There are only so many days in a row that you can eat the same old deli turkey on whole wheat sandwich, am I right? Here are three ideas for making sandwiches that will have you looking forward to lunchtime.
• Switch Up the Bread: Sad wimpy bread is the downfall of many a good sandwich, but even slices of artisan sourdough can get old if you have it every day. Instead of grabbing your usual loaf, look around and see what else might work. Pita bread, baguettes, ciabatta, multi-seed rye loaves: anything that will shake you out of a rut.
• Switch Up the Spread: There's a whole wide world of condiments out there. Instead of mustard and mayo, get creative with the other jars in your fridge. Spreads like pesto, muhammara, tapenade, or even fig jam make tasty additions to sandwiches.
• Add One Oddball Ingredient: If you peruse the menus at fancy gourmet sandwich shops, you'll notice that almost every sandwich has one oddball ingredient. These are things like sliced granny smith apples, hardboiled eggs, seared asparagus spears, cranberry dressing, and pickled beets. This unexpected ingredient is meant to contrast the more standard sandwich ingredients and tickle your fancy. And it works!
What other tips do you have for making stellar sandwiches?
Related: Recreating the Masters: Sandwiches as Art
(Image: Spring Sandwich/Leela Cyd Ross)
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I find that one thing that distinguishes a really gourmet and "deli-like" sandwich from one that is just so-so is the addition of one acidic/vinegary ingredient: so I like to add olives, pepperoncinis, capers, pickled beets, etc. to kick the brine up a notch. Somehow this brightens the whole sandwich.
Finding good bread is really, really hard. So much comes down to that!
Here where I currently live (Ontario), we really only have ready access to mass produced, frozen, bread from ACE Bakery. It's all frozen -- either the dough, or the loaf.
My husband's home town, a teeny-tiny ski resort in Quebec, has lucked out -- a French baker moved and set up shop there with a real French bakery, down to the marble counters and baker's shelves -- and amazing pain au levain, and other wonders.
In France, the most common sandwich is also the simplest -- baguette, ham, sweet butter and cornichon. But replicating it here...
Also, back in Switzerland, I was able to purchase "picnic eggs" at the grocery stores -- eggs perfectly hardboiled and easy to peel. They made sandwich making a breeze!!
I love a sandwich with a thin smear of salted butter. Makes a great sandwich without it getting some goopy with mayo and mustard.
Switching up breads is fun and delicious as we have found.
I'm not sure where mschatelaine lives but Ontario is quite a large place, if you venture anywhere outside of the little neighbourhood you live in and explore your own area before telling everybody what the rest of the world does. I really don't think that the closest person that figured out how to make their own bread and sell it is an entire province away?! Just sticking up for the rest of Ontario.