Toasted Prosciutto and Brie Sandwiches with Sauteed Pear and Thyme

In the mood for something decadent? Look no further. A perfect holiday sandwich. Or morning sandwich. Or evening sandwich. Anytime, really. Especially as an antidote to a gray wintry day.

For a variation on the theme, or if you can't get your hands on a pear that's even halfway ripe, sub sliced apple for the pear and add a pinch of lemon zest.

Ingredients (per person)
1/2 - 1 red or green d'Anjou pear, peeled, sliced, and cut lengthwise into 1/2" strips
1/2 tbsp butter (optional)
1/2 tsp honey
2-3 pinches minced fresh thyme
2 slices sourdough bread (like Village Bakery's walnut levain)
Several thin slices brie or triple-cream (like Cowgirl Creamery's blissfully decadent Mt. Tam)
2 slices prosciutto
1 small handful baby arugula
Olive oil

Heat a pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter (or sub olive oil, if you prefer), then add the pear and sauté, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Add the honey and stir to coat, then sprinkle lightly with thyme. Continue cooking another minute or three until the pears are soft (they should bend easily). Remove from the heat and set aside.

Assemble your sandwich: Cover a slice of bread with slices of brie in a single layer, then the
prosciutto, your arugula, and finally the pear. Top with the second slice of bread.

Use a paper towel to wipe out your pan, then heat it over medium heat. Drizzle with olive oil, then set your sandwich in to toast. When the bottom is golden brown (1-2 minutes), flip carefully and toast the other side as well.

Remove from the pan, cut in half if desired, and serve hot.

Wasabi Salmon Sandwiches

The Scene: Saturday evening. Feet up. Encouched.

The Game: Scattergories. Three-minute version.

The Letter: W.

The Category in Question: Things You Bring on a Picnic.

The Conversation, Verbatim:
Husband: What did you put?

Me: Wasabi salmon sandwich. You could totally bring that on a picnic.

Him: Ooooh.

(thoughtful pause)

Me: In fact, I kind of want one.

Him: Yeah.

Me: Like, now.

Him: Yeah.

(thoughtful pause)

Him: What are we doing for dinner tomorrow? 

Me: Making wasabi salmon sandwiches?

Him: That is correct.

Ingredients
2 smallish salmon filets (5-6 oz each), carefully deboned
1/2 tsp grated or finely chopped fresh ginger
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped or pressed
Kosher salt
Black sesame seeds
Olive oil
1 tsp wasabi powder*
1 tbsp very good quality mayonnaise or aioli**
1/2 bunch watercress, leaves separated, washed, and dried
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 ciabatta rolls, sliced in half (or sub slices of ciabatta or a french boule if necessary)

Sprinkle both sides of the salmon lightly with salt, then place skin side down on a plate. Sprinkle the top of each piece with ginger and garlic, and press them lightly into the fish with your fingertips. Last, sprinkle the same side liberally with black sesame seeds.

Mix the wasabi powder with just enough water to form a thick paste. Add the mayonnaise, stir well to combine, and set in the fridge.

Toss the watercress with the rice wine vinegar and set aside.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. When hot, lightly drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Add the salmon, skin side down, and shake the pan back and forth to make sure it doesn't stick. Cook for several minutes until the skin is golden brown and the salmon looks cooked about a third of the way up the side.

Flip the salmon, and cook for 2-3 minutes more until the top of the fish is very lightly golden (but not long enough for the garlic to brown).

Flip back skin side down, and check for doneness (we recommend medium-rare). If it's not done yet, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook for a minute or two more. Remove from the heat just before it's cooked enough (it will cook more as you serve it and carry it to the table).

To assemble the sandwich, spread each piece of bread lightly with wasabi mayonnaise, then sandwich the salmon topped with watercress in between. Cut in half, and serve immediately.

Serves 2. Pairs extremely well with sauteed beet greens, St. Supery's 2011 Virtu (available right now at Costco), and Nina Simone.

*Whole Foods has Sushi Sonic, a freeze-dried version made with real wasabi that tastes entirely different from the horseradish-mustard concoction often used as a substitute.
**Also found at Whole Foods: Sir Kensington gourmet scooping mayonnaise; also well worth seeking out.

Smoked Salmon on Sourdough with Eggs and Kale

Let's say you have a big package of wild smoked salmon on hand, from Costco, and a few pastured eggs, and some Red Russian kale growing in your garden.*

And let's say you have very little energy, but feel compelled to make something whole-foody and home-cooked because you vaguely remember that there's some reason you tend to find that important, on days when you're not too tired to think, and you strongly suspect that one of those days is coming up sometime in the next few weeks and that Untired You will look back on Tired You with sad disapproval if Tired You doesn't cook something today, and you can just imagine the sad, sorrowful shake of the head that Untired and Disgustingly Energetic Future You will throw back in the direction of Tired and Somewhat Pathetically Lethargic Past You, and you cannot bear it. You cannot. And also you cannot bear the thought of something oversalted and processed, because you've gotten addicted to deliciousness and you just can't stop eating it.

