Bringin’ Out the Hellman’s And the Sunday Best

Sandwich 101

Sandwiches. They range from humble to ridiculously grandiose.  Now that the weather is letting up a bit, some of us are rolling out our best breads, meats, cheeses and condiments and building the best sandwiches we can mustard. Whoops. You know what I mean. The art of sandwich building is not to be taken lightly, and while I’ve packed my share of picnic lunches that leaned on my favorite staples (Hellman’s and Grey Poupon) I heartily encourage experimenting with vinaigrettes, pestos, BBQ sauces, chutneys, and salsas—this enthusiasm basically furnished the entire fourth chapter of my new book that’s being tested (and hopefully enjoyed!) right now.

This post is all about dispensing sandwich secrets—not just how to make a superior sandwich, but how to understand its origins, so that the love for what you’re doings shines through in taste—soon, every one you know will want to go on a picnic with you! And if that “everyone you know” is in South Florida, you should definitely sandwich shop at Doris’ Italian Market. Pleas bear with me on the condiment puns. Doris’ peppers Broward County with 5 locations, and each one is just delightful. There’s really no other word to describe it with its 2 big clocks hanging on the wall; one that gives the time here in Florida, and the other that tells you it’s lunchtime in Rome.      

You can pick some amazing sandwich breads in their bakery: mufalleta, seesed, Cuban, braided…etc on into carb heaven infinity. Go for dry, dense bread if it’s going to be a particularly moist Sammy. And…when you’re picking out the veggies that are going on the sandwich, think outside the obvious choices of lettuce and tomato. Why? These are mostly water and can waterlog your masterpiece. I suggest roasted peppers, sliced fennel and spinach, shredded cabbage, or some diagonally cut cucumber.

When you spread your condiment of choice, cover the entire piece of bread, crust to crust—it’ll act as a moisture seal and lock in your flavors. I do this with my Hellman’s, which I love so much I don’t try to embellish too much. Its creators have known what they’re doing, no intervention necessary, since 1912. Telling the Hellman’s story is a great reminder to folks how important Sunday Excursions to new delis and cafes are—that’s how Hellman’s was discovered, you know: in a little German deli in NYC at the turn of the 20^th century. The deli owner’s wife made such incredible mayo that it literally sold by the gravy boat—or rather, the wooden boats the deli used to weigh their butter. Two versions of the mayo were popular, and the one the customers liked best had a blue ribbon tied around the boat.   

Now for my mustard…I’m a grey poupon fan because their Pinterest board took the words right out of my mouth:  “Since 1777, it has been synonymous with all that is refined, exquisite and delicious.” Pairing white wine with a strong French regional mustard was genius—and it’s brushed across my special recipe for an Italian BLT Panini in a way that makes that capicola ham do a little dance and make a little love. 

So tell me what your favorite sandwich is, and where you’d take it for the most perfect picnic on earth. In my case, that ended up being a porch glider. When the weather gets fair, keep this mantra in mind: Whatever the setting, whatever the time of year, a lunch is not a lunch unless you take it outdoors.

So happy picnicking!

I Had a Midsummer Night’s Dream…

About Revisiting my Favorite Recipes for the Perfect Summer Solstice Party

The days are getting longer and home improvement shops are rolling out the outdoor pavilion sets. You know the ones—they have dreamy names like “Garden Oasis Gazebo”. Admit it! It’s fun to check out the plush cushions on the wicker patio stuff, and peek into hibachis where fake corn and steak adorn the grill. I like to picture a summer get together with guests roaming my backyard in cottony dresses, kids capturing lighting bugs, and happy campers of all ages queuing up at my buffet.

Though Memorial Day weekend is right around the corner, I can think of an even better date, further out, for a grand summer party: the summer solstice, on June 20th. It’s the longest day of the year, and appeals to Extreme Party Planners the world over. As I planned my party, I focused my eyes (and taste buds) on Scandinavia, plenty inspired to sit down and create my own summer solstice party on Pinterest.

Did I Pique Your Pinterest?

