lettuce

A Sardine Sandwich with Horseradish Cream

22 Jan 2012
sardine sandwich with pickled red onion

Sardines? Egads no! They look like fish, they smell like fish and they taste like fish. That's enough information to get many of us to swim for the hills. If there was ever a little fishy in need of a makeover it's the sardine. Un-loved and under-appreciated do not begin to describe the loathing attached to this surprisingly healthy and completely delicious tasting fish. I'll start the makeover with a sandwich that I know you'll love, if you just let yourself get past all those fishy miscoceptions. Sardine Sandwich with Horseradish Cream & Pickled Red Onion

Sardines are super tasty. Really they are. Oh, believe me, I know what you’re thinking. Even the very word seems a little unappetizing. Sar-deeeens. Just the phrase sardine sandwich can clear a room to the point of echos. Say it out loud and see for yourself. "Sardine Sandwich... anyone? anyone?"

But now I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to listen to my case for sardines. Especially canned sardines. First off, they're terrific from an environmental perspective. Seafood Watch rates sardines as a "Best Choice", because they're an abundant, fast growing fish that's low on the food chain and able to sustain its population. Sardines feed solely on plankton. Which may sound gross but what that means is they don’t eat other fish which may contain mercury or PCB’s. Unlike that canned tuna we're so fond of, sardines aren't bio-accumulating these toxins.

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Sardine Sandwich with Horseradish Cream & Pickled Red Onion

Sardine sandwich
By jgreghenry Published January 22, 2012
Prep time: 5
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 0.25 c rice-wine vinegar
  • 1 t sugar
  • 1 t black peppercorns
  • 0.5 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 T mayonnaise
  • 1 T prepared horseradish
  • 0.5 t fresh lemon juice
  • 2 sli pumpernickle bread, toasted
  • 2 leaves red lettuce
  • 4 oz canned sardines packed in oil, drained plus 2 tsp reserved oil
  • 1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
  • 1 pn each kosher salt and black pepper

Directions

Bring vinegar, sugar, and peppercorns to a boil in a small saucepan. Add onions and remove from heat; let sit for 30 minutes, then chill. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, horseradish, and lemon juice; spread mixture over each slice of bread, and top each with 1 lettuce leaf. Divide sardines evenly between sandwiches, and top with pepper and pickled onions. Drizzle with reserved oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Source: From Saveur Magazine

Have Some Respect for Sesame Marinated SPAM Sliders with Quail Eggs

10 Jul 2011
Sesame Marinated SPAM Sliders with Quail Eggs

I thought I’d have some fun today. With both my palate and my perceptions. Could I create something from nothing? Well what I mean to say is could I create something from a lot less than nothing? Could I make something creative and delicious using SPAM?

Sesame Marinated SPAM Sliders with Quail Egg and Gingered Mayonnaise

It's easy to snub SPAM, but why would you after tasting these little sliders. Marinated in a spicy blend of sesame, soy and chilis, you might be reminded of the Hawaiian snack food masubi. But these little sandwiches are topped with a warm, oozing quail egg and a dollop of gingered mayonnaise– making them something else altogether.

SPAM is not something I buy everyday. Well in fact this is the first time I ever bought SPAM. Not that I haven’t eaten SPAM before. I have eaten and I recall liking it. Of course that may have been 30 or more years ago.

Well as soon as I had that block shaped blue can in my hands some repressed SPAM memories came flooding back. SPAM chunks in mac-n-cheese. That’s what I immediately thought of. Obviously I was served SPAM and blue box macaroni as a child.

But it was the sound that surprised me the most, ker-lunk-click. That’s the sound the top makes when you use your thumb and forefinger and pry open the special pull-tab top that defines SPAM packaging. The sound was one thing– metallic and false. I began to feel like I was making a mistake because the next sensory perception was aroma. I was beginning to worry that my experiment into SPAM would end badly.

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