One of our favorite sammiches, The Reuben. I found the meat sealed in a vacuum bag tucked away in the freezer. I won’t say that you can safely eat meat that has been frozen for as long as this has but I will note that Russian researchers have eaten meat from mammoths that emerged from the Siberian permafrost.
Those are pickled daikon radish on the plate next to the dill spears. I had some leftover from when I made kimchi last and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. They are good pickles! The brine is half rice vinegar half water plus some salt. I don’t remember the exact salt dose but it wasn’t much. They are refrigerator pickles.
sauerkraut
Sammich Pr0n
Mmm… Reuben
My 30 day timer let me know it was time to check the sauerkraut I had working on the counter top. Much success! I celebrated the occasion by baking a loaf of rye bread and thawing a baggie of pastrami for reubens. I’ve taken to putting out a small bowl of thousand island as a dip rather than trying to pour it directly on the sammich. I think that works best but YMMV.
Sammich Pr0n – Pastrami Reuben
Here’s a nice reuben sammich on rye that was made in our bread machine. It’s a fairly simple recipe that works very well every time for us. I experimented a little by adding a tablespoon of molasses to this batch. I can’t say I noticed much of a difference.
Got Reuben?
I picked up some corned beef while at the market getting those whole chickens to smoke. We haven’t had fresh pastrami for a while and it seemed a waste to roll out the smoker just for the poultry. I left it going after removing the chicken and replaced them with the corned beef I had rolled in a pastrami rub. The pastrami seasoning is just my basic rub but with extra coriander, ground black pepper, and juniper berries. The juniper berries are optional but I think they work well.
This one is sliced with the grain, exactly wrong! Slice across the grain! I salvage these slices by the expedient method of chopping them up.
I like to pile the pastrami on a skillet and top with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, add some sauerkraut juice to the pan and simmer it with a cover to melt the cheese.
Scoop the hot pastrami onto a lightly toasted piece of rye bread and squeeze on thousand island dressing, serve with a pickle.
Sammich Pr0n- Corned Beef
Friday Recipe Exchange: Garden Bounty
Carving by Eddie Running Wolf of Boulder, Photo from Times-Call
I am completely slammed again this week. Though I am hoping to escape early today and head out to Chainsaws and Chuckwagons to see some of the artists. We take our old tree stump carving very seriously here. Since I didn’t have time to cook this week, I decided to raid JeffreyW’s recipes and photos.
Let’s start with his Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, pictured above and recipe here
Then there is his Homemade Sauerkraut, for instructions click here.
I bought ribs on sale and am going to make my slow-cooker Polynesian Ribs this weekend, the complete dinner menu and recipes are here. Even if I can’t find time to cook, these are easy and quick.
JeffreyW took some of his garden harvest and made a fresh batch of Hot Giardiniera last week, click here.
Have any recipes to share using fresh from the garden bounty? What’s your recipe for fun this holiday weekend? Cooking up anything special?
I picked two featured recipes tonight, both taking advantage of fresh garden veggies and herbs, like JeffreyW’s lush basil, above. They are simple and quick to make, so you can get back outside to take advantage of the last unofficial weekend of summer.
Pasta w/Fresh Basil
- 10 oz bow-tie pasta
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch basil (1 loose cup)
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
saucepan
Cook pasta in saucepan according to package directions. Drain well. In saucepan, heat oil, basil, tomatoes and sauté for 1 minute, add pasta and toss with cheese. Serve immediately.
Collard Greens w/ Bacon
- 4 slices bacon
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 1 bunch collard greens (or spinach)
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- salt & pepper to taste
skillet, saucepan, steamer
Wash collard greens. In skillet, cook bacon till crisp, remove, cool and crumble. In bacon drippings, sauté onions, remove. In saucepan, place steamer and enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer, add greens and steam until tender. Mix honey & vinegar, and a little of the bacon drippings if you like. Toss all ingredients together and serve.
Aren’t JeffreyW’s photos fun? I’m so lucky he came on board years ago. That’s it for this week. Have a safe and fun holiday weekend. – TaMara
Sammich Pr0n – Reuben
The local markets have been selling corned beef cheaper than hamburger lately. I’ve been grabbing them every time we go shopping. I like the traditional boiled dinner with cabbage and carrots but I think corned beef on rye is hard to top. My only complaint is they always use brisket for these so the slabs of cooked meat are thin.