Smoked Salmon Sandwich on a French Baguette

On an Air France flight from Paris to Marseilles several years ago we were served a smoked salmon sandwich on a French baguette for lunch. It was a very simple looking sandwich that the flight attendant passed out to passengers that day, but after one bite I had to know what made that simple sandwich so tasty and flavorful.

I knew France was known for their baguettes and deservedly so. The French absolutely do make the best baguettes in the world and the one on this sandwich certainly lived up to the reputation. But there was something else that set that sandwich apart from the sandwiches I make at home. What could it be?

So I opened my sandwich to have a peek inside to see what the mystery ingredient was that brought such incredible flavor to this seemly simple sandwich. Hmm, thinly sliced smoked salmon seasoned with a bit of cracked black pepper and a few greens sprinkled about? No, that’s not what I’m looking for.

Then I saw it – smooth creamy butter spread on both side of the baguette. I had an “ah ha” moment. Of course it’s the butter. European-style butters have much more flavor compared to American butter.

I should have guessed it was the European butter to begin with. In the Bahamas European butters were available in even in the smallest of mom and pop stores throughout the islands. In fact, because of the duty and stamp tax, imported American made butters were more expensive than their European cousins, so we began to buy the European ones. Their rich and creamy flavor almost reminded me of a really good cheese. We quickly became spoiled by the European butters and never looked back.

Enter Presidents European style butter. I was offered the opportunity to try their butter and they sent three butters – stick, whipped, and whipped with sea salt. I made several different compound butters with the stick butter recently, see post here.

For this sandwich, I used Presidents whipped butter with the sea salt and it is fabulous on this smoked salmon sandwich. President Butter is France’s #1 selling butter, where people consume more butter than anywhere else in the world. It is made cultured cream in the European tradition with no added oils. President Premium butter is available in many supermarkets in the US, including Publix stores. We found President Butter to be rich and creamy and highly recommend it. In fact Meakin made the comment "this is killer butter." That's high praise.

To assemble this sandwich, slice a crusty French baguette lengthwise, open it and spread some butter, preferably European butter, on both sides of the bread. Top the bottom half of the sandwich with a sprinkling of fresh arugula or spring mix, top with slices of smoked salmon. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt if you wish. Slice into individual servings and enjoy. This is a great sandwich for a picnic. To make it portable, wrap the bottom half (or the entire sandwich for that matter) with parchment paper and tie with a ribbon or a piece of raffia.

Bon Appétit.

For better viewing, click on photos to enlarge.

This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, and Weekend Bites at Simple Recipes.    

Have a great week everyone.

Disclosure: We were given free samples of President's butter to try. The opinions here are ours. We did not receive compensation neither for this post nor for our opinion.

Lobster Rolls – a quintessential summer favorite

Lobster rolls are a quintessential favorite and they always remind me of trips to Maine, where lobsters are plentiful in the summer. Now most good supermarkets and seafood stores carry live Maine lobsters, making them readily available everywhere.

As in the case of many sandwiches, you don’t need a recipe. All you need is cooked lobster meat, good mayonnaise, preferably homemade, some finely chopped celery for crunch, a bit paprika or cayenne for spice, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and tarragon, chives or parsley for a nice fresh herby flavor, buttered hot dog roll and you’re in business.

Some people are squeamish about handling a live lobster and understandably so. I’m fortunate my husband was willing to plunge him in the boiling water for me. Here’s a link to excellent instructions on how to cook Maine lobsters from the Maine Lobster Marketing Cooperative. Just for fun, we also included spiny lobsters in our sandwich because they were the lobsters of choice when we lived in the Bahamas. Here’s a link on how to cook spiny lobster tails.

If you follow the instructions below from The Summer House Cookbook on how to remove the meat from Maine lobsters, you’ll be all set.

Here’s an outline for how we made our lobsters rolls, yielding 4 sandwiches. We started making the lobster salad by placing picked over meat from 2 (1 ¼ pound) cooked Maine lobsters and also included the meat from 2 (6 ounce) cooked spiny lobsters in a large bowl. Set the salad aside while you make the dressing. If desired, it can be made ahead several hours and kept covered in the refrigerator.

