First, a name: My fella's name is John, but for all of his growing up years his father, who emigrated here from eastern Europe, called him Yonni.
Second, a food: My guy's favourite deli sandwich is a well made Reuben. He orders them whenever we're in a place he feels confident will offer both good bread and good smoked meat.
Third, a recipe, invented by my fella, while thinking of a Reuben, using what we had on hand: He named it Reuben's Cousin Yonni.
Works for me! :)
This is a one-pound link of garlic sausage.
Quality charcuterie it ain't, but it is widely available here, inexpensive, and has a pleasant, mild flavour. My fella loves it.
We don't buy garlic sausage often but company affords us a good excuse to put some in the fridge.
One of our local grocers sells a four-pack of garlic sausage for the same price as two individual links so, when we do buy garlic sausage, we splurge and buy the bulk pack.
That's what we did when planning a cold plate lunch for company a while back. We served one link to our company, put one in the fridge for later, and put the remaining two in the freezer.
Half of the "link for later" got fried and served for breakfast the next day, along with eggs. The day after that, my fella made these sandwiches for supper.
Here's what he used to make them:
- 4 slices of pumpernickle bread
- 1/2 pound of garlic sausage, thinly sliced (He ended up having enough slices left over for another sandwich at lunch the next day so I guess, really, he used about 1/3 pound of sausage for our two sandwich supper)
- thinly sliced havarti cheese (I'm not sure how much. Enough to make a generous layer in each sandwich.)
- 1 cup of sauerkraut, well drained
- 2 Tablespoons of homemade Thousand Island salad dressing
- 4 Tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
Here's how he assembled the sandwiches:
He buttered the outside of one of the slices on each sandwich,
then placed them, one at a time, butter-side-down in a preheated pan over medium heat.
Once the sandwiches were in the pan, he buttered the other slice of bread.
He let each sandwich cook until it was toasted on one side before flipping it and toasting the other.
Once the sandwiches were toasted on both sides, my fella transferred them to a baking sheet and put them in a 350F oven for a few minutes to finish melting the cheese.
My guy served the sandwiches right away, while the cheese was all nice and hot and melty, with fresh veggies on the side and more Thousand Island dressing for dipping.
The bread was so dark in colour before it was toasted that it looked almost black when the sandwiches were cooked, but it smelled toasty, and didn't taste burnt at all.
It was a delicious supper.
