Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich

July 27, 2015 by 15 Comments

Last week, I walked you through making your own fresh ricotta. Today, I’m going to share another recipe on how to enjoy that fresh ricotta. This Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich is vegetarian and a mix of flavors textures like the soft creamy ricotta and firm edamame and grassy microgreens, crunchy slighly spicy radish and acid of quick pickled red onions. This is my take when I saw the recipe of Summer Pea and Radish Pita in the Vegetarian Times and was inspired to make a version that’s more me and less pea.
My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich

The original recipe made 6 sandwiches, and there was not an easy way to reduce the amount for quick pickling the onions (and you use the leftover liquid to help make vinaigrette), so I followed that portion exactly. So, you will have a bunch of leftover quick pickled onion to enjoy as you will. I only needed to make 2 sandwiches for my household of 2, so you’ll notice I give instructions in the ingredients and directions below for what is needed per each sandwich.
My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich

Rather than making a sandwich, you can totally eat this as a salad as well and ignore the bread (I used regular sandwich bread here and not pita). My version also uses microgreens and edamame, which I used instead of pea shoots and peas as called by the original recipe, though the idea of pea shoots and peas in a sandwich is pretty lovely too.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
  • 3/4 cup of diced onions
  • 1 cup shelled edamame (you can also use peas instead)
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 6 cups microgreens or pea shoots or you can use torn butter lettuce, your call (you will use about a cup of greens per sandwich)
  • About 2 cups of thinly sliced radishes (you will use 1/3 cup per sandwich)
    Slicing radishes thinly thanks to my new mandoline
  • Your choice of sandwich bread – I used multigrain
  • 1 cup of fresh ricotta (especially if you make it yourself, like in my recipe here for homemade ricotta)
  • Directions:
  1. First, place the diced onions in a heat proof bowl. Let me interrupt this step for a second to plug one of my favorite kitchen tools besides my silicon spatulas for scraping every bit of food in containers, KitchenArt ButterMate for measuring and cutting butter with no mess, and my rice cooker. My #4 fave kitchen tool is the Vidalia Onion Chop Wizard. I bought it a couple years ago when after (wearing glasses, not contacts) chopping a large beautiful onion I had procured from the Portland Farmers Market, I noticed at work the next day that the misty morning was continuing in that it was looking a little misty inside my work cubicle looking at my monitor. An emergency appointment that evening at the eye doctor yielded that I had somehow burned my eye with possibly onion vapors and needed steroid eye drops for the rest of the week. Shortly after that I bought this Chop Wizard and now I can get onions diced in less than a minute and there are never any tears. It even measures how many cups of onions I have so I only need to chop what I need. Some people like the repetitive ritual of chopping, but not me – and this chopper helps me get if over faster with all sorts of vegetables, not just onions. It’s awesome.
    <One of my favorite kitchen tools, the Vidalia Chop Wizard makes dicing onions so easy One of my favorite kitchen tools, the Vidalia Chop Wizard makes dicing onions so easy
    Anyway, in a small saucepan bring to a boil a combination of the 1/4 cup water, the 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, and 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to a boil.  Once it is boiling, remove the liquid from heat and pour over your diced onions. Let the onions pickle for about 15 minutes before separating the onions out. Don’t toss the onion vinegar liquid – you’ll be using that as a vinaigrette later! This is a great trick for quick pickling onions for any of your sandwich needs.
    Quick pickling the diced red onions is easy, just onions, and then boiled water with apple cider vinegar and some sugar Quick pickling the diced red onions is easy, just onions, and then boiled water with apple cider vinegar and some sugar Quick pickling the diced red onions is easy, just onions, and then boiled water with apple cider vinegar and some sugar
  2. If you use frozen edamame like I did, you should defrost them by steaming, boiling, or because of the summer heatwave I just used the microwave. They only need to be heated for a few minutes, and then blanched for the same number of minutes (I refreshed mine in water with ice). Drain the edamame from the water and set aside.
  3. Whisk 3 tablespoons of the leftover onion vinegar liquid that was left in a mixing bowl with the olive 3 tablespoons of olive oil. That’s enough dressing for 6 sandwiches, but I only needed to make 2 sandwiches so I eyed only a small amount to keep in the bowl and refrigerated the rest for future sandwiches and salads.
  4. In a mixing bowl I combined that small amount of onion vinaigrette (approximately two tablespoons) with a small amount of the quick pickled onions (probably two tablespoons, one for each sandwich again) as well as 2 cups of microgreens, a tablespon of the shelled edamame, and 1/3 cup of sliced radishes and tossed them all together so everything was coated with the vinaigrette.
    For the greens portion of the Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich, toss the onion vinaigrette with microgreens, radishes, edamame, and the quick pickled red onions For the greens portion of the Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich, toss the onion vinaigrette with microgreens, radishes, edamame, and the quick pickled red onions
  5. For each sandwich, I first spread the fresh ricotta (about 1 tablespoon for each sandwich half), and then topped each half with 1/2 a cup of the greens edamame radish mixture.
    My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich

I left my sandwiches open-faced because that’s my thing right now, to let the insides of a sandwich be visually enjoyed. I also am a bit greedy and may overstuff my sandwich.
My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich My recipe for a summer sandwich of fun textures, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich

The next day, instead of sandwiches I added more torn butter lettuce to fill it out (I added a bit more of the leftover vinaigrette to compensate) and had this whole thing in salad form instead of sandwich (and my homemade ricotta had gotten more firm, so was perfect for adding in little 1/4 teaspoon fulls instead of spreading on bread).
Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens salad Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens salad

What’s one of your favorite go to summer sandwiches during the hot summer? What are your favorite kitchen tools/tricks?

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Cucumber and Ricotta Sandwich with a recipe for Homemade Ricotta

July 20, 2015 by 14 Comments

Just a simple Cucumber and Ricotta Sandwich that is great for a picnic or dinner on the porch with a glass of white wine on a super hot day, like the heat wave that Portland just went through.

Homemade ricotta on Franz Bakery Stadium Rolls with sliced cucumber and microgreens. Simple sandwich and great for a summer heatwave meal

I make my own ricotta because once I learned how to during a HipCooks Portland class several years back, I haven’t been able to go back. Plastic from the store leaches into the flavor of the mass market Ricotta. You can avoid this for the cost of a a little whole milk, heavy cream and a lemon juice or vinegar (which you probably already have at home anyway). Or instead of the cream and lemon juice/vinegar as your acid ,just use buttermilk instead like when I made ricotta for Pasta Shells with squash and zucchini. Either way it yields a better value if I make it myself than buy it from the store, on top of the superior flavor quality. It really is just those 3 (or 2!) ingredients!

You can never have too much ricotta, which is why I always go for the gallon or half gallon of milk plus pint of heavy cream amounts. If you need more ideas of how to use ricotta besides the obvious smearing it on bread, putting it in pastas, in desserts… check out this Huffington Post roundup of some beautiful Ricotta Recipe Ideas.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 gallon of whole milk (aka 2 quarts)
  • 1 pint of heavy cream (aka 2 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or another acid like lemon juice also works)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, add the milk and cream and slowly heat it, stirring to make sure you don’t burn the milk at the bottom, until you start to see lots of little bubbles around the corner but it hasn’t reached a full rolling boil. If you have a thermometer, you are shooting for around 180 degrees F. Make sure you keep stirring so you don’t scorch any milk at the bottom of the pot.
    Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. You want it to reach around 140 degrees F - it will not be boiling yet, but be starting to bubbles at the pop sides like this
  2. Once you reach that heat level, turn off the heat and remove the pot of milks from the stove. Add in the vinegar and stir in. Now let it stand for a few minutes while the cheese curdles – you should see the whey (the yellowish part) start to separate from the clumps of ricotta, like below.
    Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. Here you can see the curds starting to separate <Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. Here you can see the curds starting to separate
  3. Using a sieved spoon, I then spoon the ricotta into a sieve that has a cheesecloth folded in half over it. Let the cheese drain – the less time you give it, the softer and moister it will be, while draining it overnight makes it thicker. As you are spooning in the ricotta, if you’d like you can sprinkle in a little salt now and then for flavor. Depending on the size of the curds, I might use the strainer itself instead of a sieved spoon to get all the tiny curds. Here in this batch the curds were chunkier but it’s OK if the curds are smaller,  it all comes together as it drains don’t worry.
    Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. Here you can see the curds have separated, so now strain the cheese from the whey with cheesecloth over a mesh strainer Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. Here you can see the curds have separated, so now strain the cheese from the whey with cheesecloth over a mesh strainer Making homemade ricotta- so easy, just whole milk, heavy cream, and a little acid via lemon juice or vinegar combined with heat. Here you can see the curds have separated, so now strain the cheese from the whey with cheesecloth over a mesh strainer
  4. Let the whey drain further – depending on how soft or firm you want the ricotta. I think it’s best within the first 24 hours, when it’s still really soft and drained for a few hours. As you drain it further such as overnight or place it in the refrigerator, it will get firmer. The ricotta should keep refrigerated for 4 to 5 days, though mine never lasts than 3 days at most and I think it’s best in those first few days unless you are making a pasta dish/cooking with it as it isn’t as fresh tasting as the first days.
    Making homemade ricotta. Now in the cheesecloth, let it drain for a couple hours. The longer you wait, the most more firm it will become, especially if you drain it in the fridge overnight Homemade Ricotta after draining the whey and a little ground pepper

