Ciabatta Goodness

Can you pronounce ciabatta?

It’s a tricky one – the ‘ci’ is actually pronounced like ‘chi’, so to say the name of this lovely bread correctly, try ‘chi-batta’. I actually looked up how to pronounce it – thank you Macmillan Dictionary and your audio clips for pronunciation!

Fresh Ciabatta Goodness!

This sudden attention to the pronunciation of foreign words is a result of the intensive English Teacher training course I recently completed at the International Language Center in Paris. I can now apply for English teaching positions and the world is wide open to me once again!

During my course, I brought my lunch from home as much as possible. This was helpful to save money, since buying lunch everyday can be expensive, and to save time, especially on those afternoons when I was teaching. I often brought homemade sandwiches made with ciabatta bread and stuffed with my favorite sandwich innards: multiple types of meat and cheese, veggies and mustard.

Stacked and Packed!

I can get fresh ciabatta bread  at my local grocery store and one loaf can make multiple sandwiches, depending on the size of my appetite: 3 small or 2 large. Ciabatta is lovely bread, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, with lots of nice little nooks and crannies to hold reserves of mustard. It’s a worthy alternative to the baguette and it makes some pretty amazing sandwiches, both fresh and toasted.

A medley of goodness and ingredients

Possible ingredients for some Ciabatta Goodness include:

Meat: Ham, salami, sausage, roast beef, roast chicken or turkey

Cheese: Emmental, gouda, camembert (so good!)

Veggies: Feuilles de chêne (salad greens), arugula, spinach, avocado, red pepper, tomato, etc.

Condiments: Butter, mustard (multiple kinds in the same sandwich!), mayo

Prep:

1-Cut a fresh ciabatta loaf in half, length wise.

2-Spread butter and/or mustard on the halves, alternating or combining as per your tastes.

3-Pile on your choice(s) of meat(s) and cheese(s).

4-Top with veggies.

5-Assemble the top half of the loaf.

6-Cut to your desired size and number of sandwiches.

7-Serve and enjoy!

One Ciabatta Loaf = Multiple Sandwiches!

To create a tasty toasted ciabatta sandwich, place both halves of the bread (after the meat and cheese are in place, but before adding the veggies) in the oven under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, top with veggies, cut and serve!

Tasty and Toasty Ciabatta Sandwich

This sandwich was a conversation starter among my new classmates during my course and it was extremely filling to eat for lunch. It also works well at sandwich parties or potlucks, where there are lot of fun ingredient combinations to play with. We brought some ciabatta to a recent gathering of sandwich lovers (friends) and they were a big hit there too.

So give it a try with your favorite ingredients and when someone asks you about your sandwich, because they will, tell them it’s all in the ciabatta bread and help them pronounce it correctly.

Just don’t talk with your mouth full!

Upside-down Ciabatta Goodness.

Portobello Fun on a Bun

Where’s the meat? 

Not here…not this time!

This is a big deal because there once was a time when sandwich meat was the be-all for me; maybe I’d have some lettuce, but that was the extent of me eating vegetables on sandwiches.  The year I lived in Res at U of A, I ate a lot (a lot!!) of Subway but after my third or fourth Cold-Cut Combo in a row, it was getting old, so I slowly added more vegetables…some tomatoes, some cucumbers, etc.  Nothing really that adventurous but it was the beginning of a scrumptious turning point…

The first time I tried spicy banana peppers, it rocked my world - who knew??

Red peppers – so sweet, fresh and crunchy! 

Avocados - just like tree-butter – brilliant!

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper on a thick, juicy tomato slice – where had it been all my life?!

An abundance of vegetables on sandwiches adds beautiful colour, texture and flavor.   They can be chopped and added as-is, or grilled, spiced, or sautéed, depending on the sandwich’s needs and your own desires.  And finally, they are just plain good for you!  The Canada Food Guide recommends that women between the ages of 19 - 50 consume 7-8 servings of fruit and vegetables a day; men are recommended to consume 8-10 servings a day, so packing your sandwiches full of vegetables can help you get in some of those servings.  For more info, check out the Canada Food Guide website.

Gorgeous colours! 

