August 25, 2009

A Hoboken Food Fairytale

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, there existed a delightful Italian deli named Piccininnis in the middle of quaint Hoboken, New Jersey. Inside, one could order a variety of sandwiches, Italian specialty products, wines, and items purchased at a store like BJ's that were clearly marked "Not for Individual Sale". However, the draw of this small business was assembling the perfect sandwich in the eyes of the husband.

Fortunately, for him it was mere footsteps away. The exact number of footsteps were never counted, however the path was something like going down one flight of stairs to the main door of our old building, walking down another six stairs to the sidewalk and then taking a right and walking no more than twenty steps to a bit of heaven on earth. The proximity to such a wonderful establishment was extremely hard to leave when the days in Hoboken were up.

http://www.saltinwound.com/uploaded_images/piccininnis-732945.jpeg

We celebrated the husband's birthday recently, a birth date he shares with former infamous mafioso Carlo Gambino, former baseball player Cal Ripkin, Jr., and Craig Kilborn. When asked what he would like for his birthday meal, he gave the simple answer of a sandwich. I was stumped. What kind of sandwich would I prepare for his birthday? A simple PB&J would not suffice, nor would a grilled cheese. What to make? Then all of a sudden it hit me, I would make his favorite sandwich from Hoboken that he had not had in years.

One of the husband's favorite sandwiches from Piccininnis was the Hoboken Delight. This sandwich featured sun-dried tomatoes, fresh mozzerella (a.k.a. fresh "mutz"), turkey, fresh bread, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and lettuce and tomato. Or, at least these were all the items on the sandwich that I could remember.

Before work on the day of the husband's birthday, I stopped in Whole Foods (a.k.a Whole Paycheck) to pick up the last minute fresh items for this sandwich masterpiece. I wanted to get the freshest bread, freshest deli meat, and balsamic vinegar (our last drops of balsamic vinegar were consumed during our haste of moving).

It was killing me to not make anything homemade for his birthday. On the day prior to the day in which he celebrates another year. I attempted to make another of his favorites...pickles.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Hoboken Delight and Quick Pickles.

Hoboken Delight
Printable Recipe
4 ciabatta sandwich rolls
1 pound fresh oven-roasted turkey
1 ball of fresh mutz
sun-dried tomatoes
4 piece of lettuce
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
  1. Slice open the sandwich rolls.
  2. Delicately place 1 piece of lettuce on the bottom of each roll. Top with tomatoes (enough to cover the length of the bread. Place about three pieces of thinly sliced mutz on top of tomatoes. Top with 1/4 pound of turkey. Drizzle vinegar and oil over sandwich.
Quick Pickles (adapted from Eating Well)
Printable Recipe
1 1/4 pound cucumbers, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 thinly sliced medium onion
2 cloves slivered garlic
1 teaspoon dill
1 teaspoon mustard seed

  1. Place cucumbers in a colander set in the sink. Sprinkle with salt; stir to combine. Let stand 20 minutes. Rinse, drain and transfer to a large heatproof bowl.
  2. Meanwhile, combine vinegars, brown sugar, onion, garlic, dill, and mustard seed in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers; stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to bring to room temperature.




Finally, how does the story end? The husband was pleased with his birthday sandwich and told me that he thought it also had ham. Ugh, I was close, but no cigar.

How does the story end for Piccininnis? Unfortunately, we heard that it closed down. It is a coincidence that it closed a few years after we moved? You can draw your own conclusions.

August 16, 2009

Jazzed Up Chicken Salad


Someone is behind the times. Adding curry to may is nothing new, but it is very tasty. I had lots of success with it the other day when I made the chicken sandwiches with blueberry salsa. Therefore, I wanted to add it to a bit of chicken to this mix for a chicken salad. I do love my chicken salads...

Curry Chicken Salad
Printable Recipe
1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 pound chopped cooked chicken
8 slices of multi-grain sandwich bread

  1. Combine mayonnaise and curry in a small bowl. Add chicken and stir.
  2. Spread evenly over 4 slices of bread. Top with lettuce and a piece of bread.
  3. Slice and serve.
Yield: 4 servings

Switch It Up


Who is in charge of determining which foods "belong" to specific meals? Who says that egg sandwiches are only for breakfast? It is time to break some of those rules...

The husband and I have been on a sandwich kick for a while. Sometimes nothing beats two pieces of bread, some lettuce, a slice of tomato, and some sort of protein to chew on. I needed to look for some new meal idea online and decided to check out some ideas for sandwiches. While the egg sandwich is nothing revolutionary, it certainly does taste great.

This one adds hard-boiled eggs to the standard BLT. It also adds some chives to the mayonnaise. Recently, I've been quite happy when I've added different things to mayo, i.e. chives, curry powder, garlic, etc...It is that little bid of something that makes a big impact.

Bacon, Egg, and Tomato Club Sandwich (From epicurious.com, Gourmet July 2009)
Printable Recipe
1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
8 slices sandwich bread, toasted (I prefer a multi-grain bread)
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced thinly
1 pound bacon, cooked crisply
3-4 medium tomatoes, sliced thinly
4 slices of lettuce

  1. Combine the mayo and chives in a small bowl.
  2. Spread it over four slices of bread.
  3. Top with equal amounts of egg, bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce.
Yield: 4 servings

August 11, 2009

Sometimes it's worth taking a chance

There are certain flavors/ingredients that at first glance, don't seem to make much sense when paired together. Some include chili powder and chocolate, bacon sorbet (I think that combo was on Top Chef), or cumin topped apple crisp. The last reference is related to a mistake I made once upon a time when making apple crisp, I quickly grabbed a spice from the cabinet and quickly seeing the "c", "m", and "n" on the label, I thought it was cinnamon. However, as I quickly found out when taking a first bite it was cumin. And for the record, it doesn't really taste good. At least I can admit failure.

However, I digress from the original stream of thought, which is easy to do when you have been up with insomnia for the past few hours. I was looking at recipes for easy to make sandwiches since the kitchen is in major chaos due the the move to the 'burbs this past weekend. I saw a recipe on epicurious.com posted from Self for turkey roll ups with blueberry salsa. To put this in Jerry Maguire terms, I was had at blueberry salsa. I am a big fan of fruit based salsas and the way that they interact with meats.

I loved how the flavors of the cumin interacted with the blueberries and peppers. It was fantastic! I wouldn't have thought that cumin and blueberries would work well together, perhaps based on my apple crisp mistake circa 2004.

Also, the husband was nervous about this dish with cumin and jalapenos, but did not say that it was too spicy for his liking. This was not another instance of the dry chili rub that was made a few weeks ago.

Chicken Rollups with Blueberry Salsa (adapted from Self August 2009)
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 pint blueberries
1 peeled and diced kiwi
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 red onion finely chopped
4 leafs of romaine lettuce
4 whole wheat tortillas
4 grilled chicken breasts

  1. Clean and grill chicken. Because our new and hopefully very temporary digs do not allow us to grill, I used my George Foreman.
  2. Stir mayonnaise and cumin in a medium bowl. Add blueberries, kiwi, pepper, and onion. Stir until thoroughly combined.
  3. Spread 1/4 of mayonnaise/fruit mixture on each tortilla. Top with chicken and lettuce leaf.
  4. Wrap up and enjoy!
Yield: 4 servings
Blog Widget by LinkWithin