You’ll see when you visit my newest pinboard, that I’ve given myself over to the idea of seafood. The Scandinavians got it right. Picture it: salmon, lobster, lightly roasted vegetables—loads of starchy, wonderful potatoes coated in enough fresh dill, you’d swear it was lawn clippings and not just an abundance of herbs on the table. It would have been good to be a Viking! Roasted Fingerling Potatoes Topped with Smoked Salmon and Dill were the first appy to pop into my head. Please let me know if they land somewhere in your summer buffet.    

Summer Solstice Menu; All Oldies But Goodies!

For the entrée. How about making LOBSTER the Maine Event? Click the punny link to read my personal experiences signing a FedEx receipt for still alive, still squirming crustaceans. I know that lobster is a tall order in the present economy—so if you want to save, or just spare your guests from those small hammers and bibs, this is your next best thing: the Barbecued salmon hoagie. You’re going to fall in love with it the minute you see it—and it absolutely must be served with Chili roasted corn on the cob with lime cream. Serve Rosemary Baked Potatoes as one side, and Six veggie slaw with tarragon as the other; it’s the crisp, cool counterpart to what’s hot.

Dessert has to be light, creamy (a difficult juxtaposition in food, I know) and make you hum along to Billy Ocean’s Caribbean Queen. I’ve gotten compliments on my trifles, and the Tropical trifle is among the best in my trifling repertoire.

Simple Moonrise Parties in Lieu of the Bigger Bashes

I wouldn’t worry too much about dessert if the drinks offered at your party are cool in every sense of the word. I’m serving  Bourbon minted tea, which brings me round to describing what one of my readers shared with me recently. She serves this beverage during her moon rise parties—small gatherings that involve she and her husband, a few friends and a toast in the hour or two before dusk, when the moon looks like a bouncy bluish ball in the sky. I like to picture this friend in a white deck chair, glass in hand, enjoying the remains of the day. Please bookmark these published Moon rise times for the summer months ahead.

Enjoy them all! Summertime is a celebration of new beginnings and vitality!  Walk barefoot through the grass, my friends!      

Easy Mexicali Breakfast Tacos

Makes 2 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

2 green onions, thinly sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
½ large red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about ½ cup)
1 large egg
3 large egg whites
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1 tablespoon reduced fat sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Heat a skillet, coated with vegetable oil spray over medium heat. Add the green onions and red pepper and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Whisk together the egg and egg whites. Pour this mixture into the skillet and cook until set, about 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper,

To serve, heat the tortillas in a microwave oven until soft. Divide the egg mixture among the tortillas. Fold in half, taco style. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.

A Summer Tiki Party

Where the Birds Sing and the Flowers Bloom

Welcome to a tropical hideaway, you lucky people, you…or so the Enchanted Tiki Room song went, when it was written for Disney World in 1963. In Mad Men, (if you’ve never heard of the AMC television series, come out of your cave) Don Draper would definitely approve of the ambience found in a tiki room; a party with the kind of atmosphere where “Skirts” and fedoras drift by, the booze flows freely and kool kats enjoy a little intoxicating food and drink, their smokes, and music that gives Elvis’ Blue Hawaii a run for its money. To recreate such a scene, I’m recreating the Polynesian PuPu Platter and serving up my Hurricane Brew in hollow coconut shells—what a way to cool off this summer!

Tiki Time Event Menu

Purveyors of tiki culture were the proprietors of Don the Beachcomber restaurant and Trader Vic’s; both were, in the 1930s, young men who had sailed throughout the South Pacific and loved exotic rum punches, rattan furinture, tropical flowers and tiki torches—it was a way of dining and entertaining that peaked in the 50s and 60s, vanished in the 70s and has come back for an encore now. In homage, her’es my PuPu platter, defined as a tray of Chinese American/Hawaiian assorted small meats and seafood appetizers: think egg rolls, chicken wings, savory skewers and other temptables for kool kats.

