
Also I got curious and measured the calories on a website, it should be about 700-800 calories. So calm down.