Tag: White Vinegar

Open Face

It is said that the Sandwich as we know it, was the result of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was a card player and wanted food he could eat with one hand, so he wouldn’t have to put his cards down. It’s my understanding that even though there have been instances of food being prepared this way before that, this is what created the trend we know and love today. Knowing that, an open face sandwich almost seems counter productive… but here’s the thing, in my opinion, when food is good enough, you CAN’T eat it while doing something else! When food is done properly, it demands your attention. Which brings me to what to the recipe I’ve created. This open faced sandwich, you eat with a knife and fork. That mens no distractions like cards, phones, and if it’s an awkward breakfast with someone you don’t like, conversation.

It has a few layers: Buttermilk toast with Mayo, Roasted Mushrooms, lettuce, and a ‘cloudy egg’.  For the Buttermilk Bread, I really recommend my roommate, Cheryl’s recipe. She doesn’t have it posted anywhere, but you can always text her, I’m sure she’ll give it to you. If you don’t have her number, I suggest asking her for it the next time you see her. Failing that, store bought buttermilk bread, a thick piece of Challah bread, or sour dough will work very well here.

I made up a simple Mayo recipe; it’s creamy, and zesty, and awesome. I used an immersion blender, and had it made in the time it took to make the toast.

The lettuce mixture was Parsley and Boston Lettuce. If you’ve never had the latter before, it’s similar to arugula in taste. It is; however, much sweeter. It’s shaped more like a smooth loose cabbage.

A layer of crispy Mushrooms & finally, the cloudy egg. This is a food that has been trending for a while, but I have never seen in it as part of a sandwich. Which is insane because it makes so much sense. The beaten egg whites give it a nice soft texture, and a rich taste because of the folded in cheese. Since the yolks are cooked for less time then the whites, the are runny, and create a perfect sauce!! This is a great recipe for breakfast, but it is a little involved, prepping the lettuce and the mushrooms the night before is a good idea.

Roasted Mushrooms:

  • 3 Button Mushrooms
  • 34g Oyster Mushrooms
  • 1T Olive Oil
  • 3 Pinch Salt
  • 2 Oregano
  1. Place a baking sheet into a 450 degree Convection oven (475 degree non convection). Don’t put any parchment on down.
  2. While the oven and the baking sheet are preheating, slice the mushrooms, you want them about 1/8″ thick and place them into a bowl.
  3. Mix oil, salt and oregano and mushrooms until they evenly coated.
  4. Place the Mushroom mixture onto the hot baking sheet. return the sheet into the oven for 18 minutes, make sure to mix the mushroom once half way through
  5. Put mushroom aside until needed.

Lettuce Mixture:

  • 1T Red Wine Vinegar
  • 1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/4t Sugar
  • 18g Parsley
  • 46g Boston Lettuce
  1. Mix the Sugar into the Red Wine Vinegar until it’s
    completely dissolved.
  2. Cut the leafs of the Parsley off using a sharp knife. If you hold a bundle of parsley stem side closer to you, and use the knife to sheer off the leafs.
  3. Cut the Boston Lettuce using the chiffonade cut. You can see the process HERE. It’s how the Basil is cut.
  4. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, and place aside until needed.

Cloudy Eggs:

  • 20g Mozzarella
  • 9g Parmesan (you want the bricked stuff, not the pre shredded canned stuff.)
  • 3 Eggs Whites.
  1. Preheat convection oven to 325 degrees (350 non convections).
  2. Separate the eggs, and keep the same the whites and yolks.
  3. Beat the whites until the form a stiff peak foam. I used a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. You can use a hand mixer, or a regular whisk. If you do it the old fashioned way, make sure you use a whisk with a lot of tines, or else it will take a while.
  4. Fold in both cheeses to the meringue gently.
  5. Divide the meringue into two piles on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a spoon to put a dip in the middle of each one.
  6. Place into the oven for 3 minutes
  7. Remove the meringue and place an egg yolk into the dip of each pile, place back into the oven for 2 minutes. Place one egg yolk aside for mayo
  8. Remove from the oven, and turn on the broiler, place the baking sheet under the broiler for about a minute. Don’t leave this unattended. Keep your eye on it, and remove it once you see the gold brown form on the white. You don’t want to burn the whites, or over cook the yolks.
  9. The Egg on the left is perfect, The egg on the right had the yolk burst because I wasn't gentle enough when I placed it on the meringue Place eggs on the side, put 2 pieces of bread in the toaster and make toast.

