In the time it takes to go out and buy fast food or wait for the home delivery, you can whip up delicious home-made – and healthy – sandwiches.
It takes five minutes to put together a sandwich based on foods from the pantry and fridge. And you save money using up some of the pre-cooked ingredients waiting to be eaten. You do have to spend a little thought and effort on planning and shopping ahead. But we all shop anyway. Next time you’re in the supermarket, walk past the frozen foods section with all the fat-laden goodies and reach for some fresh food. Then spend some creative time in the kitchen to prepare tidbits like pesto for home-made meals on the run. Or call it “slow fast-food.”
We recommend sourdough (recipe here) or whole-wheat bread for all the recipes below.
Ingredient amounts for one sandwich per recipe.
Egg, Tomato and Pesto Sandwich
Hard-boil, then slice one egg.
Spread home-made pesto on two slices of your favorite bread.
Layer the sliced egg onto one slice of bread.
Put two slices of a fat tomato on top of the egg.
Close the sandwich with the other slice of bread and eat.
Camembert Bagel with Nuts and Scallions
Spread two halves of a whole-wheat bagel with runny Camembert cheese
Press sliced almonds or walnut halves onto the cheese.
Cut the green part of a scallion into thirds and place them on top of the cheese and nuts.
Close the sandwich with the other bagel half and eat.
Pita Stuffed with Roast Chicken, Aragula, and Olives
This is the easiest sandwich because all the ingredients are bought.
Slice the top of a pita off. Cut the pieces you like best off a rotisserie chicken and stuff them into the pita. Top with plenty of aragula leaves and a small handful of olives. Yum.
Fried Fish, Humus, and Red Onion Sandwich
Use a sturdy bread, like a pumpernickel, for this sandwich.
Spread humus thinly on both slices of bread.
Place a fried fish fillet on one slice.
Top with thinly-sliced red onion.
Close the sandwich with the second slice of bread and enjoy.
Grilled Salmon and Cucumber Sandwich
Sprinkle a small salmon fillet or “steak” with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill in the oven for 15 minutes or until the flesh flakes away easily when probed with a fork. Alternately, fry it in olive oil till done.
Slice a cucumber horizontally: salt the slices and set aside in a colander to drain.
Slice a small red onion.
Spread two slices of bread with sour cream or mayonnaise (preferably home-made).
Shred the salmon if a “steak” was used, removing the bones meanwhile.
Layer the salmon, cucumber, and red onion on a slice of bread, in that order.
Top with the second slice of bread and eat.
Make Ahead:
Hard-boil eggs.
Make pesto.
Buy rotisserie chicken (home-roasted chicken is great too!)
Fry fish fillets.
Grill or fry salmon.
Have leftover chicken or fish? Look at our suggestions for eating well with those fabulous pre-cooked ingredients.
More foods to fill your sandwiches:
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Ricotta Cheese
Red Pepper Spread
Photo of tuna sandwich by jlastras via Flickr.
Miriam Kresh writes a food blog, Israeli Kitchen: www.israelikitchen.com
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
