Tomato Provolone Sandwiches

We have been on vacation for the last few weeks, and just returned two days ago. There has been a lot to catch up on (almost 3 weeks’ worth of mail, the garden, etc.) and unpacking, so the days have been really full. I often think “two weeks ago we were on the beach”, or “9 days ago we were eating lobster on the waterfront”, and sigh. Heavily.

The garden did quite nicely while we were gone. A friend came over and picked produce regularly, so I didn’t have to deal with clearing out the rotted veggies, just needed to tie some of the tomatoes and give all a last-minute boost of fertilizer (I told the peppers to hurry and grow, that the frost would be here in a month or so and I wasn’t ready to let this garden-fresh stuff go to waste!).

For lunch yesterday I made a sandwich from a recipe that was recently featured in Eating Well. I had some huge, absolutely delicious heirloom tomatoes which were paired with melted provolone and a basil mayo on tomato-basil bread (from Panera—it was too hot before we left to bake and I haven’t gotten into it yet).

This has to be one of my top sandwiches ever. Alas, it can be enjoyed only a few weeks out of the year so I plan to make it several times until (*sigh*, again) frost claims the last tomato.

Tomato & Provolone Sandwiches

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/tomato_provolone_sandwiches.html

From EatingWell: July/August 2010

There’s something magical about a simple bread-and-tomato sandwich, but this one is even better topped with melted provolone cheese and tarragon-garlic mayo.

Makes 4 servings | Active Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or basil or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 8 slices whole-grain country bread
• 4 slices provolone cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 2 large or 3 medium tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 
  

Preparation

1. Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler.
2. Mash garlic on a cutting board with the side of a chef’s knife or a spoon until a paste forms. Transfer to a small bowl and combine with mayonnaise, tarragon (or basil), lemon juice, pepper and salt.
3. Place bread on a large baking sheet and broil until lightly toasted, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the bread over and divide cheese among 4 of the pieces. Continue broiling until the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Assemble sandwiches with tomato and the garlic-herb mayonnaise. Top with the melted cheese bread.

Nutrition

Per serving : 389 Calories; 20 g Fat; 7 g Sat; 9 g Mono; 23 mg Cholesterol; 36 g Carbohydrates; 17 g Protein; 6 g Fiber; 656 mg Sodium; 428 mg Potassium

2 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 high-fat meat, 2 1/2 fat

Chicken Blue Cheese Sandwich

It is mid-November and we are experiencing weather that I would like to have stick around until… next May. The sun is not as high in the sky as it has been for previous months and it isn’t nearly as warm, either, but just having the bright yellow orb in the sky is enough to make me happy.

There is still arugula growing in the cold frame and as I was picking some for a lunch salad, I thought of a sandwich that my friend Nancy had made when she visited the lake house a few months ago. I mentally clicked through the ingredients which I would need—blue cheese, chicken, fresh tomato…yes, I had them all. In fact, I only have a couple of tomatoes left from the garden and this would be a wonderful way to use one. Jack was out of town and I could make a sandwich with blue cheese and arugula without having to make him something else. I found an 8” piece of a baguette in the freezer and went to work.

I had a lot to do that day, and decided not to look up the Cooking Light recipe but to just “wing it”.

First I thawed a chicken breast, heated the grill, and cooked it. After it cooled a little, I sliced it diagonally.

In a small bowl, I mashed blue cheese, cream cheese, salt and pepper, and enough skim milk to make it

spreadable.

After splitting the baguette in half horizontally, I scooped some of the excess bread from the center of both halves (and yes, I ate it the "excess"—never waste good bread!). The blue cheese mixture was spread on both cut sides; on the bottom half I layered arugula, then the chicken slices, then the tomatoes.

Because it was such a gorgeous sunny day, and we hadn’t yet put away the tables on the patio, I ate outside. For 20 minutes or so I pretended that it was still summer.

The grilled chicken, blue cheese, bitter arugula, and sweet ripe tomato all combined to make an absolutely delicious sandwich.

A praying mantis sauntered across the table to see what I was doing. I offered him (her?) a bit of arugula but, perhaps like Jack, he doesn’t care for it.



(this happy little guy looks kind of cute when viewed as a small photo, but is slightly terrifying when placed on full-screen!)

