The California Veggie Sandwich

Plus: Roasted Root Vegetables, Matzoh Art, Cioppino.

Hey everyone,

As a soon-to-be former Californian, I’d yet to master the sandwich known in these parts as The California Veggie Sandwich. (Sometimes called a Hippie Sandwich.) You know the idea behind it: soft avocado, crunchy sprouts, maybe some onion thrown in.

I came to make this because my podcast guest this week, podcast superstar Starlee Kine, loves the one at The Trails Cafe in Griffith Park. You can hear our whole conversation about it here:

I was a little underwhelmed at the idea of making this sandwich but once I did, wow was it a banger!

The avocado gives it richness, the sprouts give it a surprising crunch and freshness, and everything else just adds to the party.

CLICK HERE for the recipe. A nice taste of California no matter where you live!

Now, on to other newsletter topics….

Last night, we had Craig’s Aunt Liz, Uncle Chris, and Cousin David’s new husband Herald over for dinner. I’m on a bit of a health kick lately (see: Operation Muffin Stud) but I didn’t want anyone to know that. I served a lovely cheese plate and then salmon roasted with mustard and brown sugar:

(It’s the easiest thing: equal parts of both, plus salt and pepper on the salmon first, then into a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes or until 125 internally.)

It was really the side dish where I decided to do something more vegetable-oriented as opposed to simple carbohydrates (like pasta, etc).

Having just watched an old Ina Garten episode where she roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and parnsips at 425, I did the same, minus the squash.

My main takeaway was to garnish the sweet potatoes one way and the carrots and parsnips another way. With the former, I used za’atar, Aleppo pepper, orange zest, and orange juice, and lots of chopped parsley. With the carrots and parsnips, I used lemon zest, lemon juice, and lots of dill.

It was a fantastic side — didn’t feel punishing at all. And I made it ahead and served at room temperature. Here’s the happy family all enjoying their meal.

Meanwhile, I’ve become something of a Picasso when it comes to matzoh art. I bought matzoh because of a video I was paid to make where I made matzoh ball soup from scratch — but, I accidentally bought too much matzoh.

So here are two recent creations:

That’s matzoh with bananas, almond butter, and seeded honey on the left; and on the right, yogurt, smoked trout, cucumbers, red onions, lemon zest and dill.

Maybe I should start a matzoh truck where I serve matzohs like this for lunch. What would I call it? Un-rise and Shine?

Finally, our neighbors Ryan and Eric had us over for dinner on Friday (Ryan directed the new Pamela Anderson doc on Netflix which we watched right before the dinner and it was most excellent). They served up a phenomenal cioppino chockfull of Dungeness crab, shrimp, clams, and mussels. It was fantastic:

A great dinner party dish (unless you’re the crab).

Now for some links!

• Torrisi gets three stars… good luck getting in! (NYT);

• Eater NY goes to Torrisi as a group and they’re less impressed (Eater NY);

• Nigel Slater’s chocolate espresso mousse with prailine (The Guardian).

That’s all for today, folks!

If you want to get me in your inbox every day, become a paid subscriber and then head over to Operation Muffin Stud and sign up. You’ll get my daily weigh-in and everything that I ate the day before — plus my EMOTIONS regarding how my weight loss journey is going.

Until next time….

Your friend,

Adam