Eating enough vegetables is still something I’m working on because at my core, I am truly a carnivore and my go-to strategy when sandwich pondering is to choose a meat and build the rest around it.  It’s a good tactic that’s worked well for me for a long time, but in keeping with my New Year’s goals to experiment, create and write about new, interesting and appetizing sandwiches (not just the same old meat and standard lettuce/tomato combos) and to eat more vegetables, I’m very excited to share one of my favorite all-vegetable sandwiches, the Portobello Mushroom, Veggie and Feta Bunwich.

You will need:

2-3 Portobello Mushroom caps, sliced

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

Calabrese Dinner Rolls, split

3 Large Carrots, grated

2 Red Peppers, sliced

A handful of sliced Grape Tomatoes

Big handfuls of Baby Spinach per bun

Crumbled Feta Cheese, a large spoonful per bun

Fresh Ground Pepper

Recommended condiments: lime mint jelly, spicy red pepper jelly, dill mayo, mustard, baba ghanoush, tzatziki

Portobello or Portabella?  Spelling doesn't count! 

Creation Tips: 

1- Sautée the mushrooms in the garlic and vinegar over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

2-Slice and grate the peppers, tomatoes and carrots, respectively.

3-Spread your chosen condiment on the bun and pile on the mushrooms and peppers. 

4-Sprinkle a spoonful of feta and top with the grated carrot to keep the cheese in place.

5-Top with tomatoes, fresh ground pepper and spinach. 

6-For a slightly tidier eating experience, I recommend slicing the entire bunwich in half.  Or if you like it messy, just give’r!

Portobello packed and stacked just like a burger!

This extremely filling bunwich can please all sizes of appetites – hence how I ate one and my husband ate three.  The great thing about Portobello mushrooms is their meaty texture and taste, which is no surprise since they are commonly used as a substitute for meat. Even The Works Gourment Burger Bistro of a few posts ago offers a Portobello cap as one of its many patty options. The trick with sautéing mushrooms is not to go overboard with the vinegar so that they still retain some of their original earthy, mushroom flavor. The feta also gives a tangy, salty flavor to the overall bunwich and the piled-on veggies adds satisfying crunch and vibrant color.  

The possibilities of different condiment combos are also very exciting.  I tried the Lime Mint jelly for something slightly sweet and different and I want to keep changing it up the next few times. I have a sneaking feeling that baba ghanoush and tzatziki will be excellent…

Here’s to many more healthy and exciting sandwich creations in 2014! 

Happy experimenting and leave me a comment on how yours progresses!

3 Parts Mustard/2 Parts Pickles/1 Part Ham

3 kinds of mustard, 2 kinds of pickles...that's how I remade an otherwise ordinary ham and cheese sandwich.  

The experimental process

With lots of traveling over the Christmas holidays and getting the house back to its pre-holidays mess, cooking a nice, grown-up dinner just wasn't in the cards last night.  Thankfully, there was lots of leftover baked ham (sent home with us in a huge care-package from the farm from my amazing mother-in-law!), half a loaf of homemade bread, some veggies and lots of condiments in the fridge to work with. 

Since ham and cheese is pretty basic, I tried experimenting with combinations of mustard and pickles to dress things up.  What I discovered was a hot and savory mix! 

For my 3 Parts Mustard/2 Parts Pickles/1 Part Ham creation, I used:

French's Original Dijon

Sensations' Whole Grain Dijon (I love its grainy texture)

French's Class Yellow Mustard 

Unico Pickled Hot Pepper Rings

Bick's Sandwich Saver Dill Pickles

Baked Ham, sliced

Mayo

Baby Spinach

Plum Tomatoes, sliced

Marble Cheese slices

Brown Bread

Fresh Ground Pepper

Cast photo! Missing the Grainy Dijon, which was finished off.

Tips:

1. Combine the Original Dijon and Grainy Dijon on the same bread slice to make a Super-Dijon Mustard! 
2. Spread the mayo and the Classic Yellow on the other bread slice to balance it all out. (For an even bigger kick, I dare you to try Keen's Mustard instead of the Classic Yellow; it's my favorite hot mustard and it would bring this sandwich to a whole new level!)
3. Pile on the other ingredients and don't skimp on the spinach and hot peppers!
4. Add some fresh ground pepper before fully assembling.
5. Enjoy!

Spicy and grainy mustard combined with hot and garlicky pickles really rebooted this sandwich, which proves that having fun with the classics is all about the condiments.  

What's your favorite condiment combo? Leave me a comment and let me know!