The Funky Kitchen

Let’s play a game, shall we?

The Funky Kitchen has opened up a deli/sandwich shoppe. (Wouldn’t that be fun?) Say you were one of my regular customers, someone who could come in and say, “Hi Dana, I’ll have the regular please,” and I would be able to tell what it was.

What would your regular have on it? What would it be on? I ask because people’s answers vary so much, and due to the extremely adaptable nature of a sandwich, there are a lot of interesting ideas out there. If there was a signature sandwich with your name on it, a perfect sandwich for you, what would it be?

The Dana

(Sopressata sandwich on an English muffin, with all the right fixings)

Start with an English Muffin, vaguely toasted. I really like the size of English muffins for a sandwich, and also the spongy texture. I’m not known to be the greatest advocate of toasted bread, but a lightly toasted English muffin is perfect for the Dana sandwich. The little bit of crunch adds to the texture.

To the bottom side of the sandwich (depicted at the left) add a little bit of mustard, and to the top side (depicted at right) some mayonnaise.

To the bottom of the sandwich: a few slices of sopressata. Sopressata is my favorite deli meat by a fair measure. To the top of the sandwich: 2 or 3 layered pieces of romaine lettuce. I love the crunch of romaine, and the slight bitter flavor it has.

Atop the sopressata: a few shavings of old cheddar cheese. Atop the lettuce: A slice of tomato with black pepper cracked over top.

Stack the sandwich parts together, and voila! My most favorite sandwich. If you don’t have English muffins available, or are looking to have a larger sandwich, rye bread would be a close second choice for me.

Mr’s signature sandwich seems to be a riff on a club sandwich, and is much more gargantuan than mine. From the bottom, he has: toasted white bread, mayo, pepperjack cheese, bacon, chicken, toasted white bread, kolbassa (coarse garlic sausage), lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, more bacon and a third slice of toasted bread. Quite a sandwich! Maybe that’s what I should make next.

I’m looking for interesting ideas for what to put between slices of bread; what would your perfect sandwich be?

This time last year:  Spaghetti with Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Acorn Squash and Labneh

Deviled eggs make me want to party. This is probably because of where I tend to consume them; a particular Auntie of mine always has deviled eggs at parties, and so they make me think of gatherings, birthdays and holidays. She makes a mean deviled egg, too.

Why are they called deviled eggs? My reading tells me that a ‘deviled’ food tends to refer to a food spiced with the hot seasonings cayenne or mustard. Also, the concept of the deviled egg has apparently been around for quite a while.

In making these, I learned a thing or two about myself, first that if you are impatient and do not let the eggs cool entirely, the shells will not peel off very easily, and second that I am rather impatient. Luckily, after I made a mess of the first few, I figured out it would be best if I just waited. It really does make a great difference.

I don't own a piping bag. I just use a resealable bag and cut off one of the corners. You can control how much comes out by how much you cut off, and you don't need to wash it when you're done.

Deviled Eggs

12 eggs

1/3 Cup mayonnaise

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp fresh dill, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

paprika, for dusting

Directions

Hard boil the eggs (not sure how to do that? Check here). Let them cool completely; keeping them immersed in cold water for a while helps the process along swimmingly. Gently remove the shells, preserving the hard boiled egg’s roundness, and discard. Using a knife, cut each egg into halves longitudinally, so that the halves are symmetrical. Scoop out the beautiful yolks into a bowl, and set the whites aside. To the bowl with the yolks, add the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and dill, and mash until everything is smooth and combined. Scoop the yolk mixture into a piping bag, or a resealable plastic bag with the tip of one corner cut off (no one will be able to tell the difference), and pipe the yolk into the wells left in the whites. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve. Keep refrigerated if not serving immediately.

They certainly did taste like a party! Some were casualties to my impatient peeling of the shells and some became casualties of freezing, the fridge seems to be set too cold, but the ones that made it to the table? Fantastic.

Mr. says: deviled eggs are delicious, and that they aren’t so difficult that a person shouldn’t make them.

Sometimes things start to stack up in life, you know?

Summer days stack up; they fill themselves with events and people to see, and suddenly it is September and you wonder where the month went.

Obligations stack up; and I find myself using the majority of my free time trying to keep up with all of the projects.

Dirty dishes stack up; you’ve got to eat, but when you’re circling like a Tasmanian devil it is too easy to say, “I’ll do those tomorrow” until it is suddenly the weekend.

When all of these things stack up, I tend to get kind of anxious and lost. The tide of things to do, the pile of proverbial paperwork on the desk, gets a little overwhelming and though I know that I need to get it all done, I can’t fathom how it is I am to do it.

Baby steps, right? Baby steps.

You tackle things one at a time, and eventually the pile gets smaller. You can get it all done, but as a person who rarely says no to a project, it sometimes feels as though it is too much to do in the time available.

Despite my negative feelings associated with things stacking up, stacking can be a good thing. Like roasted beets; deep red medallions stacked into towers, adhered together with blue cheese mousse. The fun part is cutting into the stack, stabbing into it with a fork, mousse oozing out from between the layers. Magnificent.

Beet Towers with Blue Cheese Mousse

2 large beets

2 oz blue cheese

1/4 Cup sour cream

1/4 Cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp reduced balsamic vinegar

a few sprigs of thyme

Directions

Roast the beets, greens removed, by placing them in a 375° oven in a roasting dish until they are easily pierced with a fork (this will depend on the size of your beets, mine took approximately 45 minutes). Allow the beets to cool. Combine the sour cream, mayonnaise and lemon juice and whip them together, with a whisk or a beater, until the mixture becomes stiff, achieving a mousse-like texture.  Crumble in the blue cheese and continue to mix until the mousse is mostly smooth, but try to retain a little bit of texture from the cheese. Chill the mousse. Remove the skins from the roasted beets, and cut them into 1/4 inch medallions. Stack the roasted beet slices three high, piping mousse between each layer. Top with a small peak of mouse, a drizzle of balsamic reduction and a few fresh thyme leaves. Serve and enjoy.

Mister devours anything that involves balsamic vinegar, but he was a little bit unsure about the mousse because he isn’t the biggest fan of blue cheese. He called the beet towers “both creamy and tangy.” He enjoyed the concept, but asked that next time we use a cheese he enjoys more.

This time last year: Groovy Balsamic Vinaigrette