If such a thing should happen, I suggest you make this. Future You will be totally jealous.

Ingredients (per person)
2 slices sourdough or multigrain sourdough bread
A few slices smoked salmon (enough for one layer on the sandwich)
1 egg
Olive oil
1 small clove garlic, chopped
A generous handful of sliced kale (that's been cut into thin ribbons and washed carefully)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil, then add the garlic and saute for 20-30 seconds until soft. Add the kale and saute, stirring occasionally, until the leaves begin to wilt and the stems begin to soften a bit. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and push to the side of the pan.

In the other side of the pan, drizzle a bit more olive oil and then break the egg directly into it. Let sit for a moment, then slowly push the spatula through the egg once to break the yolk. Let sit for another moment, then repeat, so that you're slowly stirring the egg to cook evenly while only partially blending the yolk and the white (at the end, there should still be some distinct white and yellow parts). Stir the kale once or twice in the meantime.

Toast the bread.

When the egg is no longer runny, turn off the heat, and assemble the sandwich in layers: Smoked salmon over the bottom piece of toast, then egg, then kale. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper. (If the toast is on the dry side, sprinkle the bottom and/or top piece with a little olive oil.)

Cut sandwich in half, and serve hot.

*Incidentally, kale is both easy to grow and keep producing year-round, or at least nearly year-round if you live in frosty climes...and fresh baby kale from the garden is amazing. Grow it. Future You will thank you.

Mostly Plants in a Hurry: Egg Sandwich with Leafy Greens

The basic idea here is to take something oniony, something green, and a bit of a fresh herb and let them play nicely in a pan together with a couple of eggs. Dinner in ten minutes, but all leafy and fresh and flavorful. (Unlike the TV dinners that I catch myself missing once every few months when I'm mournfully wandering about our whole-foodified kitchen late at night looking for something quick and easy to make.)

Ingredients, per sandwich
Olive oil
1-2 shallots, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 cup frozen organic cut leaf spinach
1 cup sliced mystery greens from your CSA box
Couple pinches fresh chopped oregano
2 pastured eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ñora pepper
2 slices multigrain, not-too-many ingredient bread, toasted*

Heat a glug of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. When hot, add the shallot and a pinch of salt and saute until lightly golden. Add the frozen spinach and continue to cook, stirring, until it thaws in the pan, then add the fresh leafy greens and saute until tender (a minute or two for baby greens; longer for something like chard or big mustard greens which might need to be covered for a bit of quick steaming to cook through).**

Add the oregano, stir a couple times, then turn the heat down to medium low. Crack the eggs into the pan, let sit for 10-20 seconds, and then slowly stir into the greens, breaking first one yolk, waiting a moment, then breaking the other. Sprinkle with a pinch more salt, some black pepper, and a bit of ñora pepper if you have it. Stir or flip the eggs a few times until cooked through, then turn off the heat.

Drizzle each piece of toast very lightly with olive oil, and serve with the eggs sandwiched in between.


*Finding good sandwich bread without a mile long, super-processed ingredient list can be surprisingly difficult. If you live in the Sacramento area, our current favorite is Grateful Bread Company's Woodstock bread (available at places like Taylor's and the Co-op). Or, head to your local bakery and pick up something fresh.

**Note that the secret to this recipe is all in getting enough flavor from the shallot and the greens. If you use a yellow onion instead of shallot, use about half an onion per sandwich, slice into half or quarter rings, and make sure you give it time to lightly brown in the pan before adding anything else (onions release more liquid than shallots, too, so you might wait on the pinch of salt until they've already browned). And make sure there's more greens than eggs...it seems like adding more egg would make it richer, but it's actually much more flavorful with lots of greens and only one egg than it is with mostly egg and a little green.

Smoked Salmon Sandwich with Lemony Kale

One of my favorite things about days that I get to work from home is the possibility of a warm sandwich for lunch. Someday, I will get a panini maker for my office. (You assume I mean a panini grill, but having written "panini maker," I'm now picturing a professional-looking office assistant with a nice little apron who would stand in the corner and produce hot sandwiches on demand.) Until then, I will tide myself over with the occasional Warm Sandwich Wednesday.

Ingredients (per sandwich)
2 oz. smoked wild salmon
3 leaves dino (Lacinato) kale, sliced crosswise into thin ribbons
Olive oil
Squeeze of lemon
Black pepper
Whole grain or Dijon mustard
2 slices whole grain, not-too-many-ingredient bread, toasted

Heat a little olive oil in a small pan over medium high heat. Toss in the kale and stir-fry until it begins to wilt, then cover pan, turn off the heat, and let sit for a minute or two until fully wilted. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top, sprinkle liberally with freshly ground black pepper, and toss to combine.

Drizzle the bottom piece of toast very lightly with olive oil and spread the top piece very lightly with a little mustard, then layer the smoked salmon and kale in between.