For the dressing, in a bowl we combined about a 2 to 3 tablespoons of homemade mayonnaise or good quality store-bought mayonnaise such as Hellman’s, (some people like more mayonnaise so use your own discretion), a rib or two if they are small of finely chopped celery, some chopped fresh tarragon or chives, a good squirt (a couple of teaspoons) of fresh lemon juice, a shake or two of sweet paprika, and a pinch of cayenne if desired if you like a bit of spice, then season with kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well and taste for seasonings, then carefully fold some of the flavored mayonnaise into the chunks of cooked lobster. Taste again and correct as necessary with more mayonnaise or seasonings. You want the flavored mayonnaise to moisten the lobster without overwhelming it.

To assemble the sandwich, toast 4 hot dog rolls (split top if you can find them) until they are golden brown, taking care not to let them burn. Brush with melted butter, divide the lobster salad equally among each roll and serve at once. We like chips and a pickle on the side.

For more precise recipes, check out these links - Martha Stewart, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Fine Cooking. You'll notice that the proportions of lobster to mayonnaise vary quite a bit, so it really all comes down to a matter of taste.

If there’s a secret to great lobster rolls, I would say it’s to use homemade mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is one of the best tasting things you’ll ever make at home and so much better than store-bought. It can elevate a simple sandwich from ordinary to sublime.

When I was growing up, my mother made her own mayonnaise and there was always a jar in our refrigerator.  She used a hand-held mixer, dripping the oil in very slowly until the eggs and oil came together to form an emulsion. It was a tedious project. Now thanks to the food processor, mayonnaise is very easy to make, utilizing that tiny hole in the feed tube to do the dribbling for you, making your job a whole lot easier. Below is Julia Child’s food processor mayonnaise and it is a snap to put together.

The best tip for making homemade mayonnaise is to have all of the ingredients at room temperature and use very fresh eggs. As with anything made with raw eggs, caution should be taken not to leave it out too long or it will spoil.

Julia Child’s Food Processor Mayonnaise
Printable Recipe

1 whole egg, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, at room temperature
½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar
Dash of Tabasco sauce, or other hot sauce
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups fine fresh oil such canola, safflower, extra-virgin olive oil, or a combination, at room temperature

Using the metal blade in the food processor, process the egg, the egg yolks, mustard, salt, sugar, and Tabasco 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and process 30 seconds more.

In a very thin stream, pour in the oil, using droplets at a time. In a food processor there is a tiny hole in the lid that will allow the oil to drop in very slowly. As the mayonnaise comes together, you can pour the oil a little faster. When all of the oil is gone, remove the processor cover and check for consistency and taste for seasonings. You may wish to add more lemon juice, kosher salt, or freshly ground white pepper. Driblets of cold water added now make a milder and lighter taste and texture. Store the mayonnaise, covered, in the refrigerator for about a week.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes and Food on Friday at Carole's Chatter.     

Have a great weekend everyone.

Pimento Cheese BLT – No Recipe Required

This is a combination of two of my all time favorite sandwiches – pimento cheese topped with a BLT and served open-faced. Mention pimento cheese to me and my mind is immediately transported back to the south where I grew up. There was always a jar of rich, yellow cheese combined with my mother’s homemade mayonnaise and studded with bits of red pimento in our refrigerator.

As soon as I was old enough to grate cheese, making pimento cheese became my job. It was one of the few things I was allowed to do in my mother’s kitchen as a child. With only three ingredients, there was no need for a written recipe. I grated the cheese on a box grater and added drained chopped pimentos (no need for a knife if you use the pre-chopped ones in the jar) and added just enough of her homemade mayonnaise to bind the cheese and the pimentos together. As I look back, this was a great way to teach kids how to use a box grater.

