Class #9: Sandwiches

In this week's class we would be preparing sandwiches as well as a side dish for a complete plate. We would draw out of a hat for our category of how we would prepare our sandwich.  The categories were: grilled, panini pressed, open faced and stacked (layered).  None of these scared me and I was pleased when I drew grilled as I planned to go beyond the basic grilled cheese sandwich.  Once I learned there was sliced turkey in the fridge in our lab kitchen I thought a nice pesto would go great on a grilled sandwich.  I also decided a nice spinach salad on the side would pair with it nicely .  So I began my mise en place.  Do you know what "Mise en place" means?  It translates to "Everything in its place".  It's what Chefs do before they begin to actually cook their meal.  They prep all their ingredients first and stay organized as they go.  They peel, chop, and measure out ingredients before starting a single cooking step.  It helps keep the cooking process stay on track so you can dump the ingredients in as needed instead of say, burning your butter as you're still chopping an onion.  It's a process I'm gradually trying to adapt as I'm not an organized neat cook but I want to be and this process helps and makes me feel more like a chef each time I set out my little bowls of ingredients.


Anyway, back to sandwiches.  I was on the search for pine nuts and couldn't find any and almost ditched the pesto idea when I saw sunflower seeds.  I thought this would work as all I really needed was an oily seed/nut ingredient to process with oil, basil & parmesan cheese - yup, that's all there is to pesto.  So, with my turkey, cheese & pesto grilled sandwich I decided to make a spinach salad with bacon vinegarette.  This is a salad my friend, Joy, had introduced me to a long time ago and I've made it once before and thought it would pair so well with my sandwich.  The salad starts by frying up some bacon, getting it nice & crispy.  Then pour your bacon drippings in a bowl and you'll whisk in syrup (yes, pancake syrup) & balsamic vinegar to taste. I just played with portions until I felt it was just right - sweet with a tang.  It's sooo good - you really must try this flavor combo.  Once my sandwich was grilled to perfection I tossed my spinach with the vinegarette knowing I had to do this at the very last second as the spinach wilts SO quickly.  Chef was pleased as I got a 25 out of 25!  YES!  I was very, very happy and enjoyed eating my work.  Hats off the to the Chef...that would be me in this case. ;)

NOTE: The portion I actually served was much larger but I forgot to take a picture until after the Chef and I had tried it!