“The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches Recipes, History and Trivia, For Everything Between Sliced Bread” by Susan Russo and Photographed by Matt Armendariz comes out today- go get it!

I was lucky enough to recieve an advance copy from the cool folks at Quirk Books so I have been waiting for a week or two to tell you about this book. Mostly because I hate getting excited about something that I have to wait to go out and get for myself.
This book is a cool little compendium of sandwiches from A to Zed- well actually W. It starts with “The All-in-One Breakfast Sandwich” and ends with the “Walleye Sandwich”. Stuffed in between is a ton of goodness including lots of variations on each sandwich.
Susan is a longtime favourite blogger of mine from her food blog “Food Blogga” and Matt is someone whose work I am getting to know through his popular blog “Matt Bites”.

A couple of nights ago I decided to make a Croque-Madame. It is one of the variations of France’s traditionally popular Croque-Monsieur or “Crunch Mister” a ham and Gruyere sandwich on slices of white bread (a French Boule in my case) made even more rich by the addition of a bit of bechamel sauce then grilled in butter. Hard to not drool even thinking of one. The Croque-Madame has the addition of a fried egg on top which puts it over the top in goodness as far as I am concerned.
So what are you waiting for? Get your copy now. Picnic season is coming… Breakfast is coming…Dessert is coming!

It’s funny -the things that impress you as a kid… When I was six years old I went to Disneyland for the first time. This, I must say, was after a few years of secretly harboured longing and no small resentment at being left behind as “too young” the first time my parents took my older sister without me. I had to wait until after my parents divorce and when I finally got there it wasn’t Disneyland itself that impressed me (although I could make a home there permanently any day) so much as going to a certain restaurant, having lunch and ordering what I wanted. (Yes-I was born a foodie through and through!) And it wasn’t so much ordering what I wanted as receiving a triple stacked BLT that came secured with frilly toothpicks to hold the layers together. Silly thing -but that sandwich with those toothpicks was like another world to me! (Then there were the pink plastic elephants that hung on the rim of “Shirley Temple” drinks along with a maraschino cherry- but really that’s another story altogether.)

 I recently listened to Anthony Bourdain’s memoir “Kitchen Confidential:Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” on CD, a thoroughly absorbing account of his travels through the culinary world. It makes your blood run cold in spots but I recommend it -best read by him- his experience in his own voice.  In it, he describes his first taste of Vichyssoise on a trans-Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary as his first hint that food was more than a substance you just stuff into your face. I already knew food could be good- even great- but this new experience was a glimpse into the adventure that is possible with food- that’s what the silly frilly toothpicks were for me.  Something, strange, foreign and exotic to my everyday experience in something as mundane as a sarnie. As a kid I always ordered BLTs or Club Sandwiches whenever we went out to lunch trying to hold on to the magic. Eventually I came to care more about the quality of the ingredients than the silly garnishes.

I still love BLTs but now I make SPLATs (Sourdough, Prosciutto, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato) and I only have them now at home when tomatoes, fresh from the garden, are in season, I have a ripe avocado and there’s a loaf of really good sourdough- oh and obviously I use Prosciutto now. Why?- because it covers the WHOLE sandwich and you get that porky goodness in every bite. Just bake the slices for a few minutes laid out flat on some parchment in the oven until it’s crispy and use 2-3 slices per person.  Toast the bread, use some good mayo or aioli- homemade if you can- Best Foods/Hellman’s if store-bought, make sure you salt and pepper the tomatoes and mash the avocado over one whole slice of bread. So the next time you want a really good BLT come on over to the adventure and try a SPLAT! Frilly toothpicks are optional!

This months Daring Bakers’ Challenge is hosted by the lovely Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums. She was to have hosted this month with Sher of What Did You Eat? and Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food but tragically Sher passed away suddenly in July leaving a rather large hole in the hearts of bloggers everywhere. Glenna has since suspended her Daring Bakers membership and that left Rosa all alone to host this month. She’s done a super job answering questions on the forum and giving moral support and she went ahead with an idea she attributes to Sher of doing Peter Reinhart’s Pizza Crust from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” as this month’s challenge. Check out Peter’s blog here and head on over to Rosa’s blog for the recipe.

This is lovely crust but it does take some planning ahead. You mix it up and then it needs to rest at least overnight in your fridge followed by a two hour rise before baking.  I think the planning ahead is worth it- it yields a very workable dough and a nice crisp but chewy crust for your toppings. 

I put dough in a parchment lined pie plate in the fridge instead of a jelly pan- I really don’t have that kind of space in my fridge hardly ever.  I also baked one on a stone and one on a pizza plate with a sheet of parchment on top. I used semolina to assemble on a peel and then slide to the stone. My sausage pizza stumbled a bit on the stone so it deformed slightly but was still delicious!

I chose to cut my dough into thirds instead of sixths for larger pizzas. It was a little trickier tossing it (which was one of Rosa’s requirements) but I did it. Unfortunately the camera didn’t cooperate and all you get is one pic of my hands in the dough so I’m giving you this video of “I Love Lucy” which is highly reminiscent of my usual pizza making experience- except I don’t have a sheeter to start the dough in the right direction.

I baked two pizzas and froze the one remaining crust for future use. I topped one with ground sweet Italian sausage, green peppers, marinara, shallots and Mozzarella. The other was topped with basil Pesto, Prosciutto, shallots and Mozzarella. Both were delicious! Thanks to Rosa for a fun challenge!

This recipe marks my thirteenth Daring Bakers’ challenge (I joined in September of 2007 when there were under 100 DBs -now there are over a thousand!- but I had to sit out July’s challenge) so I thought I would post thumbnails of my completed challenges as a celebration!

My Daring Bakers’ Dozen!

Love to you all and thanks for a year of wonderful challenges!

Check out the thousand or so other Daring Bakers here.

Okay- I know it’s not Sunday today but I promised our dear friend Jeff that I would post these waffles a while back and I am just getting to it. Jeff is an amazing chef and caterer so when he wants a recipe you know it’s worth making.

Every Sunday, Rick makes these wonderful oatmeal waffles for me. We enjoy them then with real maple syrup, sausage and lattes.

He, thankfully, makes extra and so we can have them again later in the week- either covered with Brown Cow Cherry Vanilla yogurt or I make an almond butter and honey sandwich with them right before I head out the door to work. You can cut some strawberries or other fruit and layer them in there too. It’s a quick and relatively healthy breakfast with all natural ingredients.

Oat Waffles

• 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 3 Tablespoons butter, in bits
• 1-1/4 cups AP flour (Spelt flour works great too)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk

Combine the oats and 1-1/4 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat stirring constantly for three minutes. Add butter, remove from heat and stir until the butter is melted in.  Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt into a small mixing bowl. In a medium mixing bowl beat the eggs and combine with the buttermilk. Add the oatmeal and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended- do not over-mix. Preheat a waffle iron according to the manufacterer’s directions.  Run a little butter over the plates and fill with the amount appropriate to your waffle maker’s size. Cook until crisp on the outside tender on the inside. Serve with maple syrup, yogurt, preserves or almond butter, fruit and honey- however you like them.

Makes eight 4-inch waffles. If you have some left over- store in the fridge (or the freezer if you’re not using within a day or two.) Reheat them in the toaster or on a rack in the oven. I even like them straight from the fridge.

I really love Maranatha Almond Butter and The Savannah Bee Company’s Black Sage Honey together in these.

Hope you enjoy and sorry to Jeff for taking so long….