30 Gourmet Sandwiches #29: Black Forest Ham and Caramelised Onion Grilled cheese

Black forest ham? Cambozola? Are these trendy new dog breeds?

I'll see what lidl can do for us... couldn't find cambozola, but apparantly its like a softer gorgonzola so i guess thatll do its getting grilled anyway. I couldn't find black forest ham, but i got some sort of smoked german offering. We've got a white onion, and wholemeal bread fresh from the freezer.

I'll slice the onions as thinly as I can.

I forgot to take the butter out of the fridge in advance... is this a perfectly reasonable way to butter the outside of the bread? No?

Ok enough nonsense, i'll caramelise the onions and then assemble it on the grill.

a smattering of this fluffy looking cheese. It'll all melt in there anyway.

I tried to cook the onions as low and slow as i could, but i foolishly used the beast hob so they might be a little bit burned here and there.

and a couple slices of nice looking hams, slap the top on, und auf geht's!

***

It's not as great as it looks, but its alright. Kinda smoky, hopefully not just from the burnt onion. Not quite as good as the croque monseiur, but not bad. I wish i'd made it more buttery, maybe even a bit more cheese? Mostly just tastes like cooked onion.

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 #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.

Delicious in Dungeon #52: The Breakfast Menu

 Umm.. Deja Vu? I think Ryoko Kui likes breakfasts...

hmm it came to me in a dream... a nostalgic inspiration for another cooked breakfast. I suppose this is the closest thing we get to representing laios and farin's hometown cuisine? It's quite north european sounding with the rye bread and sausages.

This ones... pretty simple, even simpler than senshi's pancakes. Hippogriff sausages, wyvern omelette, walking mushroom soup and rye of the beholder... no im just kidding, its regular rye bread.

For the hippogriff sausages I got some nice venison sausages, are deer more horse-like than cows? discuss. I'll just put them on the grill till they're done, its rocket-shaped science.

For the rolled wyvern-egg omelette, its time to practice my tamagoyaki once again. For seasoning we got mirin, soy sauce and since its breakfast, I like a bit of pepper too.

Will I make a better omelette than last time?

Uh, you know.. I just might... this is looking pretty good!

Sausages are cooked, eggs nearly done, so we can pop the soup in the microwave and the bread in the toaster.

Wow! This is the neatest looking tamagoyaki i've made to date!

This rye is so thinly sliced and delicate, even more when its toasted. I have to be really careful not to obliterate it while i butter it and put it on a plate.

*****

I think this came out great! I don't really care for mushroom soup but it was a fairly nice one, the sausages were great, the bread was great. I'm really pleased with how the omelette looks, though I keep forgetting I don't really like that mirin balance in it so much... i think id prefer it with salt and vinegar or something. Still, you get this great variety of 4 very different things that don't clash and it was easy to put together since I only made one thing from scratch.

Delicious in Dungeon #48: Hamburg Steak With Changeling Sauce

Is it me... or are dungeon mushrooms getting bigger these days?

The popular japan-german dish is back! It's a dungeon twist on the HANBAGU or Hamburg Steak which we seem to have visited quite a few times in other challenges.

This time we've got the monstrous ingredients of mixed leftover griffin/hippogriff (im using a beef&pork mince mix) and a changeling-based sauce with a bit of mandrake and frog skin.

Big load of mince, nice. And then i'm adding onion chopped as finely as I can manage, breadcrumbs, and an egg.

It says I can add whatever seasoning I want, so im adding my trusty paprika salt, pepper, mild chilli powder and ginger powder.

Now for the messy part... theres no way around it i have to knead it with my hands. Its cold and getting pork fat off your hands is SO WEIRDLY DIFFICULT. The mince seemed slightly dry and crumbly so I decided to add another egg as I went.

Now I can bust out my new MEGA ULTRA DELUXE FRYING PAN!! I could make paella in this someday.. hmm.. anyway, throw in a slightly generous portion of butter because we'll use the rest for the sauce.

These brown quite fast, so we might have to turn my overpowered hob off and on again to cook it slower. I'm not taking any chances with pork mince.

For the mandrake... in the past its been parsnips or ginger... its really whatever root vegetable we need? but i saw some whimsical looking radishes that I thought would be perfect. they come in 2 kinds!

What a nice pink and purple, very changeling.

For the changelings, I got a mix with 2 types of mushroom: shiitake and oyster, and can chop them up roughly.

For the "frog skin".. well, i don't have frog skin. but I was wondering... whats it there for? Is it to add brothy, collagen-y flavours and thicken up the sauce maybe? So I thought a good substitute would be a concentrated chicken stock.

These are getting somewhere, a bit longer and then I take the patties out and use all that oily meat juice as the sauce base..

Adding in the mushrooms and stock.

It says I can use whatever seasonings I want... so as a nod to the hanbagu recipes i've done in the past, im adding a bit of sake and soy sauce.

At the end I sprinkle in the grated radish as well. I was hoping it might add a pink sparkle, but it just looks brown and oily.

*****

Delicious! I think this came out perfectly. The mushrooms go really well with the beef and pork, and the oilyness of the sauce balances out the dryness of the mince. It's hearty and satisfying.