Monday, March 30, 2009

It's All In The Olive Oil

A few months back bwo bought home this wonderful machine. It changed my life. I have become so good with this griller/toasted sandwich machine that the kids think I need to write a cookbook. I'm ready to throw out the microwave (never did like it, don't trust cookers that don't get hot), the oven (lost its sealing ring and now takes years to heat up) and the gas rings (we always running out of gas anyway). But, I love this guy. I'm great at all sorts of toasted cheese sandwiches, with and without tomato and onion. I make all sorts of fake meat (tivol) sandwiches as well as warming up tortillas. I can whip up a sumptuous supper for the whole family in mere minutes. George Foreman would be proud.

Now I'm going to let you into a secret. Many cooks of my caliber jealously guard their special secrets, but I'm a big enough man that I will share. The secret is the olive oil. See the bottle of olive oil and the brush to the left of the machinka. You paint the top and bottom of your bread with a thin layer of oil. Then close the top and toast away. Heaven. The biggest challenge in our kitchen is finding the brush, but unpacking every drawer and every cupboard, every day, is a small price to pay for perfection.

What you see currently toasting is a whole wheat pita, filled with sweet chili veggie fake chicken and frozen chips, with a generous smear of mustard on one side and BBQ sauce on the other. And don't forget the pinch of salt, paprika and pepper. Pay special attention to the glistening of the extra virgin olive oil showing through the golden brown crenelations of the toasted pita (I love the word crenelation, even though its not exactly used in the correct way in this instance as it refers to "the rampart built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns", but you get the picture).

5 comments:

Jozie said...

What do you mean frozen chips? raw frozen chip? really?

oliviao said...

Yumm, bring the machinka to the south of France - then we won't ever have to go out!!

Greta said...

This is your blacksistero and that picture brought on a flashback to our childhood- On Sunday nights when the maid Joyce was "off" we always had toasted cheese sandwiches, toasted golden brown,cheddar cheese dripping over the edge, slightly burned, but no "crenellations".Made with much love by the mother.

mart said...

Remember the days when we used a jaffle iron http://www.rvsupplywarehouse.com/content/product/large/round-jaffle-pie-iron.jpg

over the stove or in the fireplace. This was the predecessor to the snackwich.

blackpetero said...

So to answer all the comments in one.

Jo, yes I used frozen chips that the kids had obviously half cooked in the oven. They came out very nicely.

olive, I am still waiting to hear back from the fool at rci, so don't book your tickets yet.

Hey G, its been a while. I remember those toasted cheese and can still taste the tangy cheddar that made my gums hurt. We had that machine that had removable plates that became a waffle machine when reversed. Yum.

Hey mart, when we lived in the US we bought an old style jaffle iron and used to use it all the time when we went camping. I was a pro at making jaffles for breakfast, but I never knew then the power of olive oil. I wonder where that jaffle iron is, probably downstairs in the mess that is the miklat.