MITCH IN THE KITCHEN

egg, potato, asparagus, and cheddar sandwich

I can only speak from my own experience, but this is the type of sandwich that is perfect as a light dinner after you spend a sunny afternoon outdoors, eating burritos and splitting an entire pitcher of margaritas with your friend Nicole who is now a freshly minted Juris Doctor (!). Cooking while tipsy usually goes surprisingly well for me (cf. spaghetti with Ashwin) and this was no exception: no cuts, no burns, no mess, and good food.

To make it: Toss trimmed asparagus spears and sliced potatoes (about 1/4-inch thick) with oil, salt, pepper, and hot paprika. Roast in a 425-degree toaster oven until lightly browned. Fry an egg, then top it with a slice of cheddar cheese to let it melt in the pan. Stack everything on a split and toasted roll.

bacon, cheddar, and onion jam sandwich

Sometimes I come home after a late night of grazing on nachos and beer followed by a late afternoon of brunching on buttery ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches with fries, and all I want to eat for dinner is more bread, more cheese, and more cured pork. Also, a huge salad with crunchy vegetables and fruit to restore my sanity and nutrition cred.

grilled cheese and tomato soup

The weather report for today was fraught with words like “icy,” “sleet,” and “freezing rain.” Meaning the weather really sucks. On the bright side, this is exactly the kind of day for a homemade version of that canned kiddie favorite, tomato soup. With a plain grilled cheddar sandwich, of course. It’s a winter version of a favorite summer combination: bread, tomatoes, and cheese.

At its simplest, all it takes to make tomato soup is canned (home-canned or otherwise) tomatoes, a little bit of chopped onion, water or broth, and salt and pepper. If you want to get un-basic, you can take it in all kinds of directions: fresh herbs, other vegetables (celery, peppers, carrots, garlic), spices like curry powder or cayenne pepper or cumin, creme fraiche stirred in at the end. I also found that a pinch of sugar is exactly what tomato soup needs to round out all that acidity. To make it: soften the onions (and other vegetables, if using) in a little bit of oil or butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer. Give it all a quick whirl (carefully and messily) in a blender or food processor (or with an immersion blender), then return it to the pot to heat it through.

leftover turkey

Thanksgiving is over, which means leftover cooked turkey and elastic waistbands will be going into heavy rotation. An evening of prep work and an entire afternoon of cooking are well worth the effort, especially when it means a week of barely having to do anything about lunch or dinner (or breakfast, since I am willing to eat leftover stuffing for breakfast). Since I got a head start on my Thanksgiving feast, I also got a head start on my Thanksgiving hangover I mean leftovers.

The Obvious and Reliable Sandwich
Bread (in the photo above, rye), chopped leftover brussels sprouts, sliced manchego cheese, sliced turkey, cranberry sauce. I’ve had like 5 of these since the original dinner. Also good as a buttered and grilled sandwich, with sliced apples.

Turkey Hash with Eggs
Pan-fry chunks of boiled potato (or leftover mashed potatoes) with chopped turkey, leftover vegetables (I had carrots, celery, and onions from the roasting pan), and leftover herbs/seasonings. I added some congealed pan drippings and a splash of milk too. Make little wells and crack eggs into them. Transfer pan (if it’s oven-safe) into a 400-degree oven for a few minutes and cook until egg whites are set. If your pan can’t go straight into the oven, finish cooking the eggs on the stove, with a lid on the pan. You can also top the whole thing off with leftover gravy.

Turkey Laap
This is what my family typically does with their leftover turkey. Laap is a Thai/Lao meat salad. Combine finely chopped turkey with minced shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, chili peppers, fresh mint, cilantro, and ground up toasted uncooked rice (optional). Serve cold or warm.

Turkey Stock
It’s the same process for making chicken stock, but with a bigger bird. Put turkey carcass in a stockpot with a few celery stalks, a few carrot sticks, some quartered onions, salt, and peppercorns. I threw in some fennel stalks and parsley stems too. Fill the pot with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for a few hours. After removing the bones and vegetables, skim off any scum from the surface. Strain through cheesecloth into storage containers, and store in the refrigerator. Fat will congeal at the top, making it easy to remove. Keep some in the freezer for later use. Tip: ventilate accordingly; I didn’t and an oniony turkey smell lingered in every room.

Other Ideas
You know what else would be good? Turkey enchiladas, turkey tinga, turkey salad (or in a leafy vegetable salad), turkey noodle soup (pho!?), turkey cobbler (like a pot pie but with biscuit dough on top), turkey chilaquiles, and Sichuan-style sliced turkey (love this idea!). Basically, the common theme is drowning the meat in interesting sauces and seasonings. Any other ideas to share? Playing with the leftovers is almost as fun as cooking the whole bird.

Having said that, I am totally sick of turkey and am looking forward to not eating any for a long, long time.

almond butter and jam sandwich

Meet PB & J’s less popular cousin: AB & J. I haven’t bought peanut butter in something like a year, but suddenly I’m smitten with salted almond butter. I’ve had this sandwich almost daily (sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for lunch, sometimes for a snack) for the past two weeks. I’ve been using apricot jam, but I think I’m going to switch to seedy strawberry preserves soon. A double layer of almond butter (one on each slice of bread) keeps the preserves/jam from soaking through the bread in cases of extended storage (i.e. morning until lunch). Ah, simple pleasures.

curry chicken salad sandwich

This is like something you might get at a gourmet-ish deli, but lightened up with a yogurt dressing instead of the usual heavy coating of mayonnaise. I’m trying to pack lunches (and dinners when I have class right around dinnertime) more often these days, so this might go into heavy rotation (at least until I get sick of it).

Makes enough for 2 modestly sized sandwiches.

To make dressing, combine:
1/3 cup plain yogurt
tiny dab of yellow mustard
2 teaspoons olive oil
a little bit of thinly sliced or finely chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper, to taste

Combine dressing with:
1 cooked chicken breast (or thighs, whatevs), diced
1/2 large apple, diced
handful of cashews, toasted in a dry pan and chopped
handful of raisins or dried cranberries

If it looks too dry, add more yogurt and oil. Add more seasonings if necessary.

Assemble sandwich with:
multi-grain bread
lettuce, arugula, or baby greens (optional)
sliced cheddar (optional)

peachy biscuit ice cream sandwich

Forget cobbler. Instead of waiting for a dish full of fruit and dough to get all gooey and hot in the oven, I sandwiched some peach slices between leftover buttery breakfast biscuits with homemade honey-bourbon ice cream and a smear of Jocelyn’s tart blueberry jam. Incidentally, this was a break from learning about fat metabolism.

tomatoes + cheese + bread = lunch

Summer produce feels like the greatest thing in the world right now. Especially the way it smells. Every morning I stick my head into a bag of peaches and take a big whiff before slicing one up into my breakfast. Our CSA basil is so good that you can smell it halfway down the block from the pickup site (a church. an indoor church). And I love picking the stems off of tomatoes and sniffing them, because their scent reminds me of my grandparents’ old house.

I don’t have any good/fun/creative ideas or recipes for peaches (or fruit in general, really) because when we get some good ones, things like cake batter and ice cream only seem to get in the way. The tomatoes (especially the cherry tomatoes) have also been good enough to eat on their own. Still, I find myself eating the same thing for lunch everyday: simple tomato and cheese sandwiches. It’s hard to go wrong when you  put tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a good smear of homemade basil pesto between two slices of bread.

Or how about a buttery-ass grilled cheddar and gouda sandwich with yellow and red tomatoes? This combo never ever ever gets old.

Ok fine, I had one of each of these today. I hope you’re all as in love with tomatoes as I am right now.