let me confess: i enjoyed the movie spanglish. yes, the one starring adam sandler in a non-sandlerian role and featuring that woman who looks like, but is not, penelope cruz (yet is friends with cruz, is therefore photographed with cruz, thereby making things very difficult for the rest of us!) the woman's name is paz vega, and she is lovely actress in her own right.
what i really love about the movie, aside from the young girl who plays vega's daughter, is sandwich that sandler's character makes as a midnight snack. the exact recipe, also featured on the movie's dvd, can be found here.
my version differs significantly - i don't use bacon or mayo or butter or jack cheese - but there is an important similarity - i love the drippy egg factor (see below for more on my love of the egg; and read the original sandwich description for more on what i mean by the drippy egg factor)
in a nutshell, this sandwich is a real crowd pleaser if your crowd consists of lactose intolerant vegetarians who like protein. i am all of those things and hence, i was quite pleased with myself. i've made a few different versions of this sandwich, but the meat (pun intended) is always the same.
i start off by heating up a naked quorn cutlet in a saute pan or on the grill. i season it with just a little salt and pepper and olive oil. while that's cooking, i toast up a couple of slices of alvarado st. bakery wheat bread. last time, i used the kind they make for diabetics - it's the only kind of diabetic bread that actually tastes like bread, in my opinion. it doesn't have the sticky consistency that some other 'low carb' breads tend to have.
when the cutlet is finished, i let it rest and cool a bit on the cutting board. after it cools, i slice it on an angle to create thin, wide slices.
next, i spray some olive into the saute pan and crack open an egg - one of the few times i'll use the whole egg. i let the white set and then flip it over and turn the heat off. the pan is hot and will keep cooking the other side, but not too much, which is just right.
onto the toasted slices of bread, i added a thin layer of olive spread - not quite a tapenade, more like crushed green olives. i placed a layer of quorn slices, topped with the tiniest sprinkling of sheep's milk feta, topped with a small handful of arugula, topped with the rest of the quorn slices, and finally topped with the cooked egg.
top with the second slice of bread. press gently and cut. done right, some of the yolk will run down the sandwich and flavor everything in its path. a cooked yolk - or no yolk - could work, too, but then you'd miss the drippy egg factor.
the original sandwich recipe boasts a cholesterol-rich calorie count of 1200 calories! this version doesn't come close - i haven't done the numbers, but can safely claim this version to be "death's door"-free.
also works on a long multigrain roll; with large romaine leaves instead of arugula; with a less pungent spread; a different cheese.
if you try it and hate it, let me know. i'll come over and make you one myself! that's how much i love this sucker.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
incredible, edible, EGG!
i love the egg-cellent egg campaigns that surface on tv from time to time. well, ok, they can be a bit hokey, but they do remind me how much i love the versatility, flexibility, and general in-a-pinchness of the egg. i don't necessarily have an egg preference, per se, though i do tend to purchase either large or jumbo sized ones since i mostly consume only egg whites. and from time to time, depending on my mood, i'll pick up some brown ones... just cuz.
recently, my sister - who was staying with me while she searched for an apartment in new york city (yes, pity for the poor thing, please!) - and i found ourselves collectively and simultaneously hungry. what to eat... what to eat?! my pantry and fridge were stocked from recent trips to the grocery store, but this kind of hunger called for a unique combination of quick but also magnificent. it was a discerning kind of hunger... so naturally, i reached for my carton of eggs. i was inspired. we'd have breakfast for dinner... there would be eggs... but not just an omelet... no, this would be an egg pie. what made it a pie was the consistency, the filling and the presentation. pie on!
into the sautee pan i sprayed some olive oil and to the heated oil added the white and some green of 2 scallions, about a teaspoon of herbs de provence, sliced black olives, and some roughly chopped baby portobello mushrooms.
i had 4 eggs in the carton. i used 2 whole and just the whites of the other two. i threw in some salt - a pinch, of course :) - and pepper - just a dash - and a splash of almond breeze for some fluffiness. (any other "milk" product will have the same general effect, too.) i added this mixture to the hot pan and stirred things around a bit.
