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Dear Mr. Zevon

For today: My grilled cheese loving kid, who reminds me every day that unconditional love is our strongest and most enduring power.

YDF,

Midnight Snack

Kewpie Mayonnaise

So, found an interesting new-to-me product and a luxe sandwich while at my day job. Kewpie Mayonnaise gave me that never-seen-it/now-it-is-everywhere experience.

To my good fortune, Meat and Livestock Australia– think super high quality lamb, beef and goat meat, used my foodstyling services this summer to help put together fifty images of fifty recipes. Working with recipes, rather than simply products, is always a learning experience for me and gives me a peek into other cook’s mindsets. The experience varies, which is probably part of the definition of experience.

Approaching a decade birthday I sometimes feel that I’m taking a slow walk to the gallows. Approaching the same birthday I sometimes feel I’m leaping into ecstasy, exaltation, euphoria, the essence. Pulled. In. Two. Directions.

Simultaneously,   I’m enduring the most isolating stretch of parenting – shepherding a teenager. Maybe it’s not the most isolating – could there be a tougher stretch upcoming? –  but it feels that way.

My parents are elderly. I’m fortunate (gross understatement) that not only are my parents alive, but we are close, they are flourishing, they live near by, love my son and are people I admire and respect. I’m grateful, thrilled, glad.

Sometimes I am distressed, distraught, discouraged, despondent. Simply put, looking at the beginnings of old age, loving parents who are in old age, loving a child who is (as he should be) scaring the living daylights out of me while blowing my mind with his wisdom, wit and wonder, feels like a leap into the wild blue yonder. AND like being smashed between two pieces of firm bread.

Guess what, there is a name for people like me. We are a demographic. Of course we are. The sandwich generation.

Around this household. I have a ramen eating machine living under my roof. He’s been in lifelong training – redirect, redirect, redirect! – but the positive reinforcement – “How about a nice piece of fruit, honey?” – has not imprinted. Yet. I hope to someday pass the baton to his wife.

In the meantime, there are many years of cooking and eating to travel. I choose to lose the battle of ramen and win the war of love. Does he know the ramen is homemade? Maybe. Will that imbed? You betcha.

One ramen grilled cheese coming right up!

MTL Blog – How to make it.

Witness Tyler Kord’s No. 7 Sub Broccoli Sandwich.  Lincoln Station Broccoli and Ricotta Sandwich testifying loud and proud right here at the Lunch Encounter. Did somebody say Grilled Goat Cheese and Broccoli Sandwich? Oh yeah! You know you’re on to something, or perhaps way behind the curve, when a search turns up Ten Best Broccoli Sandwiches. Huh? Yup.  No. 7 Sub turns up at every turn for the NYC sandwich sleuth. When there is that much chatter, one must investigate.We joined the masses who sing the praises and eat their greens. Hall-lay-lew-yuh and pass the broccoli.
It was a beautiful day for sandwiches in a pocket park. Crystal clear and appetite awakening.

No. 7 Broccoli Sub Recipe
from Tyler Kord in “Broccoli” by Shortstack Editions

Makes 2 huge subs

1 can pitted lychees (available at Asian markets), drained and quartered
1 garlic clove, minced
One 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
A few drops of sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 small dried chiles, chopped (I prefer tien tsin chiles, available at Asian markets, or chiles
de arbol, available at Mexican markets, but a teaspoon of red chile flakes will work)
1 cup white vinegar
2 scallions, thinly sliced on a bias
2 soft Italian sub rolls, split lengthwise
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 pound broccoli, cooked
4 ounces ricotta salata, shredded (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup fried shallots (the Vietnamese ones found at Asian markets, but any fried onions, store-bought or homemade, will do)

In a mixing bowl, combine the lychees, garlic, ginger, shallot, sesame oil, sugar, chiles, vinegar and scallions. Let sit for at least an hour.

In an oven preheated to 375 degrees, toast the sub rolls and reheat the broccoli if necessary.

Spread 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise on each of the sub rolls, then use tongs to stuff the rolls with broccoli. Top each sandwich with a little bit of the lychee muchin, followed by the ricotta salata, pine nuts, and fried shallots. Serve.

From Tyler Kord’s forthcoming cookbook, Broccoli, available from Short Stack Editions.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

“Eat your broccoli.” No other chef has taken this childhood prescription to heart as much as Tyler Kord, one of New York’s most innovative chefs and a professed broccoli enthusiast. Tyler’s edition will teach you many new innovative ways to enjoy this flavorful and nutrient-rich vegetable, and show you just what a flavor chameleon it can be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tyler Kord is a chef and restaurateur in New York City. He is the owner of No. 7 in Brooklyn’s Ft. Greene neighborhood and the No. 7 Sub sandwich shops at the Ace Hotel, The Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He has worked for chef Alain Sailhac at the French Culinary Institute and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Perry St. Tyler also has a B.A. in English from Oberlin College and his parents can’t believe that his education might have actually been a useful part of his life as he tries to write a cookbook that is not embarrassing.