Motivation for something different

I can admit when I get pushed.  Sometimes its takes only the slightest of nudges, other times inertia will rear its ugly head.  I've been looking for a creative outlet for a couple days now.  While typing up last nights entry I decided to channel my pent up energies into a creating a meal tonight.  Getting from A to B is what makes for the story.

Today was not a day to be creative or to cook at least not from Margot's perspective.  Margot felt left out today.  Mom, Caroline and Grandma G were headed into the city to the American Girl Doll store for almost the last efforts of Caroline's 7th birthday fort-night.  Unfortunately, if you are a three year old girl, you're not invited to the party.  Rather, you get a daddy day.   Now I know Margot really loves me, but it didn't sound that way from the onset when Caroline was getting all prettied up to go into Chicago this morning.  But, once all the dust had settled Margot and I were on our way to some fun.

As daddy daughter days go it started slowly but kept building.  I forced her into a trip to the gym so I could sneak in a work-out.  She made kids court work and we were on our way for lunch and fun.  Watching her dunk her baguette into the chicken noodle soup you could see she was enjoying a new twist on the same old lunch.  A light came on in my mind, time for something new.  We finished lunch and headed home.  After 30 minutes of playing doll house it was nap time for Margot which meant time for me to do some research.  20 minutes later I was engrossed into a blog about Vietnamese food and tonights dinner idea was hatched.

Bahn Mi Nehm Nuong, simply translated to a savory meat sandwich with pickled vegetables.  By 3:00 PM I could hardly contain myself, this nap would be preempted as we needed to get to the store and pick up the goods for dinner.  With the promise of a special treat for tagging along we were off to the store.

While Margot took down 1.5 peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies I was full on into dinner prep.

You know I'm serious about the time I plan to spend in the kitchen when I pull out the Bucky crocs.

The first step was easy, mixing the ground pork and garlic along with the other spices into a large mixing bowl.  The odd part was adding in the baking powder and water mixture with the meat blend, seemed odd but something different none the less.  Meat ready and back into the fridge to firm up for a bit.

Next up, pickled vegetables.  Not all carrots are created equal.

The bigger they are, the harder they match stick.  The food processor took this guy down to size and I added some vinegar, sugar, salt and chopped jalapeno to the mix and set it aside to pickle.

Next up the mayo for the sandwich.  As far as condiments go, mayo seems rather innocuous and laid back. Making it is another story.  Lets just say using a blender to make mayo does not work, 8 eggs and 4 cups of oil later we were back to ground zero.  Once the dust settled we had a proper spread for this sandwich that was kicked up a bit with some fresh garlic, curry and Sriracha "cock" sauce.

Like I said yesterday a great sandwich must start with great bread, as such, right back to the Labriola baguette to get things rolling.

Hurry up and wait.  It's only 6:30 and we decided Margot needed to be in bed before this dinner got fully going.  So be it, the meat was marinating so to speak in the fridge and the carrots were pickling.  Nothing a nice Manhattan can't fix while we wait this one out.

Bed time came and went and I was out the back door and off to the grill.  The beauty of proper motivation is that 28 degree weather seems perfect for grilling when you are convinced it's time for something new.  The pork patties or sliders if you will were grilled up nicely in about 8 minutes.  I brushed them gently with sesame oil before grilling to get a little extra charred flavor and color from the grill.

Back inside it was time to start plating.

Triple pork patty lightly drizzled with soy sauce, pickled carrots and jalepenos, sliced cucumbers and fresh cilantro all on top of the baguette that had been brushed with the curried sriracha garlic mayo.

No meal in this house is complete without the proper drink pairing and tonight we chose a nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc to cut through the spice of this sandwich.

By the way, the spicy mayo made for a nice dip to go along side the sea salt and black pepper potato chips.

Try something different, you never know how good it might be.

Sing it with me........Meatball Sandwich......

Well it all starts with a little stroll down to lunch lady land.  Hoagies and grinders, hoagies and grinders, navy beans, navy beans, Meat Loaf Sandwich...........While the song may be silly tom foolery, this sandwich is serious business.

We stopped into Labriola Bakery for lunch the day after Caroline's 7th birthday party and her dinner of choice, spaghetti and meatballs.  In typical Erin fashion, she made a large bucket of range balls worth of meatballs (hey its cold and grey in February and I've got the golf itch, cut me some slack).  The upside to her excesses is an abundance of left overs to work with.  As we waited in line to order I noticed all the wonderful looking loaves of bread behind the bakery counter at Labriola.  A quick nudge and a little point later Erin knew I wanted her to pick up some bread for the meatball sammiches that were on the menu that evening.

I am a firm believer that a good sandwich starts with great bread.  Some consider it just a vessel but I say good bread is a work of art.  We grabbed both the demi baguettes and some asiago cheese loaves.  Pictured below is the start of my sandwich with the cheese loaf.

You'll notice I've carved a little tunnel through the middle of my bread.  I love bread, more than most and likely more than I should but a proper sandwich is all about the proper blend of meat, cheese and bread.  As such, I've pulled out a fair amount of the doughy innards of my cheese loaf.  This makes for not only a little less bloat in the sandwich but also I nice trough to anchor the meatballs in.

The next step is laying down the gooey blanket to hold a meatball with.

Soft mozzarella cheese, hot giardiniera and some freshly grated sharp provolone cheese.  Pop it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes and we are ready to start building.

Time to add the goods.  I like to slice the meatballs in half and layer them into the sandwich.  No rolling around and also allows me to get about 40% more meat into my sandwich.  Cover them in some home made meat sauce and top with grated parmesan reggiano and pecorino romano cheeses.

The only thing missing now is a nice glass of red wine and we are all ready to eat.  Anything Italian and red would work fine but we did a nice hearty Zinfandel as the fruit really stood up nice to the meat and spice in our sandwiches.

The final product.

Toasty bread, oozing cheeses, hearty meatballs in red sauce and you can see the oil from the giardiniera soaking into the bottom of the bread.

Mange, Mange Mange.

Now I'm motivated to cook tomorrow!!