A year or two ago the Food Network Star was a guy who made sandwiches. Over-the-top, bizarre sandwiches. I generally don’t watch these shows because I don’t believe in cooking as competition. The shows are totally unrealistic with unrealistic goals for situations that would just never exist. I’d rather watch black and white reruns of The French Chef.
But I liked the sandwich concept. I’m a sandwich kinda guy. I really like the idea of putting tons of stuff between slices of bread or rolls. Unique stuff. Interesting stuff. Stuff you wouldn’t necessarily think to put between slices of bread – but once bit into, realize it’s a natural.
Tonight’s dinner idea started with the rolls I made yesterday. Homemade bread does not have a lot of holding power – it’s really meant to be eaten within a couple of days. We use it up – bread salads to bread crumbs – but it’s always best as bread. And for me, that meant sandwiches.
Sandwiches. The very word conjurers up visions of so many sandwiches past… plain bologna between two slices of bread – a favorite of childhood, and one I still like now and again. Fried, gooey triple-decker Monte Cristos at the Red Chimney, open-faced Turkey with dressing and gravy at the Old Post Office, the Kentucky Hot Brown at Vencor Hospital, or that fabulous mushroom and cheddar cheese with caramelized onions that Ruth made years ago – that I still make on a regular basis.
Sandwiches. Love ’em. In all of their various manifestations.
I especially like sandwiches that not only take two hands to eat, but make such a mess that they’re impossible to put down. The kind that no number of napkins will do. Tonight’s sandwich met most of those criterion – a two-handed mess that was almost impossible to put down – and no amount of napkins could cleanse the hands.
It was a rather simple sandwich, too… the split roll covered with chipotle mayonnaise (mayo and a bit of chipotle in adobo) and topped with sliced tomato from the garden, grilled chicken breast topped with melted pepper jack cheese, and a ton of fried peppers.
The green hot peppers came from our yard. I fried them up yesterday and today fried up 8 sweet red peppers to balance them. They were hot. They have a great refrigerated shelf-life – not that we have them around for too long since they go in everything from sandwiches to salads – and everything in-between.
I actually considered adding bacon and avocado to the sandwiches tonight but decided they would be messy enough without them.
Maybe next time.