Don’t pay for a perfect panini, make one with these simple tricks

A sandwich can be a mundane way of supplying nutrients to oneself, or a fantastic way of harnessing and consuming many flavors with a single bite. Food should never be just a way to get nutrients, so therefore I take sandwich-making very, very seriously.

The understanding of surface area can be applied to the creation of masterful sandwiches. You see, a spread of condiment on a sandwich must equal the total surface area of one piece of bread in order to achieve equal taste distribution throughout the sandwich-eating experience. In other words, you have to make sure your mayo, mustard, or chipotle-mayo is evenly distributed across all of the bread, otherwise you may get some bland bites! This applies not only to condiments, but to meats, cheeses, vegetables, and anything else people are piling on sandwiches these days.

Even distribution is especially important for my favorite kind of sandwich: the beloved panini. A lot of people may think that to make a panini you need to have one of those fancy presses, but this is a myth. You can just as easily use a plain pan, or even a waffle maker. I favor a plain pan, basically making a ramped-up grilled cheese sandwich. There are two things that you need to know to make the perfect grilled sandwich: 1, go low and slow and 2, condiments on top.

When we’re really hungry, we tend to get really impatient. But it can ruin your perfect sandwich! Patience is key; a sandwich cooked on the lowest heat (heat the pan first though) for as long as possible will yeild a  perfect crunch and liquid-y cheese. To keep your bread crispy without getting soggy, put your condiments on only one slice of bread and use that as your top piece of bread. If you use it as the bottom piece, it will seep into the bread and make it soggy and weak. When it’s cold and you don’t want to leave your house, a panini is the perfect comfort food. Don’t settle for a plain or expensive deli panini, impress yourself with your new found sandwich know-how.

You Need Potatoes Au Gratin in Your Life

Potatoes au Gratin is French, easy, and delicious way of making potatoes. It’s made of potatoes on top of potatoes, with cheese and sour cream in between! I don’t care for mashed potatoes, so I make this instead.  I used the recipe from Le Creuset, which was very easy and tasty. I used a mandolin to evenly and quickly slice the potatoes, and layered them in a dish because I’m too poor to have the nice Le Creuset pan. But that’s okay! Maybe someday.

To spice them up, you can alter this recipe to go with different dishes. Try it with cheddar, hot sauce, and extra spices for a Spanish style, or add some basil and a little tomato sauce for Italian! You can even make this the day before and refrigerate it and put it in the oven when you need it, the perfect thing for a busy Thanksgiving.

So, slice up your potatoes, sprinkle your spices, spread some sour cream, top with gruyère, and repeat! The more layers you have the higher the deliciousness is going to be, but be careful because this stuff can take a while to cook. It’s done when it gets a little crispy (or a lot of crisp, I love some extra crunch) and the tomatoes are soft. I have a halogen oven, which could do it in twenty minutes. But with a standard oven you’re looking at about 75 minutes, but believe me it’s worth it. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it dish that is impressive and delicious, oh là-là!

The best bagel I ever ate was in…. Bordeaux??

Half of my family is from Long Island, NY, so it’s no surprise that I’m a bagel snob. It’s amazing that a short trip of three hours can change the quality of a bagel, but I’m not the only one who thinks this way. If you ever encounter a New Yorker outside of their home state, they are stereo-typically likely to talk about how much better their bagels and pizza are. I can’t blame them, because even I have a hard time eating a bagel outside of the empire state. 

I was in Bordeaux, France with my brother this summer (a whole different ball game), and was craving a bagel. This beautiful part of France is known for it’s wine, but  I was craving a bagel! It’s such a part of our culture in the US, but I had gone weeks without seeing a single bagel. So after doing a bus tour of the city, we went in search of brunch. After wandering around to a dozen cafés, we quite literally stumbled upon a bagel place. In France! I was so hungry that I ordered the first thing that I saw on the menu, which turned out to be the most delicious bagel-sandwich I have ever eaten.

It was an everything bagel with: arugula, prosciutto, cream cheese, honey, and goat cheese. The bagel was lightly toasted and the cheese was warm. I have tried re-creating it with minor success…  I guess I’ll just have to go back to have it again!