As with any recipe that relies on only a few ingredients, the quality of the ingredients is very important. The foundation of a good pimento cheese starts with good homemade mayonnaise. I like to make mine in the food processor.  Here’s a link to a recent post about how to make mayonnaise the easy way in the food processor. If you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own mayonnaise, cooks throughout the south rely on Hellman’s or Dukes. No Miracle Whip here – it’s too sweet.

A good aged American cheddar is also essential. My favorites are New York and Vermont cheddar. No matter what kind of aged cheddar you use, it is essential that the cheese be freshly grated. Grating the cheese, either by using a hand or box grater, or in the food processor, makes all the difference in the world in the end result. Not only does freshly grated cheese taste a thousand times better than the pre-grated stuff found in packages in the supermarket, it also binds much more easily with the mayonnaise.

Pimentos are the third ingredient and here’s where I differ from the original. Even as a child, I thought pimentos never had much flavor, so I’ve substituted chopped bottled roasted red peppers for the pimentos. Sometimes I also like my pimento cheese on the spicy side, so I throw in some finely chopped fresh jalapenos and if it’s not hot enough, a dash or two of Tabasco sauce does the trick.

The sandwich is served open-faced with the pimento cheese spread on a toasted slice of good country bread (I used a sourdough boule) as a base, topped with crispy fried bacon and thinly sliced ripe tomatoes, seasoned with lots of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, then garnished with baby arugula. When you’re craving comfort food, this is the perfect sandwich.

My inspiration for this sandwich came from this recipe in Cooking Light if you want to refer to it for specific amounts of ingredients. However, I did not use their pimento cheese recipe. I made my own, eyeballing the ingredients as I did as a child. Start with freshly grated cheddar cheese (I used both a yellow and a white cheddar), then add some chopped roasted red peppers or pimentos (patted dry with a paper towel), stir well, then add just enough mayonnaise to bind the ingredients together so they will spread easily. If you like your pimento cheese spicy, add some fresh seeded and chopped jalapenos and a dash or two of Tabasco. If not using right away, it will last, covered, for several days in most people’s refrigerator. Since childhood I’ve been addicted to pimento cheese and confess one of my favorite ways to eat it is on Ritz crackers, so it doesn’t stand a chance of lasting long at our house.

Printable recipe for pimento cheese

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This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farms, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes, Foodtastic Friday at Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Seasonal Sunday at the Tablescaper, and On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable.

Have a great weekend everyone.

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A visit to our local farmer’s market in a small mountain town in search of homegrown tomatoes

I thought you might like to come along with us and stroll through our local farmer’s market and see what’s available in a typical small town in the mountains of North Carolina. I’m on the look-out for homegrown tomatoes for lunch. So here we go.

Ah ha, he has tomatoes. Great news. That’s not me above. I’m going to walk around first and see what’s available and then I’ll be back for the tomatoes.

That’s me in the dress visiting with another produce vendor. Let’s just stroll around and see where we go from here.

We have a lot of talented local artists in our area and many have studied their craft at The John Campbell Folk School in nearby Brasstown, NC. The Folk School offers year-around weeklong and weekend classes for adults in crafts such as woodworking and wood carving, art, music, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, and writing. Check this link to their website to see their entire schedule.

This young lady is only ten years old and a very talented photographer as well as a fabulous musician who also plays her violin at the market. All of her proceeds from the sale of her note cards and bookmarks go to the people of Haiti.

Now, let’s head back and pick up some tomatoes for a tomato sandwich. How about a taste?

Yes, these are delicious and exactly what I’m looking for. (Pretty wooden bowls.)

The very best way to enjoy a homegrown tomato in my opinion is on a tomato sandwich. I learned to make this particular tomato sandwich when we lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Absolutely every party we went to, from formal black tie events to casual picnics on the banks of the Mississippi River, there was always a big platter of these tomato sandwiches.