MAYO:

  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 1.5 White Wine Vinegar
  • 3/8C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3/8C Canola Oil
  • 1/2t Salt
  • 1T Dijon
  1. Place all the ingredients in a high thinner cup. I used a measuring cup.
  2. Wait about 1 minute for the oil to float to the top.
  3. Insert the immersion blender into the mixture slowly, make sure not mix anything around too much.
  4. Pulse the blender until you start seeing mayo form.
  5. Once you see the majority of the mixture has emulsified, keep the blender on, and slowly lift the blender up and down until it’s a unified mixture.

The Final Construction

  1. Put mayo on one side of both pieces of toast.
  2. Place Lettuce mixture on the mayo side of the toast (incase you couldn’t figure that out)
  3. Then place the Roasted Mushroom mixture on top of the lettuce.
  4. Then finally place the cloudy egg to top it off.
  5. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth.

This is Baller

There was a time when I worked for a company that ran the cafeteria for the residents students at local university. Amongst poor hygiene, subpar food, and dangerously apathetic management; follow through was a big problem. I don’t want to get sued, so I won’t say anything specific, but if you take a look down at the sources in footer, I linked to reviews, and a news report about the company. It speaks for itself.

Anyway, I bring this up for a specific reason. One day our nutritionist came up to me, put her hands out and asked me to smell. Me being up for an adventure, complied. They smelled sweet, complex, and wonderful. ‘Basil’ she said. ‘I just pruned some Basil from our herb garden, so now we have a lot of it, and we need to find a recipe, do you have any ideas?’

I remember that being the first time I had been asked for my advice for something to put on the menu. I was so excited! I said the first thing that came to my head ‘fruit salad, with melons.’ She thought about it, and said ‘yes!’ she then continued to pull all the management and chefs aside to let them know about my idea, and how it had to get made, and to make sure I got to do it. It felt really awesome, but it never happened.

I have wondered about how I would have made that fruit salad a few times since then, so I figured instead of just thinking about it, I’d actually do it!

We are approaching July, and with BBQ season roaring, I figured this might the perfect side dish. The kind people don’t see often, but instantly love.

So here is what we are going to need:

Infused Vinegar

  • 2T of Dried sweet Basil
  • 7G of Fresh Basil
  • 3 points from a Star Anis
  • 1C white Vinegar
  • 1C Apple Cider Vinegar

Dressing for Salad:

  • 1/3C Infused Vinegar
  • 4T Maple Syrup
  • 2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1t Sesame Seeds
  • 4 Basil Leafs

Melon Ball Salad:

  • 1/2 Watermelon
  • 1/2  Honeydew Melon, Seeded

For this recipe we are making an infused vinegar. You can use this recipe with any dried or fresh herb mixture. The recipe shows you how to make two cups, though you won’t need that much. This vinegar will keep indefinitely, and has a lot of great future applications. The other great think about this, is it’s a great way to use up herbs that are starting to wilt. You will need more of the wilted herbs to get the same effect, but at least you’re not throwing them away. The final product was a little too strong for me, so next time make this, I will cut the quantity of dried basil in half.

  1. Put your dried basil in a 325 degree convection oven (or 350 non convection)  on a parchment lined baking sheet for 30 minutes, or until Basil becomes fragrant.
  2. Once basil is out of the oven, place the dried basil, and Star Anis tips into a pot with both of your vinegars.
  3. Put your pot on medium low heat, and using a thermometer, bring the vinegar up to 130 degrees.
  4. Put the fresh basil in a bowl or Tupperware, then poor the vinegar mixture on top. Once the vinegar has cooled, put a lid on the bowl/Tupperware and place into the fridge for at least 18 hours, or up to 36 hours.
  5. Strain mixture into clean storage container, and discard all herbs.
  6. Store in the fridge until needed.

Next we have to make the dressing. The final product is a bit tart, which is perfect because its going on top of very sweet melons, so it balances out nicely.

  1. Put half of the Sesame seeds in a dry frying pan set to medium high heat.
  2. Occasionally move them around until they turn a nice dark brown, then remove from the heat and set aside.
  3. Whisk together the Vinegar and Maple Syrup, then slowly add the Olive Oil.
  4. Mix in the both the toasted and non toasted Sesame seeds.

Finally the final product:

  1. Roll the Basil into a roll, and thinly slice them into a chiffonade.
  2. Using a mellon baller, ball the the Watermelon and Honeydew and put the balled mellon chunks into a bowl.
  3. Drizzle the dressing on top of Melon Balls, and then portion into serving bowels, garnish with Basil and Kosher Salt.
  4. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth
Sources:
Company That ran the Dinning servines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE85sJLSeSQ
Google Reviews: https://goo.gl/MLWLeU