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last night a sandwich changed my life
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January 08, 2002
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Sometimes I get into these...food moods. For a week or so I'll have an intense craving for some type of food -- something relatively specific. A visual image of the food will pop into my head and distract me when I'm trying to do other things, like work or wash dishes or have sex. And it won't do to go out and get some. I have to try and make it. Once I do, whether or not I succeed in making something that's as good as my mental image, I've exorcised my craving. (Although if my attempt is spectacularly bad, sometimes I have to try again before the craving goes away.)
A couple of months ago it was "meat buns" -- you know, like chinese bbq pork buns. Tried to make some; it wasn't exactly an unqualified success, but at least my craving went away.
Lately, it's been baked sandwiches. Not just any baked sandwiches, mind you, but sandwiches embedded in a whole loaf of raw bread dough, whereupon the whole ensemble is baked together until the bread is done. Reubens are great made this way.
Rebecca said that she wanted to make one using Proscuitto. I decided to look around for Proscuitto sandwich recipes to see if I could find some interesting ideas. I found one that immediately siezed my imagination which involved Proscuitto, gorgonzola, figs, and fresh basil.
We bought the necessary ingredients this weekend. It's not a cheap sandiwch to make, that's for sure. 1/2 lb of decent Proscuitto, which is what we estimated it would take for the sandwich, cost around $10 by itself. The fig jam was $5, the basil around $2. I skimped on the cheese and bought domestic blue for around $3. Ingredients for the dough were, of course, comparatively free. The result is around $10 per sandwich, which is quite a bit for something you're cooking at home. I hoped it would be worth it.
We made the sandwiches last night. Assembly was straightforward We took the dough (which Rebecca had made over the weekend) and rolled it flat. We spread on the fig jam, put down a layer of proscuitto, added the cheese and the basil, and put another layer of proscuitto down, and then sealed the sandwiches. I folded mine like a calzone; Rebecca rolled hers like a pinwheel.
Then we put them in the oven and baked them for around 45 minutes. At that point the calzone-style sandwich was done, but the pinwheel needed more time, as the bread in the center of the pinwheel was still doughy, so we covered it in aluminum foil and put it back in the oven. Then we turned to the pressing matter of eating the first sandwich.
It was heavenly. Full of rich, complicated flavors, it was even a bit overwhelming. I have no idea what I'm going to eat tonight because anything else will pale in comparison.
Possible improvements:
o Shred the proscuitto.
o Use a little less fig jam, or make a fig paste from real figs, to reduce the sugar content. I want just as much fig flavor without as much intense sweetness.
o Go ahead and use better quality cheese. Genuine Gorgonzola or Stilton. You know you want to.
o Shape the sandwich by cutting a boule in half and filling the inside, re-molding it back into a boule shape, rather than flattening and folding or rolling the bread.
January 8, 2002 in lunch | Permalink
