Oh! I so love sandwich’s…a medley
of flavours stuffed between two boring slices of bread. It’s all in the filling
I say, the more fun and interesting your filling the tastier your meal would
be.
I thank John Montagu for his laziness
and his dedication to gambling for this modest invention! According the world’s
most referred food bible “Larousse Gastronomique” – Sandwiches are named after
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an inveterate gambler who acquired
the habit of sending for cold meat between two slices of bread so that he would
not have to leave the gambling table to eat. Although the name is relatively recent,
dating from the beginning of the 19th century, the concept itself is
ancient. It has long been a custom in Rural France, for eg. to give farm
labourers working in the fields meat for their meal enclosed between two slices
of bread. Also it was customary in south-western France to give those embarking
on a journey slices of cooked meat sprinkled with their juices, between two
slices of bread.
Every country has their own
versions varying them with the filling or the bread. This one takes inspiration
from the Mediterranean flavours – chargrilled peppers doused with olive oil,
parmesan cheese and basil.
You could make a vegetarian
version of this sandwich by replacing the chicken with pan grilled sliced Zucchini
or aubergines add half a bell pepper more. Details at the end of the recipe.
Ingredients
Basil
Garlic Sauce Ingredients
2 cups basil leaves½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste
(This makes about 2 ½ cups of sauce which you can store in the fridge for future use)
Filling
Ingredients
½ roasted red bell with preserving
liquid, julienned ½ roasted yellow bell with preserving liquid, julienned
1 big tomato deseeded finely julienned
¼ cup sliced onions
4-5 slices chicken salami julienned
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ -½ tsp red chilly flakes (as hot as you like!)
1-2 tbsp parmesan cheese (as strong as you like it)
2 tbsp basil garlic sauce (recipe below)
Salt to taste
(click here to see how to make roasted bell peppers)
Butter / Mayonnaise to smear on the
Grated Mozzarella Cheese
Big Sandwich Bread
Method
Step
1: Preparing basil garlic sauce
Put all the ingredients in a food
processor and whizz it all together… voila! Keep the whizzing limited, enough
to just put the ingredients together. At
any point in time you can always add nuts and parmesan cheese to this to
convert this into the traditional pesto.
I usually have a bottle of this
stored in my fridge. It lasts easily for about a month or two, as long as it is
topped well with olive oil on top. Quite similar to when you make Indian
pickles you have to ensure good amount of oil in order to preserve it. As basil
is not always readily available in all stores in India, make this and stock it
in the fridge and it can be used when making any sauce where you need basil and
garlic. It gives the same flavour and using fresh basil. Dried and frozen basil
don’t seem to give that flavour ever. Basil if exposed to air it tends to
darken. You should ensure there is enough oil, top up a little if you feel it’s
less. Once you store it in the fridge ingredients of the sauce settle a little
and let the oil come up like a layer.
If you don’t want to make this
sauce, you can also substitute this by ready-made pesto sauce available in
gourmet stores or sometimes even your local grocer.
(P.S. I will add pictures for this when I make it next, for this one I had the basil sauce kept in the fridge)
·
In a pan heat some olive oil and
add the sliced onions to caramelize them. Once they turn change colour take
them off the fire.
·
In a bowl add all the ingredients
of the filling and the remaining olive oil and mix well. Adjust the salt.
·
This filling should be enough for
3 sandwiches (6 slices of jumbo bread)
·
Take 2 slices of the bread; put a
light layer of butter or mayonnaise on both sides. Spread out a generous amount
of filling. Top it with grated mozzarella cheese and cover it with the second
slice
·
Put it in a preheated sandwich
griller for about 5-6 minutes
·
Cut and serve
Changes for
the vegetarian version - Pan-grilling Vegetables:
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