Fourth of July and a Stuffed Summer Sandwich

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July, full of fireworks, cookouts, picnics, and parades! With all the festivities, I was reminded of my favorite "Stuffed Summer Sandwich," which I always take to firework shows, so I don't have to eat the garbage provided by the typical venders. This recipe from Cabin Cooking: Great Food for the Great Outdoors, by Williams-Sonoma, is perfect to make ahead, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight to be sliced just before serving. It's so simple and embodies the best flavors of summer, like home-grown tomatoes and fresh basil, all enshrined in a tapenade-coated sourdough loaf! This is more a technique rather than a recipe, in which you can alter the ingredients to suit your taste. For instance, if you prefer a vegetarian version of this portable sandwich, replace the ham with sliced mozzarella, Monterey jack, or even grilled eggplant. If you don't like red bell peppers, leave them out. It's delicious, beautiful, and hearty enough for any meal on the go!

Stuffed Summer Sandwich

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 large red bell peppers

1 round loaf sourdough or coarse country bread

1 can (6 ounces) pitted black olives, drained

1 garlic clove, peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 lb thinly sliced baked ham or prosciutto

1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves or 4-6 leaves of red-leaf lettuce

Directions:

Preheat your broiler. Cut the bell peppers into quarters and remove the stems, seeds, and ribs. Place the quarters, cut sides down, on a baking sheet and broil about 4 inches below the heat until the skins blacken and blister. Transfer to a paper bag or bowl, close the bag or cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let steam until cool enough to handle. Peel off and discard the skins. Set the peppers aside.

Place the bread on a cutting board and, with the tip of a serrated knife, cut a large circle in the top about 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch from the edge. Pull out the circle of crust and remove all of the bread attached to it to make a lid. Pull out all of the bread from the interior of the loaf, leaving a shell 1/2 inch thick. Set the bread shell and lid aside. (Reserve the pulled-out bread for another use, like Chicken with Bread Bits and Lemon!)

In a blender or food processor, combine the olives, garlic, and olive oil. Process until very smooth. Using a rubber spatula, spread the olive paste around the inside of the bread shell and on the underside of the bread lid. (Alternatively, mince the olives and garlic, place in a small bowl and stir in the olive oil to make a coarse paste. Spread into shell.) Line the bread shell with half of the ham or prosciutto. 

Top with half of the roasted pepper quarters, then half the tomato slices seasoned with salt and pepper, and a few basil leaves or 2-3 lettuce leaves. Use just enough to cover the filling without overlapping too much.

Repeat the layers, ending with basil or lettuce. Replace the bread lid and press down lightly to compact the layers. Cut into wedges and serve.

Le Tour de France and La Cuisine Nicoise

Perhaps I'm in the minority here in the US, but I'm thoroughly enjoying watching Le Tour de France 2013! Not only is it the 100th year of this grueling race, it was the first time for the Mediterranean paradise of Corsica to host part of the Tour stage! Although I'm not that familiar with the rules and guidelines of the Tour, I'm watching it primarily for the scenery! Yesterday sadly concluded the portion in Corsica, but I will not soon forget the gorgeous scenery of mountains rising from the Mediterranean Sea! I will definitely keep dreaming of visiting this enchanted isle! 

So as the Tour continues today in Nice, I wanted to share "La Cuisine Nicoise" with a fabulous recipe for a "Tourta de Blettes," which is a sweet Swiss chard pie. This recipe for "Savory Swiss Chard Tart," from Laura Calder's French Taste, is not only striking with it's high crusty jagged peaks (like Corsica!) it is absolutely delicious! The combination of Swiss chard, shallots, bacon, raisins, pine nuts, Gruyere, and creme make the most fantastic savory tart! Laura suggests serving the tart in small slices for a first course, or enormous wedges for a picnic. All I suggest is that you make it, right now!

