30 Gourmet Sandwiches #14: Spicy Crab-Salad Sandwich

Time for crab!

We have a tin of good quality crab meat, garlic, red chillies, spring onion, lime, sesame oil and some type of cabbage called "sweetheart" cabbage. It looks like a gnome hat.

I get no hints from the label if the crab meat is cooked or raw... i expected cooked when i bought it but.. well i dunno. I think ill give this a little sautee. Drained off the excess water of course.

Honestly, i think garlic, onion and chillies are all best with a little sear so let's just toss these all together with some sesame oil IN A HOT PAN

They are cooking in toasted sesame oil which also acts as a dressing, and we get to add some salt as well.

Will this be it? will this finally be the recipe where i learn to hold back on overstuffing the sandwich with too much greens? I think so.

Oh! I forgot to show what bread I acquired. I really wanted to find any type of non-crusty baguette or soft roll. Lidl was out of almost everything except these brioche buns, but you know what? Not the first time ive heard of crab/lobster in brioche rolls, I think its kind of a thing around here. Anyway look away while I do some unethical fire hazard things to lightly toast the bread.

I think the crap looks reasonably cooked?? Sits nicely in there.

Some cabbage on top and squeezing the mini lime wedges, and we're good!

****

Quite nice, fresh tasting, the lime adds a lot. There's some grit in there though, maybe I needed to rinse the crab? Not all that spicy, I didn't need to hold back on those pretty mild chillies. It's nice but its not amazing or anything.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #13: Nut-wich

 Ooh its just in time for NUTTING SEASON. Heh. hehe.

This one's a bit of a choose your own adventure. It's like, pick a high beta-carotene fruit/veg, pick a nut, and maybe a bit of honey. I thought sweet potato + hazelnut sounded fun, so I got just that. Plus for some reason I had "crusty roll" written on my shopping list even though it says toasted bread. Whatever.

I peel and slice the sweet potato...

In my mind that would help it cook way faster, but honestly it kinda made it a bit dry and tough so in retrospect maybe i should have steamed or microwaved it.

Anyway once its soft enough, we will salvage it with some butter and a glob of honey for extra sweetness. it doesnt have to be a smooth mash anyway, in fact it says "lightly mash"

Nice chunky mash. Good orange.

Then as it gently implies, we can fold the nuts in at the end, so we dont have to try to "mash" them. Pre-chopped roasted nuts are quite handy here.

Because its a bit of a dry mix i decided to spread a bit of extra butter on the lightly toasted halves of the roll, and then lastly we just sprinkle it with more nuts!

****

I feel like it would make a great breakfast food as its midly sweet and stodgy, like a danish pastry. I dunno if it is, but it tastes kinda healthy because its a bit fibrous and chunky and satisfies some kind of mineral craving. Who doesnt love a big mouthful of warm buttery nut and so forth.
Get it? like the sex word.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #12: Open-Faced Prosciutto and Asparagus

Another idea I've never considered, but it sounds pretty normal.

Got a really nice looking artisanal baguette. Or a xenomorph head. You decide. Also prosciutto cotto, asparagus, and some of the usual suspects for garnish.

I'm going to fry the asparagus spears with a small puddle of water and a bit of butter so they kinda half-steam but brown a tiny bit at the end.

This time i found a mixed bag that has a bunch of greens, im just gonna pick out some rocket(arugula leaves) from it, since ive been in the habit of putting massive fistfuls of garnish on my other sandwiches thus far.

Which means we only really need the tiniest bit of olive oil and lemon juice to toss it in, I reckon i can just stab the lemon with a fork and squeeze out a few drips.

Nice looking half a piece of baguette and some mustard. This sandwich list really loves dijon mustard. 

Layered on 3 folded slices of the proscuitto.

And the cooked asparagus fits on nicely too, now we just top with the garnish and eat! Easy peasy lemo- no wait... easy forky lemon porky.

**

Its alright. It's an annoying way to eat asparagus compared to picking it up and dipping it, since everything on this is so fibrous. The flavours go fine together, but I dont really like the flavour of prosciutto that much unless its been crisped up a bit and combined with some stronger flavours. The bread is really nice.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #11: Turkey Apple Burger

 Wouldn't you know it, my mum dumped a bag of cooking apples (from her friends garden) on me, just at the right time! Well i used most of them for apple pies, but I saved a couple for this recipe here.

I've got turkey mince, onion, apple, mustard, rocket, sage and burger buns.

I start by chopping some onion as fine as I can manage.

and same with the apple, I ended up just doing one apple, it looks like plenty to me.

And then the turkey mince, chopped 3 fresh sage leaves, and seasoned it all with salt & pepper. Now to get my hands really messy and make the patties.

Ah, its so much easier when you don't have to take photos halfway through. Oh, also I remembered i had half an egg in my fridge so i've added that to the mix. Honestly i would reccomend using a whole egg because there's not gonna be a lot to help bind these. Im also frying them with a bit of butter in my big pan.

While thats cooking we can get the burger bun ready. I toasted it a bit and i add a generous spread of dijon mustard and a handful of rocket, aka arugula.

These might come out a bit dry honestly, but they should be cooked through. And hey, they stayed together just fine. Sorry i rammed too much rocket in there it kinda ruins the presentation a bit but I didnt wanna make a bigger mess trying to take half of it out.

****

I like it. The peppery rocket and mustard make the whole thing, well, very peppery. You can't taste the burger quite so much under all that, maybe its a bit sour and oniony? Mostly the turkey mince is a bit dry, i think thats just how turkey works. Maybe it would be better with more sauce, but no complaints, its a perfectly fine turkey burger.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #10: Asian Shrimp and Vegetable Wrap

Ooh a wrap eh? How exotic. What's next, a hot dog?

Got a delivery from further out so I could get some proper shiitake mushrooms. We got some frozen prawns (shrimp), beansprouts (i think thats what they mean by mung beans?), pak choi, and plenty of sesame oil and soy sauce. Oh and some wheat tortillas for the wraps!

Chopping up the veggies and sauteeing them with the sesame oil. If you're working with raw shrimps you should start with them first probably, but mine are frozen and pre-cooked so we will do 'em at the end.

So for the soy sauce... i have all kinds. Im actually gonna mix some of my good dark stuff with light soy sauce and a bit of sugar and mirin as well, just to add a more complex flavour since this and the sesame oil is all the seasoning we've got!

adding the prawns and the leafy half of the pak choi.

Ok... this is starting to become less of a crispy sautee and more of a stew... I guess i can drain it off and itll be fine?

Draining it into a bowl, im going to save all the liquid for later since itll probably make a great stock for noodles!

I haven't forgotten the recipe said to cut the prawns in half... i couldnt do it when they were frozen... honestly they arent that big now so this is kind of a pointless step imo.

Here's all the ingredients layered in, ah but theres just one more thing!

It says to add "soy-laced mayo" but it smells plenty soy'ed up so ill add a bit of this kewpie mayo.

***

Quite nice! I don't know what the trick is, especially with beansprouts, to sear them nicely without drawing all the water out and turning everything super wet. Cook everything less long I guess? If you don't mind the slimyness of everything, the flavours are well balanced making the most of the components and even the wrap and mayo add a little something extra. The unique flavour of shiitake mushrooms is highlighted, along with the prawns. Light and nutritious. Perfect if you like seafood, mushrooms, mayo and beansprouts... ok thats quite a hard sell for a lot of people I suppose.