This is the destiny of an open sandwich. On one side there is the bread, on the other side there is a crisp lettuce leave – both encapsulating the inner delicacies of baked vegetables, baked eggs, melted pecorino, crisp arugula in a soft yoghurt cream!
At the beginning …
… there was this open sandwich where the bread & the yoghurt cream & the arugula is barely visible …
Just fold 1 or 2 large lettuce leaves around & you can start enjoying the hot sandwich which brings me to my sandwich rules:
- A sandwich is always more than its ingredients (because all the ingredients melt into a new entity – more juicy, more spicy, more creamy, more … delicious!).
- A sandwich is made for eating with your hands. (The most popular sandwich has got 2 slices of bread & in between there is a filling. So you can easily grab the sandwich & take a mouthful … Just forget about knife & fork!)
What is the 1st step when preparing a sandwich?
We have to decide what bread to use …
In this case I had some fresh French wheat bread on my kitchen counter. (In general you may use any kind of bread for your sandwich, however, the bread should blend well w/ the ingredients.)
The main ingredient of my planned sandwich are baked vegetables. I could rely on:
- red peppers
- courgettes
- eggplants
- mushrooms
- yellow onions
- garlic.
… resting in my fridge!
My general sandwich idea is: how to use leftovers for delicious home-made sandwiches – no fuss, no frills! (Based on whatever is available in you fridge or your pantry in order to kill off any leftovers & define lunch or dinner in almost no time.)
Coming back to the baked vegetables …
I lined baking trays w/ baking parchment & filled them w/ roughly chopped vegetables (see above). The vegetables were mixed w/ olive oil, dried herbs of the Provence as well as salt & pepper. Then there was an oven session of about 30 min at 175° C fan. (Of course you may also use only part of the different vegetables …)
… & before taking the next step: grate some pecorino!
Then I put some olive oil in a frying pan & filled it w/ a layer of assorted vegetables.
Attention: it’s only 1 layer!
I started frying – however, no stirring in the pan.
I whisked 4 eggs & poured the mess evenly over the layer of vegetables – no stirring!
I added the grated pecorino – also evenly distributed. I had about 60 g grated pecorino; if you like you may also use up to 80 g.
I reduced the heat to prevent the mess from burning & put a fitting lid on the frying pan. About 10 min later all was fine & set. I just let it slip on a wooden board.
My frying pan had a bottom of 23 cm. That’s quite large – so I quartered the baked egg mess. Here comes the idea of preparing 4 sandwiches. If you use a smaller pan (e. g. 18 cm bottom) you may also prepare only 2 sandwiches (i. e. 2 eggs, 30 – 40 g pecorino & respectively less baked vegetables).
For assembling the sandwich we need some yoghurt cream:
- Greek yoghurt (10%)
- sweet French mustard
- olive oil
- salt & pepper.
Furthermore we need some finely chopped arugula.
The slice of bread is toasted & some yoghurt cream is distributed on top. Then a good layer of chopped arugula covers all.
On top there is a quarter of the vegetable-egg-pecorino mess. It’s vital that it’s still hot.
For eating we take 2 large lettuce leaves to cover the egg mess, cut the sandwich into halves & now we can grab the sandwich & start w/ the 1st mouthful … the crispy bread, the creamy spicy yoghurt-arugula mess … the hot vegetables w/ eggs & the strong flavour of pecorino …
Enjoy!
- 4 slices of French wheat bread
- 200 – 250 g baked vegetables (mixed – eggplant, onion, courgette, mushrooms, red peppers) (1 layer in a frying pan of 23 cm (bottom))
- 1 tbsp olive oil (for the frying pan)
- 4 eggs
- 60 – 80 g grated pecorino
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt (10%)
- 1 tsp sweet French mustard
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 handful arugula (finely chopped)
- 4 – 8 lettuce leaves
- frying pan (bottom 23 cm)
- Grate the pecorino.
- Add olive oil to the frying pan & distribute the baked vegetables evenly so that the bottom of the pan is just covered.
- Whip the eggs & pour the eggs into the pan over the baked vegetables. All should be covered.
- Add the pecorino & distribute evenly.
- Let it fry – softly! – for about 10 min until it's firm & the pecorino has melted. Don't stir; cover w/ a fitting lid.
- Let it slip on a plate or whatever & quarter it.
- Mix the Greek yoghurt, the sweet French mustard & olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Toast the bread on both sides.
- Distribute the yoghurt mess evenly on all slices of bread.
- Chop the arugula & add to the yogurt mess.
- Add the egg-vegetable mess on top.
- Cover w/ 1 or 2 lettuce leaves & cut into halves. The lettuce leaves will help you eat the open sandwich.