I call these “Tomato Sandwiches with a Pedigree” because they are fancied up and served without the crust. Pick a good tomato and peel it or not, then slice into rounds, and place on paper towels to drain. Blot tomatoes with more paper towels to remove the moisture (very important). Chop a little fresh basil and sprinkle it on the tomatoes along with some salt and freshly ground black pepper. With a large biscuit cutter, take two slices of white bread and cut each one into rounds to fit the tomato slices. Spread one side of each circle of bread with good quality mayonnaise such as Hellman’s (or better still, homemade) and don’t be skimpy. Insert a tomato slice, top with the remaining bread, then sprinkle paprika lightly over the top. Take one bite and you’ll agree there’s nothing finer than a tomato sandwich. Make as many as your heart desires.

Often in the dead heat of summer and it's hot as all get-out, some Southerners just might enjoy a plate of these tomato sandwiches for their dinner along with a very cold bourbon and branch water and call it a day.

This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farms, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes, Foodtastic Friday at Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper, Southern Sundays at Slice of Southern, and On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy Labor Day if you live in the states.

Open-faced Prosciutto and Plum Sandwich with Goat Cheese and Fig Preserves

When we brought locally cured and aged prosciutto home from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham Smoke House in east Tennessee, I wanted to find a recipe that would show off its special flavors. I considered melon with prosciutto and while that’s a wonderful, tried and true appetizer, I wanted more bang for the bucks.

You would swear this open-faced sandwich was created by Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, even though it happens to come from Cooking Light magazine. It’s that sophisticated. In fact it’s down right decedent, even though it weights in with only 318 calories a serving. This is a perfect example of what I call “small plates” that turn appetizers into light meals.

The sweet fig preserves are a perfect balance for the tangy goat cheese and the tart little plums in this open-faced sandwich. The tiny bit of grated fresh ginger brings a little mysterious flavor to the sandwich and really good prosciutto elevates it to food for the gods.

Open-faced Prosciutto and Plum Sandwich with Goat Cheese and Fig Preserves
From Cooking Light – serves 4

¼ cup fig preserves
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup (3 ounces) soft goat cheese
4 slices country wheat bread, toasted
1 cup loosely packed fresh arugula
2 ripe plums, preferably a combination of red and purple, seeded and cut into thin wedges
3 ounces very thin slices of good prosciutto

Combine the fig preserves, lemon juice, and grated ginger in a small bowl and set aside. Spread the goat cheese evenly over each slice of toasted bread. Divide arugula, plum wedges, and prosciutto evenly over the four sandwiches. Drizzle each sandwich with about a tablespoon of the fig preserves mixture. Serves 4 (one sandwich each).

I use prosciutto often as a seasoning ingredient in dishes as such Chicken Marengo (my recipe here). Chicken Marengo is one of our “go-to” favorites when we crave real French comfort food, which is quite often actually.

Prosciutto is also the star of the show in two of my current favorite recipes:

Grilled country bread with prosciutto, melted cheese, and fresh basil - recipe

Asparagus and melon salad garnished with crispy prosciutto - recipe

I'm linking this to:
La Bella Vita's Fresh Food Friday
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable
Food on Friday at Carol's Chatter

Be sure to stop by and say hello. There are lots of recipes and great ideas to see. Enjoy!

Grilled Bread with Prosciutto Barefoot Contessa Style

This grilled bread with prosciutto recipe is in Ina Garten’s (The Barefoot Contessa) latest cookbook How Easy is That? Ina put it in the cocktails category, but for us it easily was dinner when we combined it with a green salad and a cold beer.

Since the recipe isn’t on the Food Network site yet, I’ll talk you through it below, with a few changes. I used regular fresh mozzarella cheese instead of the fresh smoked one that Ina called for because I couldn’t find smoked mozzarella. Ina grated the cheese, but what I bought was too soft to grate, so I broke it up into bits with my fingers. I also thought the dish needed a burst of fresh flavor, so I added fresh basil leaves in the layer between the cheese and the prosciutto.

