Gluten-Free Sandwich Solution!

How do you make a sandwich without bread? After all, bread is the essence of a sandwich. How can something be a sandwich without two surfaces between which to sandwich food? (Unless you’re eating one of those donut bacon sandwiches.)

Eric Ripert this weekend reminded me of the solution, which is of particular interest for those who voluntarily or for medical reasons follow a gluten-free diet. On his PBS TV show, Ripert grilled a couple of heads of romaine lettuce - it was a toss off moment, too, as he was also grilling a couple of incredible looking lobsters.

Have you ever grilled a leafy green? It sounds counter intuitive, like fried ice cream, but it’s excellent. The greens are crunchy and melt in your mouth. I used to eat at a raw food/vegan/local (etc., etc.) restaurant that served a nut paste and veggie sandwich wrapped in a big kale leaf. I copied them at home, wrapping everything from day-old fried pasta to grilled vegetables in them. It’s another dimension of sandwiching. 

Anyway, I watched Ripert’s show on Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening I was to attend a barbecue. I stopped at the grocery store before and bought a package of Field Roast kabobs and, rather than hot dog buns, some romaine. I grilled the kabobs at the barbecue along with the lettuce and combined the two. Try it at your next barbecue; it works with real meat, too. You can even dress up the romaine (or kale or whatever) with soy sauce, salt or oil.

To Snail Or Not To Snail

That was the question, for me at least, while dining at Balthazar Restaurant in New York City a couple of years ago.

A bunch of us girls got together and flew to NYC to be part of the Martha Stewart Shows studio audience for a show about "Girlfriends." I tried my hardest to get reservations at Babbo, even getting up at 2:00am to start calling right at 5:00am EST, when the restaurant listed it would start taking reservation calls for the day. I also had to call exactly 30 days in advance, and although we struck out on Babbo, we got in at the groups other coveted restaurant - Balthazar.

My friend Angela loves everything to do with France and since we WERE at a French restaurant, she wanted to eat like the French and try the Escargot. Although we are quite adventurous food-eaters, not a single one of us seven ladies had tried snails before. And honestly, being a gardener myself, the thought of eating one of the little yellow critters I toss when I find 'em hanging on my Clematis Vines, kinda creeped me out.

Since we had already downed a couple bottles of wine and the buzz of the wine coupled with the thrill of being in New York City together had gone straight to our heads, we all decided that it would be the perfect time and place to slurp back a slimy snail. To Snail it would be!

And you know what? It really wasn't all that bad. It tasted like herb-infused garlic butter. The texture, on the other hand, not my favorite thing in the world but definitely not something I'd stick my nose up if ever dining at Brasserie Le Halles or Le Bernardin. And now we can all say that we've tried escargot.

So on this 24th of May - National Escargot Day - go ahead and slurp back a slimy snail or two - that way you can say you've had it and will never have to try it again. (Hey, you can even come take all the snails you want out of my yard, they might not be the culinary treat of French chefs, but they sure would help my brussel sprouts and cauliflower from being eaten alive.)