I know, I know, how unique and interesting are veggie sandwiches? Um, not really. They are a fallback. A no-brainer. A reason to lug out my cast-iron frying pan that has been painstakingly seasoned.
However, I decided that I would outdo myself and make the bread and some homemade potato chips to go with it. I like the idea of keeping french bread dough in the fridge or freezer, because since I live here in America and there isn't a boulangerie on every corner, I would have to go to a generic grocery store and get their generic (but perfectly shaped) bread. It tastes like shoes to me.
I'll upload my recipe for bread at another time, but really any recipe works. One of my all-time cookbooks is Deborah Madison's
Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, and in it, she has many great bread recipes. Remember-flour, yeast, water, salt and a little butter or olive oil. That's the ticket! Now go experiment.
Grilled Veggies for the sandwiches (serves 2) FOR POTATO CHIPS SCROLL DOWN
2 chocolate peppers (or any bell pepper), sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 small zucchini or squash, sliced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
4 slices Swiss or Provolone Cheese (optional)
2 tbs. olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
Dash of salt and pepper
In a pan, heat up the oil with the smashed garlic in it. After a few minutes, when the garlic begins to release the flavor, remove the cloves from the oil. Do not let the garlic brown in the pan as it will create a bitter flavor if cooked too long.
Add the veggies, salt and pepper to the pan and cook on low until tender. I personally like a little carmelizing on the veggies, so when they are near done, I crank up the heat to get a little browning going on. But if you do this, keep a careful eye on it as it could burn and then you would have to order out.
When veggies are done, remove from pan and put aside. Keeping the heat on low, put two bread slices down in the pan and layer 1 slice of cheese on each. Cover with a lid. When the cheese is melted, layer the veggies on top of the cheese, put the other slice of cheese on top of the veggies and then top it off with the other piece of bread. Cover with a lid again. When the cheese on top is melted, flip the sandwich so that the other piece of bread browns in the residual garlic oil. Wait until the cheese is melted, otherwise when you flip, all of the veggies will fall out! Yikes!
Homemade Potato Chips
2 lbs red potatoes
2 cups peanut or canola oil
sea salt
Using a mandolin, slice the potatoes into thin pieces. You can adjust a mandolin so that the width of your chip is to your liking. If you don't have a mandolin, there is usually a similiar grater on one side of a box grater. While you could hand-slice them with a knife, I have a hard time getting them thin enough this way.
When your taters are sliced, lay them out on paper towels and blot them as best you can, trying to suck up the moisture.
Heat your oil in a deep pot or a fryer. You can use a frying pan, but you'll have lots of splatter to clean up afterwards.
When oil gets to about 375 degrees, layer the tater slices in so that they are submerged for the most part and not stuck together. You will probably have to make several batches-don't put too many in at once or they won't cook right. They will still be good-yummy fried goodness-but they won't really be potato chips.
When they begin to brown on both sides (about 3-5 minutes), scoop them out with a
bamboo strainer/skimmer. Let drain on paper towels or paper bags. Immediately sprinkle sea salt on them. YUM!
And remember: you can forego the sandwiches, just make the chips, uncork some white wine and catch up on all of your Lifetime/Oxygen shows on your DVR.