You ever feel like cooking but you really just want to eat a sandwich? What if I told you you could do both? Get the satisfaction of slicin’ and dicin’ in the kitchen and still end up with a sandwich?
You ever feel like eating the best sandwiches from around the world? But flights are expensive and you have kids and there’s a global pandemic that shut down all the restaurants? What if we told you you could make them at home? And spend that dough you saved on airfare on really great bread?
After a lifetime of traveling and eating mostly sandwiches or meals that manage to turn into sandwiches (*PRO-TIP: always ask the waiter to bring the bread basket with the meal), we present you with recipes for the best sandwiches from around the globe.
Master chefs took years to perfect these gourmet sammich delights! And now you can just have em. As Tiger Woods’ dad eerily said of his son, “This is my treasure—please accept it and use it wisely.”
SANDWICH: THE PICKLED BEETS
RESTAURANT: DUNE, ATWATER VILLAGE, LOS ANGELES
CHEF: SCOTT ZWIEZEN
We know what you’re thinking—a vegetarian sandwich? C’mmmmoonnnnnn. But trust us. All we want to eat is pastrami on rye—and this sandwich knocked our socks off. It’s way more than an ordinary Sammy. It’s a Willy Wonka fantastical treat with each bite taking you through a spectacular Mediterranean tasting menu.
A NOTE FROM THE CHEF
“Being of Eastern European descent, I have always been surrounded by and have a deep love of all things fermented and pickled. When Dune opened, I was keen to have a sort of middle eastern, pickled, Slavics-y sandwich not on flatbread which showcased the savory and briny flavors of pickles. Having also recently lost a close friend who lived in NYC and who shared a mutual fanaticism for sandwiches, I felt like I wanted to have a little bit of his spirit present on the menu as well. We often went to Saltie in Brooklyn. Our Pickled Beet sandwich was and is an homage to Dave Doernberg, our sandwich quests around the country and to Saltie in those days.”
THE RECIPE
Ingredients
- A small ciabatta loaf sliced horizontally and pan-seared face down or toasted (We use Bub & Grandma’s)
- Pickled beets
- Dill Pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
- An 8 minute egg
- Crumbled Feta (We prefer Bulgarian sheep feta)
- Crispy shoestring potatoes
- A selection of nice greens (We make a mix of baby gems and fresh herbs)
- Marinated red onions
- Olive and caper tapenade
- Garlic paste (called toum)
For Pickled Beets:
- Approx. 5lb. red beets, peeled and sliced into half moons
- 1 cup sugar
- 1TBSP Sea Salt or pickling salt
- 2 Cups white wine vinegar
- 10 cups filtered water for boiling beets/2 Cups filtered water for pickling liquid
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 star anise
- 4 whole cloves
- 4 allspice berries
Place peeled and cut beets in 10 cups of water, bring to boil and cook until fork tender. Drain and cool.
Place all other ingredients in a separate pot, bring to a boil, then pour over cooled beets. Cool to room temp, then refrigerate for at least two days. Alternately, one can employ a canning process to preserve for longer periods of time.
For Shoestring Potatoes:
- 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, julienned to 1/8 inch or mandolined with 1/8 inch teeth blade in place
- 4 cups sunflower or safflower oil, heated to 250F
Place the julienned potatoes in the heated oil and cook until crisp and golden brown. Remove and drain oil on paper towel.
For the 8 minute egg:
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Carefully add egg. set timer for 8 min. Remove immediately at 8 min, place into ice water bath. Peel. Slice or break in half.
For olive/caper tapenade:
- 8-10 pitted kalamata olives
- 8-10 capers
- 1/2 minced garlic clove
Chop all ingredients together as coarsely or finely as desired
For marinated onions:
- 1 red onion, frenched
- dash of red wine vinegar
- dash of lemon juice
- pinch of sumac
Mix together
Method
To assemble the sandwich:
Place the seared/toasted bread halves side by side. On one side spread the tapenade, the other gets garlic paste
Start building layers on the bottom:
- Greens
- Feta
- Dill pickles
- Beets
- Egg
- Marinated onions
- Shoestring potatoes
- More greens
- Top of bread
Then eat it.
And if you find yourself in Los Angeles be sure to make the trip to DUNE and let them make it perfectly for you!
DUNE ATWATER VILLAGE
3143 GLENDALE BLVD, LOS-ANGELES PH 323.486.7073
