The Doppelganger (Sandwich)

A few days ago I blew ten bucks on a sandwich from a sub shop. It was tasty, but I figured I could do it better at home, and for less money too. I was right. When I got out of work today I really didn't feel like cooking a big dinner, so I decided to get some cold cuts and put these bad boys together.

First I had to select a bread. Regular, or maybe old-fashioned white bread? A hearty multigrain? Sub rolls? I found a bag of some nice Portuguese rolls on the day old rack. Absolutely the right choice. Portuguese rolls are a little shorter and wider than a hoagie roll, lighter density than Italian bread, with a dry floury crust.

Now let's get to the meat of the matter. I hit the deli counter and ordered up a half pound of the store-brand rare roast beef, sliced thin. But don't let them slice it too thin if the grain does not allow, or it will wind up more like a pile of chipped beef. A good deli will shave off a slice to let you have a look, and a taste if you like. I didn't wind up using the whole half pound, but if you are making sandwiches for more than just yourself, you will want to order more of course.

Just about any sandwich ever invented goes better with cheese, and this one is no exception. I went with Finlandia brand imported Swiss. Dense and sour but not too much stank like you would get on a creamier Lorraine Swiss. Normally I like to get the cheese sliced thick, especially a softer cheese like American, but I went a little thinner with this since it has a more “stretchy” consistency like some mozzarella.

From the deli counter I hit the produce section and picked up a white onion, white mushrooms, and a nice vine-ripened tomato. Next, I hit the spice rack for a little jar of chipotle powder. The star of the show on the sandwich I got at the sub shop the other day was the chipotle mayo. You can pick up some ready-made flavored mayos these days right off the shelf, but I don't really see the need for that. I can mix it myself and use the chipotle powder in other recipes as well. For mayo, I am a loyal Hellman's man.

As soon as I got home I got right to it and chopped up the onion, then threw it in a frying pan with some canola oil on high heat. Instead of stirring constantly like I would for caramelized onions, I let them sit on the heat and start to stick a little to get some browning toasty action. I didn't cook them down too much either and pulled them from the heat before they got too soft or started getting gelatinous.

Next I fried the mushrooms. You could get away with doing the mushrooms and onions together probably, but I wanted everything jusssst right. So, I fried the mushrooms separately in some butter rather than canola. The delicate taste and texture of mushrooms are more sensitive to the oil you cook them in, and taking in a butter flavor is preferable I think to other cooking oils.

Go ahead and slice open two rolls and lay them on a toaster-oven rack face open. Next, use a nice wide knife or spatula (not a pancake turner, an actual spatula) to give a nice smear of mayo on each face of the rolls. Over the mayo give a light dusting of chipotle. It's a little spicy and very smokey, so you have to be a bit careful in order to not overpower the other flavors in your sandwiches.

Next we are going to lay on a few slices of the rare roast beef to one face of each sandwich. Don't just lay them flat though. You want to sort of “fluff” the meat the way they do at a good sandwich shop to make the sandwich look thicker. Bunch it up a little, use your wrist to give it a little twist. Actually, the technique helps give the sandwich a sort of “independent suspension,” keeps the innerts from sliding around so much when you finally put it all together, and actually gives the sandwich a nicer density to bite into.

On the opposite faces lay down a layer of your chopped fried onion, and some of your fried mushrooms spaced out nicely. I folded over a slice of the Swiss cheese to get four strips. Lay down two at bit of a hash-mark angle over the meat, two more over the mushrooms and onion, then repeat for your second sandwich.

I had to squeeze them in a little, but the two sandwiches just fit into the toaster oven. Bake at 425-450 degrees for maybe 3-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it. Once the cheese is melted down well, the bread should be nice and crispy at the edges and over the crust, but you don't want it to turn to dust either by over doing it. You want the roll to still be soft inside when you finally take a bite. But, we are not quiiite there yet. While the sandwiches were toasting, I sliced my tomato nice and thin. When you pull out your sandwiches form the oven, slip on a few ripe red slices, and fold the Doppelgangers closed. And yes, you must have two or it is not a Doppelganger. So if you're a light eater, bring a friend.

Warm, toasty, smoky, spicy, rich, a little sweet, a little pungent, with stretching gooey cheese that might get caught on your chin, so bring a napkin! Enjoy.

For your grocery list you will need: Portuguese rolls, deli-sliced rare roast beef, deli-sliced imported Swiss cheese, a white onion, sliced white mushrooms, a ripe red tomato, mayonnaise, and chipotle powder.

Chicken Tenderloin Dinner

I suppose this is sort of three or four recipes in one. We are going to dress some veggies, spice some taters, and make a nice creamy Parmesan herb sauce for our chicken tenderloins.