I use it on bread and top it with fruit and veggies as an open sandwich, or on grilled bread with just a drizzle of nice olive oil and balsamic vinegar if I’m fancy. It could be simply in a bowl with fruit, part of breakfast in pancakes or an accompaniment with eggs, or just the start of a big dinner such as stuffed pasta shells (like a Fresh Ricotta, butternut squash, baby zucchini in Pasta Shells recipe I shared in the past), lasagna, and so much more! In fact, next week, I will share one of the other things I made with this ricotta, a Radish, Edamame, Ricotta and Greens Sandwich.
Simple Scrambled eggs with ricotta and microgreens

In the summer, especially during a heat wave when it’s almost 100 degrees and I’m super hot and tired and lazy or combination of all of those, and I want a refreshing sandwich, I just cut up cucumbers and put it in a sandwich with ricotta – maybe even an additional smear of avocado.
California Avocados Homemade ricotta in a cucumber avocado ricotta sandwich, recipe is easy and refreshing in the summer

On a Stadium Roll (my latest favorite bread from Franz Bakery) with microgreens or whatever greens I have.
<Homemade ricotta on Franz Bakery Stadium Rolls with sliced cucumber and microgreens. Simple sandwich and great for a summer heatwave meal Homemade ricotta on Franz Bakery Stadium Rolls with sliced cucumber and microgreens. Simple sandwich and great for a summer heatwave meal Homemade ricotta on Franz Bakery Stadium Rolls with sliced cucumber and microgreens. Simple sandwich and great for a summer heatwave meal

Or, no bread at all and just cucumber and ricotta with a few grinds of freshly ground pepper.
Homemade Ricotta after draining the whey and a little ground pepper plus cucumbers for a vegetarian sandwich that is nice and cool for the summer heat

I definitely enjoyed ricotta sandwiches as meals during the Portland heat wave. Have you ever made homemade ricotta? Do you use ricotta in sandwiches? What’s your favorite food during a heat wave?

Homemade ricotta on Franz Bakery Stadium Rolls with sliced cucumber and microgreens. Simple sandwich and great for a summer heatwave meal

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Lunch at Oso Market

April 13, 2015 by 11 Comments

Ever since I first visited Oso Market during a progressive dinner food crawl, I have been stuck in a rut every time I go to Oso Market with just getting drinks and montaditos.

Oso Market + Bar in Portland Oso Market + Bar in Portland Oso Market + Bar in Portland Oso Market + Bar in Portland Oso Market + Bar in Portland

Don’t get me wrong- the montaditos (which are bread or polenta “mounted” with various combinations of toppings) are fabulous, as are their cocktails and getting the merchant’s choice wine flight.
Oso Market + Bar appetizer of Baked Mortadella Montadito with tarragon mustard, peperoncini, and micro greens served on Little T focaccia and Bresaola Montadito with tomato-mint jam, Parmesan and basil served on Little T focacciaOso Market + Bar appetizer of Cremeux Montadito with fig, honey, arugula and balsamic reduction served on Little T focaccia and Ratatouille atop crispy polenta

And of course, the dinner menu has the enticing Chorizo Stuffed Dates wrapped in bacon with cumin honey and blue cheese.

