1796 Foods

778. Cuban Sandwich

I’d never made a Cuban sandwich before. In fact, I’m not sure I’d ever eaten a Cuban sandwich before. But ever since I made this first one, Pie has insisted I make them again about 4 times. Obviously a success then!

I used leftover roast pork, ham, cheddar, proper French’s mustard, and pickles. Though I must admit in my case it was just the one pickle so that I could have one proper authentic bite but then actually enjoy the rest of my sandwich!

778 down, 1018 to go

741. Thuringer Bratwurst

I adore sausages. Any kind. Sausages rock. Recently I found these Thuringer bratwurst in my local Asda which was a little surprising as it’s really not the place you’d normally expect to find awesome authentic foreign meats. I decided to make fancy hot dogs with them with beer-braised onions. So good. I shall be getting them again.

741 down, 1055 to go

726. Crostini

This was yet another thing I ate on my birthday weekend; I had it at the bar where I had the pilsner. I wasnt too hungry so I thought by ordering a starter I would have a smaller portion. I was wrong because this was huge, but it was delicious so I ate most of it anyway. I loved that you got 4 different toppings - tomato bruschetta, goats cheese, parma ham, and smoked salmon and cream cheese; and it was all topped off with rocket and pesto and parmesan. The bread itself was rubbed with garlic and olive oil and was perfectly crunchy. Basically everything about it was really good. Yum.

726 down, 1070 to go

708. Mojo Chicken

Mojo chicken is a Cuban way of preparing chicken where you marinate it with cumin, garlic and citrus. I marinated chicken breasts in the mix for a couple of hours then roasted them in the oven. I decided to serve it kind of like a burrito, so once the meat was done I shredded the meat up and mixed all the cooking juices into some rice so I didn’t waste any of the flavour. Then I just rolled it all up in a tortilla with some salsa and coriander.

708 down, 1088 to go

705. Pickled Gherkin

Just a few weeks ago I had a dill pickle, which was much better than I was expecting. That meant that when I was going to try the very similar pickled gherkin I figured maybe that would be ok too. Oh no. This was just as I thought the dill pickle would be. It was bitter and sour and just not tasty at all. My hotdog was infinitely more enjoyable once the pickle was gone!

705 down, 1091 to go

677. Carrot and Cumin Salad

When I was looking up recipes for carrot and cumin salads, there were a huge number of variations. Some used cooked carrot, some raw. Some used whole cumin seeds, some ground. Some added a bunch of other ingredients, others kept it really simple. And I saw carrots sliced, cut into sticks, grated and just about every other way you can prepare a carrot. In the end I decided to keep my salad basic - I roasted the carrots with the cumin seeds, left them to cool, then dressed them very lightly with a little olive oil and orange juice. It made for a nice change from green salads and went really nicely with the sandwiches I made, which were like a Middle Eastern spin on pulled pork.

677 down, 1119 to go

556. Coronation Chicken

Coronation chicken is one of those dishes which has a basic concept, but has loads of variations depending on which recipe you look at. Sometimes it has dried fruits, sometimes in has nuts… but basically it’s just cooked chicken in a curried mayonnaise dressing. For my own version I like to mix half mayo and half yogurt, flavour it with curry powder, add a little mango chutney for sweetness, and then stir in chopped chicken breast and flaked almonds (if it was totally up to me I was also add some chopped dried apricots but Pie doesn’t like them so they usually get left out). I do not like when people put raisins in it, I find that a bit weird.

It’s a really easy great way to use up leftover chicken, and it tastes great in a sandwich, on a salad or as a topping for a baked potato.

556 down, 1240 to go

508. Tilapia

Tilapia has just recently started to become a more popular fish in Britain - mostly to do with the fact that it is sustainable I think - so you can now buy it at the fish counter in the supermarket. This is great for me as it’s one of the fish that I actually really like, plus it’s also inexpensive. I decided to make sort of fish tacos out of it, so I baked the fish in a foil parcel with some cajun seasoning on, shredded it up and then piled it into the tortillas with lettuce, salsa, sour cream and a whole bunch of chipotle tabasco. (My work loyalties in general have turned me against tabasco - Frank’s RedHot all the way people - but until Frank’s develop a chipotle variety the smoky allure is going to win out).

508 down, 1288 to go

487. Picante Pepper

I really wanted a panini for dinner, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out the picante peppers, which are the little red sweet/spicy peppers you get in a jar. Mine were Peppadew, but there are probably other brands. They are great just because they are both super sweet and a little bit spicy at the same time. I put them in the sandwich with grilled chicken, pesto and mozzarella, and I used an olive roll, and I cooked it in the George Foreman because I’m not yet rich enough to have my own panini press. It was a great sandwich.

487 down, 1309 to go

426. Tzatziki

Lately I seem to have been having an awful lot of meat in bread dinners - burgers and chicken sandwiches and filled pittas. Basically they are just easy and tasty and actually really quite healthy when you make them at home. This was some homemade pork burgers in a pitta with salad and tzatziki. Any kinds of yogurty dips/spreads like tzatziki and raita are always good in my book. Even though mayo is good, yogurt dips just have that bit extra sourness to add more interest to the sandwich.

426 down, 1370 to go