Get out your best monkeywood platter and load it up with all or some of the following:

Grilled Rum Marinated Flank Steak Sandwiches with Chipotle Lime Aioli
Barbecued Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Cranberry, Corn and Avocado Relish
Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps
Mustard Coated Chicken Skewers with Grilled Veggie Salsa
Fried Calamari with Tuna Caper Dipping Sauce
Tropical Trifle for Dessert
Signature Drink: Hurricane Brew

I can’t say enough about these tiki-rific choices. Make sure you have a jar of Maraschino cherries standing by to garnish the plate in true PuPu platter style. For the flank steak sandwiches, your everyday sammy gets a makeover with a big burst of flavor, and the chicken skewers offer an update on fast food chicken fingers that’s easy to prepare. Fried is a distinguishing factor to any PuPu platter, which is why I added the calamari, but with a dipping sauce that cuts through that salty, deep fried heaviness.

As Seen on Mad Men…Drink It, Wear it or Use it at Your Tiki Party!
And now to introduce my signature drink for the big event. My Hurricane Brew is best whipped up in a pitcher, then authenticated by pouring the concoction into hollowed pineapples. You’ll need a few tools to serve the Brews this way; first a pineapple slicer, which removes the core and gives you a neat stack of pineapple rings—and drinking glass!!—in seconds. This is a cocktail that will have you looking all over for those little paper umbrellas; it calls for rum both light and dark, grenadine, fresh citrus juices and plenty of granulated sugar. If you don’t want to trouble yourself with real pineapple glasses, check out the Tiki drinking glasses I found shopping online; you’ve probably seen this same set with lipstick stains on the rim in Mad Men. Oh, and speaking (again!) of that series, did you know Banana Republic is coming out with its own Mad Men clothing line in August 2011? That’s this summer! View the whole Retro clothes collection by clicking the link.

Here’s a hyperlink shortlist of other tiki bar supplies I found for cheap…real cheap…on Amazon:

Paper Cocktail Parasols - Pack of 144
Pineapple slicer
tiki luau drinking straws

And while you may love behaving like "Mad Men" at your tiki party this summer, don’t expect to see the show again until 2012…how many great parties will you have before then!

Happy Mai Tai Sipping, Everyone!

Grilled Chicken and Mushroom Tostadas with Tomato Chutney

Servings: 6 to 8
Preparation Time: 45 minutes

6 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 3 cups)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white wine vinegar
3 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 1 ½ teaspoons)
½ teaspoon hot paprika
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large (4 to 6-ounce)skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)

2 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)
2 ounces grated white American cheese (about ½ cup)
1 bunch (6 to 8) green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal (about ½ cup)

8 to 10 (6-inch corn tortillas)
Vegetable oil for frying

Prepare the chutney by placing 6 dice plum tomatoes into a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, paprika and ginger. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Place 1 tablespoon olive oil into a grill pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken in the pan, turning once, about 5 to 7 minutes per side. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes.

Cook the mushrooms in the grill pan until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the chicken across the grain into thin strips. Place the chicken into a bowl. Spoon the chutney over top of the chicken and toss.

Heat enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a skillet, over medium high heat. Place 1 tortilla into the hot oil. Cook for 30 to 60 seconds or until the tortilla is bubbled and golden. Use tongs to transfer the fried tortilla to a paper towel to drain. Continue until all of the tortillas have been cooked.

Assemble the tostadas by layering the ingredients on top of the fried tortillas. Start with the chutney coated chicken strips. Top with a spoonful of mushrooms, a sprinkle of diced tomatoes and a drizzle of grated cheese. (At this point, you may place the tostadas under a broiler to melt the cheese. Garnish with slices of green onion.)

Grilled Brie and Apple Sandwich with Spicy Apple Chutney

Servings: 4

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

8 (1/4-inch thick) diagonally cut French bread slices
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
8 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed, room temperature (1 cup)
2 large apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons Spicy Apple Chutney (see sidebar)

Butter one side of each bread slice. Place the bread, buttered side down, onto a cutting board.

Spread (or crumble) the brie cheese over the unbuttered side of 4 of the bread slices.

Spread 1 tablespoon of chutney on top of the brie. Distribute the apple slices over top of the brie.

Heat a grill or skillet over medium high heat. Place the brie, chutney and apple topped bread slices, buttered side down into the skillet. Top with the remaining bread, buttered side up.

Cover the sandwiches with a lid and cook for 2 minutes.