But I yearned to try some of the sandwiches listed only on their lunch menu. Lunch at Oso Market includes sandwiches like

  • Baked Mortadella, tarragon mustard, provolone, pepperoncini, and local greens
  • Pork belly with fried egg, garlic chili aioli on beer bread
  • Kale, parmesan, garlic aioli, fried egg, red pepper
  • and more…

Particularly, I wanted this beauty which I finally got to try a couple weeks ago. For a few days I was based out of the Oregon Convention Center for work, and so had an easy time getting down there for lunch and back on the streetcar. This is a vegetarian sandwich at Oso Market of Roast Squash, Beets, Red Pepper, Onion, and Cashew Ricotta. Many of their sandwiches you can order half of, and if you wish combine it with a house salad if you’d like. I was sorry I had only ordered a half sandwich because I really wanted another half for dinner and to show off to vegetarian F to try.
Oso Market vegetarian sandwich of Roast Squash, Beets, Red Pepper, Onion, and Cashew Ricotta Oso Market vegetarian sandwich

Seriously, isn’t this sandwich beautiful! And it was sooo delicious.
Oso Market sandwich of Roast Squash, Beets, Red Pepper, Onion, and Cashew Ricotta

I also nibbled on a Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard.
Oso Market Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard Oso Market Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard Oso Market Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard Oso Market Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard Oso Market Fish Board with sardine pate, smoked trout, and boquerones with dill caper cream cheese, pickles, and mustard

I don’t know when the next time I’ll be able to have lunch at Oso Market is, but I highly recommend Oso as more than just a stop for snacks and drinks in the evening! And, especially if you have a reason to be at the Oregon Convention Center area for some reason like I did, hop on the streetcar that stops right in front of it and ride it 3 stops down (a mere 10 minutes or less) or walk the mere .75 mile or so to upgrade your lunch.

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Bunk Sandwiches’ Vegetarian Sandwich Winter Edition

November 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For Winter, it looks like Bunk Sandwiches have changed up their vegetarian sandwich combination from the roasted summer squash with romesco and ricotta they had earlier for a Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple Chutney, Gruyere & Horseradish sandwich. Thanks H for the tipoff and bringing it over for us to enjoy at Bailey’s Taproom’s Belgianfest… what you see here is with the extra addition of bacon though!

Bunk Sandwiches, Tommy Habetz, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple Chutney, Gruyere & Horseradish sandwich

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Bunk Bar Lunch – an appreciation of freedom

September 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A recent lunch at Bunk Bar. Specifically, it was on Tuesday. Yes, a workday! And I drove myself! It felt so luxurious to have the Zipcar. I don’t usually have a car at all- I don’t own, and only Zip when I need it for a few hours, or rent a car from Budget (closest car rental office to the home) for day trips-. Otherwise it’s all public transit or walking, or carpooling with friends.

It is definitely cheaper- no car payments or auto insurance. It’s better for the environment and for me healthwise too to walk more. Although I can always find a Zipcar around me and available, I have to walk to the shared parking location and back (uphill…), which causes me to be more conservative on how often I rent, and deciding a rental period forces plannung to consolidate many errands into a trip.

But, recently I had it for a whole day- a full 24 hour period-  because it was too difficult to estimate how long one errand would take, and add that task to the other errands it was more cost-effective to go for a daily Zip rental for my very first time (Budget had no car available because I was informed of this group of errands just that morning, and it was Labor Day weekend. I usually price compare between these two options to find the best cost value).

Thanks to that longer 24 hour rental, this meant it was within the range that I could drive to work the next day, and even have lunch downtown. I wanted very straightforward parking and dependable and fast service as I wanted to get back to work on time- things that stumped me as I thought over my lunch destination wish list. Finally, what came to mind was Bunk Bar. I have seen it on previous visits to the area for Boke Bowl and Clark Lewis, and was curious about that larger Bunk location compared to it’s hole in the wall sandwiches only outposta. So off I went on my lunchtime trip.