Savory Swiss Chard Tart

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the savory tart shell

2 cups flour

Pinch salt

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 egg

For the tart

1 1/2 pounds Swiss chard (about 2 bunches)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, minced

1 garlic clove, minced (see Techniques)

4 slices of bacon, cut into lardons (thin slices crosswise)

3 eggs

1 cup creme fraiche, or heavy cream and sour cream combined

Salt and pepper

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

A handful of raisins

A handful of toasted pine nuts

9" springform pan

Directions:

For the savory tart shell

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter, and pinch with the fingers to make fine crumbs. (Or pulse in food processor until coarse texture.) Make a well in the middle. Stir together the eggs and pour into the well. Swiftly mix in with fingertips until the mixture forms a dough. Do not over-mix, as it toughens the dough. (Or pulse in food processor being careful not to over-mix.) Form into 2 disks, wrap in plastic, and chill at least an hour before rolling out and lining your tart pan. (Laura says you will require approximately 1 1/3 disks for the springform pan, but I used both.) Chill another 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the pastry with a large piece of parchment in such a way that you can lift it out partway through cooking, and pour in dried beans right to the very top of the pastry. (I have a jar of beans that I use over and over again for this process.) 

Bake the shell for 12 minutes. At this point, lift out the parchment and beans (the tart will have set enough not to shrink by now), put the tart straight back in the oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees, and continue baking until it is just starting to show signs of color on the base, 10-15 minutes more. Set aside until ready to use.

For the tart

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the chard leaves from the thick ribs. Chop the ribs and stems quite small, and shred the leaves. Set aside separately.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat, and fry the shallots until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, and fry for 1 minute. Remove to a large bowl. In the same pan, fry the bacon until cooked but not crisp. Add it to the shallots. Fry the chard ribs in the bacon fat until tender, 7-10 minutes. (You may want to cover the pan for a few minutes to speed this up.) Stir in the chard leaves, cover, and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.

Beat the eggs together with the creme fraiche. Season with salt and pepper. To the shallots, add the chard, cheese, raisins, and pine nuts; toss to combine evenly. Taste, and season. Fill the tart shell with the vegetable mixture,

and pour over the cream mixture.

Bake until the tart has set, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature.

Chill with Chinese Chicken Salad!

Tomorrow is the first day of summer and with the heat and humidity rising, it's starting to feel like it! Days like these make me crave a nice cold salad, like "Chinese Chicken Salad." Chinese chicken salad, as we know it in the U.S., is purely an American creation dating back to the 1930's, popularized by the fashionable entertainment industries on the West Coast. In the 1960's, Chinese chicken salad reached iconic status when Sylvia Wu opened Madame Wu's Garden in Santa Monica, California, with celebrity clientele including Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, and Cary Grant, just to name a few! In fact, it was Cary Grant who insisted she put Chinese chicken salad on the menu!

Photo of Cary Grant with Madame Wu.

This excellent recipe, adapted from Bridgehampton Weekends, by Ellen Wright, has all the flavors of a traditional Chinese chicken salad: shredded chicken and iceberg lettuce, sesame oil, ginger, and scallions, all served on a bed of crispy, crunchy, fried rice-stick noodles! (In fact, this recipe is quite similar to Madame Wu's version.) To keep things simple, I use store-bought rotisserie chicken. In addition, remember to assemble the salad just before serving to prevent wilted lettuce and soggy noodles. No one wants soggy noodles!

Chinese Chicken Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

3 ounces canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger (I use my microplane.)

For the salad

1 store-bought rotisserie chicken, meat shredded into bite-size chunks, skin and bones discarded

1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

6 scallions chopped, white and green parts

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cored and thinly sliced

1/2, 6.75 package rice-stick noodles (found in the Chinese section of most grocers)

Canola oil for frying

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk the sauce ingredients together and set aside until ready to assemble. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated.)

To fry the rice noodles, fill a deep pot with about 2 inches deep of canola oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Drop in a few rice sticks and watch them. They should poof up and turn white. When oil is ready, carefully add the rice stick "pillow," allow it to poof up, which should take less than a minute. Using tongs, carefully turn the rice stick pillow over and allow the other side to poof up and turn white. Don't leave the noodle too long, which will make them brown. (If you mess up, try again with the other half of the 6.75 rice noodle package.) Drain on paper towels and set aside until ready to assemble. (Can be fried several hours in advance. Set aside at room temperature.)

To assemble the salad, in a large bowl, combine the chicken, sesame seeds, chopped scallions, and sliced lettuce. Pour the sauce over and toss well. Place the crispy noodles on a large platter (spread it out to make a nice bed) and spoon the chicken salad on top. Serve immediately. YUM!