Remove the lid and check the bottom slice of bread to make sure it has turned golden brown. Use a spatula to turn the sandwiches. Press down on the top of each one. Cook uncovered for 1 to 2 minutes more. Turn the sandwiches one more time and cook for 1 more minute. Cut each sandwich in half and serve.

Open Face Tomato Sandwiches with Candied Bacon

Sweet and crunchy bacon adds a new dimension to traditional Southern inspired tomato sandwiches in this yum-in-the-tum appy.

Yield: 30 appys
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes for candied bacon

1 pound thick-sliced Hickory-smoked bacon
1 cup dark brown sugar

1 (1-pound) package sour dough party bread
1 (1-pound) package Campari tomatoes, thinly sliced
Salt
½ cup good quality mayonnaise
½ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced into thin strips

Preheat the oven to 325°. Line two lipped baking sheets with parchment paper. Dredge each bacon slice in brown sugar and place onto a baking sheet. Bake the bacon until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. The bacon will continue to crisp after you remove it from the oven. Cool to room temperature and crumble.

Use a round biscuit cutter to form circles in 30 slices of party bread. (Reserve remaining bread for another use.) Spread each slice with mayonnaise. Top with 1 to 2 slices of tomato. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Top with crumbled candied bacon and basil.

Make It Yourself Tip
To prepare your own mayo, place 2 egg yolks, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon powdered mustard, a pinch each of granulated sugar and ground pepper, and 3 teaspoons lemon juice into a blender, or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade. Pulse for 15 seconds. With motor running, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup light olive oil (or use moderately high blender speed). As mixture begins to thicken, continue adding up to 1 ¼ cups additional oil in a fine steady stream. As the mixture thickens, alternate the oil with ¼ cup warm water until you reach the desired consistency. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

Simple Sub
I chose Campari tomatoes for this dish because they are the perfect size to fit on a round piece of bread, ripe, sweet and juicy. You can substitute with ripe plum tomatoes or several small cherry tomatoes that are thinly sliced.

Barbecued Salmon Hoagie

Open wide! This easy, good-for-you sammich is piled high with ingredients that you are going to Yum over.

½ pound grilled salmon, sliced into 2 pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons homemade or good quality prepared barbecue sauce
2 whole grain hoagie rolls
1 large plum tomato, diced into ½-inch pieces
Hamburger dill pickle chips
Cole slaw

Sprinkle the salmon fillets with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the salmon, flesh side down to form grill marks, about 3 to 4 minutes depending on thickness. Carefully turn the salmon. Brush the seared side with barbecue sauce (homemade is best, but a good quality barbecue sauce in a jar will work just fine.) Grill the salmon for about 3 to 4 minutes more. Carefully turn the salmon one more time to sear the other side with the barbecue sauce. Cook until the salmon is still rare in the center. Remove to a platter, glazed side up.

Brush the inside of the hoagie rolls with the remaining olive oil. Grill the rolls until just golden. Transfer the rolls to a platter. Place the fillets onto the rolls, top with diced tomato, pickle chips and cole slaw.

Servings: 2
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 6 to 8 minutes to grill salmon

Asparagus Cheese Toasts

Serve these rich open face sandwiches at your next girl get-together. It’s a perfect dish for a luncheon or light supper and even better when cut into pieces for an appetizer. To make things even easier you can substitute with small “party” bread slices and use just the tips of the asparagus.


1 pound fresh asparagus spears, ends trimmed, cut to the same length as the bread
8 slices very thin sliced whole grain bread
Olive oil
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated, about 1 cup
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
6 ounces bacon, about 4 to 6 strips, cooked and crumbled
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Blanch the asparagus in salted boiling water until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and cool under running water to room temperature. Pat dry and cut each one in half, lengthwise.

Brush both sides of the bread with olive oil. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Brown the bread slices until golden, about 1 minute per side. Place each one onto a rimmed baking sheet.

Place the Gruyere cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and horseradish into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix thoroughly. Add the bacon, season with salt and pepper and pulse again to combine.

Preheat the oven to broil. Lay the asparagus onto the toast. Spread the cheese mixture over top. Broil until the toasts are golden and bubbling, about 4 to 6 minutes.

To serve, cut each toast into triangles.

Servings: 32 bite size toasts
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 to 6 minutes