I put the veggies on last, but let's get that out of the way first here since it's the easiest part. For this dinner I used one bag of frozen mixed cauliflower, broccoli and sliced carrots. You might also try some Italian green beans or some snap peas if you prefer or want to switch it up for a rerun. Go ahead and heat them up in a pan like you would normally, but instead of adding a little butter, we are going to give the veggies a little douse of a sundried tomato vinaigrette. A sundried tomato pesto could work nicely too. Of course, making your own dressing is much healthier without all the preservatives and trans-fatty oils, but I admit that I usually buy this off the shelf in the bottle. Easy to keep a bottle on hand in the cupboard to use when you are throwing a dinner together as quickly and painlessly as possible. If you would rather steam your veggies, go for it, and then just toss them in a little dressing before serving. You shouldn't need more than, oh, a few tablespoonfuls I guess. Be careful not to overpower the flavor in your veggies tho, the dressing is an accent, not a topper.

Now we're gonna fix up some taters. Redskin potatoes worked really well for the meal and are a real tasty spud, but you may have your own preference or want to work with what you have on hand. I halved the taters and boiled for a bit, but not fully done. I then quartered the halves and tossed them into a pan of hot canola oil for some sizzle action with a little black pepper and red chili powder. (The fresh cracked pepper may be a little too coarse, make sure you have a nice fine powder of pepper.) Once you get them browned up to your liking, the spuds are ready. If they are done before you are ready to plate, toss them on a baking sheet to keep warm in the oven. Alternately, I'm sure you could bake the wedges to a crisp in the oven after giving them a little drizzle of oil and dusted with spices.

Breast tenderloins are usually not on my grocery list because they are more expensive than other cuts, but I got a heck of a bargain on these and bought about six or eight packages to toss in the freezer. This is a white meat cut, smaller than the breast. We are going to cook them much like a “chicken finger” but rather then deep frying, we are going to bread them and pan fry them in a a little canola oil. The Italian-seasoned bread crumbs are best for this, and most other uses for that matter. If you only have plain bread crumbs, you can add some herbs, maybe a little salt and pepper, and even a punch of grated cheese. One at a time we are going to give each tenderloin an eggwash and then dredge in the bread crumbs, then lay them down in a hot pan coated generously with canola oil. I used a big electric frying pan doused with oil. Let them sizzle up nicely til nice and brown, and flip.

Since tenderloins are a lot thinner and more narrow than a breast, they don't take long to cook and you really shouldn’t have to worry much about getting the inside up to proper temp. As long as they have tightened up a bit so that they aren't floppy and are browned up nicely on each side, you can take them out and lay them down on a paper towel to soak up any excess oils.

When I fry the tenderloins this way, I always make a bunch, two or three pans full so that I have plenty of leftovers. Again, you may want to keep them warm by holding in the oven. The leftovers are great for seconds, a snack later on, or to be refrigerated to use in the next couple of days. I have used the leftovers cold to slice up and put on a salad, or you can warm them back up in a toaster oven where they should get nice and crispy again to serve as chicken fingers with a dipping sauce.

Speaking of sauce, now we come to the creamy Parmesan herb sauce. I use an electric fondue pot for this. I usually go ahead and make extra on this too. (If you didn't notice already, I am a big fan of cooking plenty so that there are plenty of leftovers in the fridge to make other light meals out of and to remix the applications.) Keep the temperature low so we don't burn the sauce at all. We will start by melting some butter in the pan. Then we will pour in a small container of heavy cream and bring that up to temperature, steaming, maybe bubbling a little. Finally, we add a bag of shredded Parmesan cheese. You could also shred your own Parmesan of course, but I don't use the best, most expensive stuff when making sauces. I use the good stuff sparingly, usually to dust over a plate of pasta or something just before serving.

Okay, so now we have the basic sauce going. Keep on stirring as the shredded cheese melts into the butter and cream. I went ahead and used two bags of cheese this last time. Keep more heavy cream on hand to add in slowly in order to get a nice constituency. Not too thick, not too thin. It may reduce a little as you are cooking it, and if you happen to add to much cream, continue to cook for a while in order to reduce and thicken up the sauce. A little flour will also help it to thicken. In fact, you might want to add a little anyway to get a rich consistency.

Time to add the herbs and seasoning. Garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, oregano. Be careful not to overseason it, you can always add a few extra bumps to taste. I wound up adding a good extra shot of the garlic powder especially, but you don't want to overpower the flavor of the cheese, or the concert of herbs. All the while, you should keep stirring regularly so that the sauce doesn't stick and burn.

Plate your veggies, redskins, and chicken strips, then drizzle the chicken with the herb-cream sauce. Some may enjoy the sauce over their seasoned potatoes as well.

Now pardon the pictures here, bad lighting and a cheap camera-phone don't make very appealing food pics, but here is the plate I made up for my Mom...

Here is what you should pick up at the grocery store:

A bag of frozen vegetables (mixed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), a bottle of sundried tomato dressing, a bag of redskin potatoes, chicken tenderloins, Italian bread crumbs, eggs, shredded Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, butter.

If you don't have these in your pantry you will also need:

Canola oil, chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, and oregano.