Once there, I was able to walk right up- no one was in line! Amazing. I felt like this was destined. Logically, I tried to choose my selection from the menu that was a chalkboard covering just only 12 feet high and fully scribbled. In the end, I rationalized that I was going to balance the mole tater tots with the vegetarian sandwich on the board. This veggie sandwich varies seasonally but inevitably is a seasonal vegetable with cheese, and this time was roasted summer squash with seasoned ricotta, arugula, and romesco.

Bunk Bar, Tommy Habetz, lunch, sandwiches, vegetarian sandwich, seasonal vegetarian summer squash sandwich

It was ok- I think it needed a lot more summer squash in both smooth and chunky form, and I found the ricotta bland (at least compared to when I make my own fresh ricotta). However, the arugula and romesco were great. Romesco sauce is a great kicky sauce that is as simple as making pesto, but for some reason is not used as much, but it really should be just as popular. It is very dependable for flavor, just like pesto.

You can see from the photo the sandwich is looking sorta flat. I tried to improve it by putting the kettle chips in the sandwich, and this helped it greatly by adding crunch texture, although it does make eating your sandwich messier. The addition made it almost the size of other Bunk sandwiches. I’m not sure why they couldn’t have been more generous with the veggies and cheese, since they seem to be with the ingredients for the meat sandwiches. I have previously loved their Roasted Chicken Salad sandwich and Pork Belly Cubano sandwich, both from Bunk Sandwiches downtown, both of which I found so thick with ingredients I had to take small bites because there was so much vertically to fit without also trying to go too far horizontally, chomping step by step like Ms Pac Man.

And look at this foodspotting photo of their summer squash sandwich before, with Roasted Squash, Caramelized Onions, Gruyere & Arugula… I have actually tried to order that specific sandwich last year, but Bunk Sandwiches was out at the time. That’s how then I ended up with the Roasted Chicken Salad, which was very tasty with its creaminess of avocodo and mayo (but not too much- they balance their mixture well), the crunch from the big chunks of celery in the chicken salad, and saltiness from the bacon. If I had seen this sandwich on their chalkboard (they regularly change almost half of their dozen sandwiches line up, and sandwich options vary by location), I probably would have ordered it again as a “backup” for later in addition to the squash sandwich.

Don’t psych yourself up looking at the website- mentally proffering. What, it’s not just me that does this. The menu on the website is usually outdated. You have to come read the chalkboard- just like everyone else, waiting until you are close enough to read it, and then when you are only a few people are ahead of you, so you hurriedly are parsing the scrawl and trying to make your decision so you don’t hold back the line behind you. Like me, you will be torn- should I get something seasonal or special because some of the standbys like the cubano or pulled pork will still be there because it may be a ephemeral treasure you happened upon this one time at the end of the Bunk rainbow? Or do you go with one of the fan favorites that has therefore gave it a permanent position in the menu?

Bunk Bar is different from Bunk Sandwiches because it offers a lot more sides to select from. I took advantage of this by zeroing in on the mole tots, promising myself I would try the Fries with Debris Gravy and Cheese in the future. I should save my calories since I know rich meals next week working from the convention center are upcoming… as well as a multiple course wine paired meal at Mistral Kitchen this weekend. The Mole tater tots with queso, crema, avocado and cilantro have greens after all… Though it did not turn out as flavorful as the advertisement of mole had promised (at least in my mind), it was interesting in its tang, like a meaty gravy/tomato sauce punched up by a tiny hint of spice… seems like I needed more of the mole.

At least I was able to enjoy the freedom in being able to drive myself to wherever I wanted for lunch. It also was a reminder to me how important it is to break outside your every day routine. Do something old or rare, something you haven’t done in years, and/or add something new, explore a place you have always passed by but never stopped. It sounds small and silly and even a bit contrived, but it adds such excitement and feeling of adventure (even if a somewhat planned adventure). And that is a part of the equation too, being conscious and acting on the empowerment to always be able to choose your own adventure.

Bunk Bar, Tommy Habetz, lunch, sandwiches, vegetarian sandwich, seasonal vegetarian summer squash sandwich

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