Greek Omelets, Purple Basil Parmesan Biscuits, Chicken and Roquefort Sandwiches

Yet another installment in my cooking extravaganza over the last weekend of July with my friends Jenni and Nancy.

For breakfast on Saturday, Jenni prepared Greek omelets (next to eating melted bittersweet chocolate out of a bowl with a spoon, this is my idea of heaven on earth). She used feta, kalamata olives, fresh oregano (also tomatoes? Jenni??? I can’t remember!). To accompany this eggy delight, she made purple basil-parmesan biscuits from Cooking Light. Jenni used Italian basil (not purple) from her garden, and subbed asiago for parmesan. She decided to cut the biscuits into squares instead of cutting out the traditional rounds, then re-rolling and re-cutting the dough scraps. Very smart, she is! These definitely did not taste like “light” biscuits, but they were. Tender and flaky, redolent with the aroma of asiago and basil, and delicious.

Purple Basil Parmesan Biscuits

Chopped purple basil flecks these biscuits with color. Standard sweet Italian basil would do, as well. For tender biscuits, stop cutting the butter into the dough when the mixture has pea-size nuggets.


9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup chopped fresh purple basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2/3 cup fat-free milk
1 large egg
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in basil and cheese. Combine milk and egg in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Turn dough out onto a floured surface; pat to 1-inch-thick circle. Cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter into 12 biscuits. Place biscuits on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool.

Yield: 12 biscuits (serving size: 1 biscuit)

CALORIES 145 ; FAT 5.4g (sat 3.2g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.3g); CHOLESTEROL 31mg; CALCIUM 156mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19.5g; SODIUM 448mg; PROTEIN 4.6g; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 1.3mg

Cooking Light, JULY 2009

Okay, this is my plate. I chose a smaller biscuit because I was trying to “be good” but, alas, I returned for a second one…

The meal was rounded out with a mixed fruit salad courtesy of Nancy’s arm-numbing Chopping Detail.

I had never eaten fresh apricots before, and I’m hooked! Also included were honeydew, cantaloupe, peaches, pineapple, and blueberries. What summer is all about, right?!?!

Next up, lunch!

As her contribution to our cooking weekend, mentioned in previous posts, Nancy planned a picnic-on-the-boat with ­­­­­­­­­­­Chicken & Roquefort Sandwiches from the August issue of Cooking Light.

Holy cow, that sandwich was incredibly delicious! Again, not at all “light” tasting but flavorful enough that I finally stopped eating when I realized that I was in a swim suit and the material might not stretch enough if I had kept on going… ;)

The sandwiches were assembled in advance (grilled chicken, cheese mixture, arugula) and the tomatoes taken along to add just before serving. We ate more of that wonderful mixed fruit salad from breakfast, drank Jenni’s wine contribution to the weekend (a wonderfully chilly moscato), and well, with one thing or another (drinking rum, floating in the river on inflatable chairs, etc.), I neglected to take a single photo. The Cooking Light recipe (and their photograph) follows. And I must mention that the vegetarian in our group, neighbor Karla who kindly took us on her boat that day because I’m afraid to use our boat (don't ask, I'm a weenie..), loved the sandwiches sans chicken as well.

Chicken and Roquefort Sandwiches


One serving of this entrée contains about one-fourth of your daily sodium allotment. We extend salty Roquefort cheese by mixing it with cream cheese as a spread. A 2-ounce portion size for bread also helps control sodium counts.


1/2 cup (about 3 ounces) tub whipped cream cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) baguette
2 small heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 8 ounces)
1/2 cup baby arugula leaves

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl.

2. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch-thick strips. Sprinkle evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

3. Cut baguette in half lengthwise. Spread cheese mixture over cut sides of baguette. Arrange chicken, tomato slices, and arugula evenly over bottom half of baguette; cover with top half. Cut crosswise into 4 equal pieces.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

CALORIES 392 ; FAT 15.8g (sat 7g,mono 5.2g,poly 1.2g); CHOLESTEROL 84mg; CALCIUM 100mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35.1g; SODIUM 640mg; PROTEIN 27.9g; FIBER 2.2g; IRON 3.1mg

Cooking Light, AUGUST 2009