Choose a good, sturdy bread and cut it into 6 slices. Grill or toast the bread in a toaster oven on one side until golden. Immediately rub the grilled side with a half of a slice of a large garlic clove. Ina recommends that if you like a real garlicky flavor, rub hard. We thought that the garlic really made it, so don’t skip this step. Drizzle each slice with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Crumble 2 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese well with your fingers or grate it and divide it into six piles. Tear 2 ounces of Prosciutto de Parma and divide into six piles. To assemble, place one pile of the prosciutto on the grilled side of each bread slice. Slip in a fresh basil leaf or two, and top with crumbled mozzarella cheese. Return the bread to a hot grill or toaster oven to melt the cheese and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove the slices and drizzle with a little more extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, season to taste with a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve hot.

This is a rich appetizer, both in terms of taste and your wallet. When you are making a dish with only a few ingredients, it’s essential that you use only the finest of ingredients, which is what real Prosciutto de Parma is as opposed to the stuff you find in styro-packs at the grocery store hanging on a rack in the deli. It is also expensive. Combined with the melted mozzarella, this is a very rich and filling dish. As far as easy goes, Ina was right on with that. It took only a few minutes to put it together.

Would we serve it again? As much as I love Ina and trust her recipes and own all of her cookbooks, probably not on this one. The main reason is we felt that the mozzarella cheese overpowered the prosciutto and all we tasted was cheese. If I’m going to buy the good (and expensive) Prosciutto de Parma, I want to savor and taste every morsel. In all fairness, Ina called for prosciutto and did not specify Prosciutto de Parma. But would you really want to use the cheap stuff? Plus, the dish was, in our opinion, too heavy as an appetizer and would spoil your or your guest’s appetite for dinner.

Have you tried this recipe and, if so, what did you think of it?

Prime rib sandwich with truffle butter à la Barefoot Contessa

When I first saw the recipe for truffled filet of beef sandwich in the Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics cookbook, I instantly knew it was something that we would both love. In fact, we’ve been fascinated with truffles since we hand-carried one back with us from our last visit to France.

I knew my biggest challenge would be to find truffle butter. In my tiny town in the mountains of North Carolina, truffle butter isn’t exactly a staple in my market. In fact, I would bet you anything that no one in my market has even heard of a truffle, much less knows what one is.

Black truffle butter from The Fresh Market

I pretty much forgot about the truffle butter until this Christmas. We were planning on being in Florida and my brother-in-law was going to serve a seven rib prime beef for Christmas Eve dinner.  As we were walking through Fresh Market there, my husband Meakin said, “Let’s see if they carry truffle butter, because if they do (he paused and a big grin came on his face), we can bring some slices of really rare prime rib home from Christmas dinner and use it in place of the filet of beef to make Ina’s truffled beef sandwich.”

Meakin carving prime rib for our niece who likes hers well done

We like our prime rib rare

And that’s just what we did. Ina describes this sandwich as “not your average roast beef sandwich; it’s filet of beef with black truffle butter, Parmesan cheese, and bitter arugula. Your friends will swoon.” Well, we substituted rare roasted prime rib and Ina’s right – we definitely swooned.

Prime rib sandwich with truffle butter à la Barefoot Contessa
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics

Left over slices of rare roast beef from a prime rib
1 slender French baguette
Black truffle butter, at room temperature
Fleur de sel French sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Fresh baby arugula

Bring left-over roast beef slices to room temperature. Cut the baguette lengthwise, but not all the way through. Spread the bottom half of the bread generously with the black truffle butter. Top with a layer of sliced beef and sprinkle it with the fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the Parmesan cheese into thin shards and scatter the shards over the sliced beef on each sandwich. Sprinkle with arugula leaves, fold the tops of the sandwich over, and cut into diagonals.

Printable recipe

Cook’s notes:
If you would like to make your own truffle butter, check out Natasha’s recipe on 5 Star Foodie Adventures. To see Ina’s original sandwich using filet of beef, click over to Bridgett’s post on La Bella Cooks. I promise you’ll swoon.

In the sidebar of Ina’s recipe she says she buys truffle butter from Dartagnan in three ounce packages and it’s surprisingly inexpensive. We were able to find it at a local Fresh Market. Truffle butter keeps very well in your freezer and both white and black truffle butter are available.