after letting the eggs set - by picking up the sides and letting uncooked egg mixture fill in the gaps - i put the entire pan under the broiler for around 3-5 minutes.
meanwhile, i cut open an avocado. inspired by the description of something my sister had eaten while in kenya, i took out the pit and scored the avocado halves so that it looked like a plane of diamonds. into the hole where the pit used to live, i put in a scoop of fire roasted salsa from trader joe's - some of the tastiest, store-bought salsa i've ever had! - and voila! avocado salsa (sort of). i also toasted a whole wheat english muffin and then sprayed a bit of olive oil onto the part with the nooks and crannies. we each had half a muffin.
the egg pie - now fluffy, browned on top, and light as a cloud - was finished and ready to be cut, served, garnished and promptly eaten. i cut it into four pieces and served us each two pieces, alongside the avocado salsa and half an english muffin. little sister thought it looked so good that she texted a pic of it to little brother, who replied immediately with special photo of his own. shall we say "rude gesture"?? ;)
sibling rivalry hazards aside, the meal was lovely, protein-rich, tasty, and filling. an all around egg-static egg-sperience!
next time, i would make the following changes:
- rub some lime on the avocado, allowing the lime juice to penetrate the cut flesh. and i'd dust it with a sprinkling of salt to bring out the flavor.
- the english muffin was great, but a whole wheat tortilla slightly grilled - no oil - would work well, too
- throwing in some roasted red peppers, cut into strips, into the egg pie for some extra color.
recently, my sister - who was staying with me while she searched for an apartment in new york city (yes, pity for the poor thing, please!) - and i found ourselves collectively and simultaneously hungry. what to eat... what to eat?! my pantry and fridge were stocked from recent trips to the grocery store, but this kind of hunger called for a unique combination of quick but also magnificent. it was a discerning kind of hunger... so naturally, i reached for my carton of eggs. i was inspired. we'd have breakfast for dinner... there would be eggs... but not just an omelet... no, this would be an egg pie. what made it a pie was the consistency, the filling and the presentation. pie on!
into the sautee pan i sprayed some olive oil and to the heated oil added the white and some green of 2 scallions, about a teaspoon of herbs de provence, sliced black olives, and some roughly chopped baby portobello mushrooms.
i had 4 eggs in the carton. i used 2 whole and just the whites of the other two. i threw in some salt - a pinch, of course :) - and pepper - just a dash - and a splash of almond breeze for some fluffiness. (any other "milk" product will have the same general effect, too.) i added this mixture to the hot pan and stirred things around a bit.
after letting the eggs set - by picking up the sides and letting uncooked egg mixture fill in the gaps - i put the entire pan under the broiler for around 3-5 minutes.
meanwhile, i cut open an avocado. inspired by the description of something my sister had eaten while in kenya, i took out the pit and scored the avocado halves so that it looked like a plane of diamonds. into the hole where the pit used to live, i put in a scoop of fire roasted salsa from trader joe's - some of the tastiest, store-bought salsa i've ever had! - and voila! avocado salsa (sort of). i also toasted a whole wheat english muffin and then sprayed a bit of olive oil onto the part with the nooks and crannies. we each had half a muffin.
the egg pie - now fluffy, browned on top, and light as a cloud - was finished and ready to be cut, served, garnished and promptly eaten. i cut it into four pieces and served us each two pieces, alongside the avocado salsa and half an english muffin. little sister thought it looked so good that she texted a pic of it to little brother, who replied immediately with special photo of his own. shall we say "rude gesture"?? ;)
sibling rivalry hazards aside, the meal was lovely, protein-rich, tasty, and filling. an all around egg-static egg-sperience!
next time, i would make the following changes:
- rub some lime on the avocado, allowing the lime juice to penetrate the cut flesh. and i'd dust it with a sprinkling of salt to bring out the flavor.
- the english muffin was great, but a whole wheat tortilla slightly grilled - no oil - would work well, too
- throwing in some roasted red peppers, cut into strips, into the egg pie for some extra color.
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