As always, gathering the ingredients was step one. This week we needed a loaf of sourdough, 6 ounces Fontina (they recommend Italian Fontina, but this is harder to find than its Danish counterpart, so I took what I could get), 1/4 pound pancetta, olive oil, butter and one large leek. I had never tried leek before, but in my head I was equating the taste with fennel-- which I hate. I'm not actually sure where I got that idea because it is absolutely not the case. A leek is basically a big scallion and I loves me some onion, so once I realized this was the case I was fully on board for the sandwich.
Step one: cut the white and green parts of the leek into thin strips until you have about 6 ounces. Having never cut up a leek before I had to sort of improvise. I decided the best approach would be to cut it much like I would a scallion.
This worked well enough, but left me wondering why I needed a "large leek." I only cut up part of it and still had more than enough to fill my measuring cup (1 cup = 8 ounces so that was already 2 more ounces than the recipe called for). But it's alright! I like onions!
I tossed the sliced leeks into my frying pan along with ~2 tsp. of olive oil and let them cook "until they were limp but not brown."
I know they don't look much different, but I promise they had a more limp texture at this point in the game.
Next it was time to cook the pancetta, so I set the leeks aside and distributed the pancetta slices around my frying pan.
I always get nervous when I cook bacon-like foods in my frying pan because I'm not entirely confident that the grease from the bacon aids in keeping the bacon from sticking to the pan. I know the non-stick capabilities of the pan are supposed to prove useful here, but I always end up with some crusty bacon bits left behind when I cook. Oh well! If it's for the good of the sandwich then I'm willing to sacrifice my time and clean an extra dirty pan later.
I think this may have been the first time that I successfully cooked bacon without burning it! I was very cautious to remove the pancetta as soon as it had turned a "deep golden brown" and not once it had turned into "a dark brown charred mess." While the bacon cooled off a bit on a plate I took the liberty of wiping out (but not washing) the frying pan. I'm always skeptical of this step (again, because it leaves a crusty film on the bottom of the pan that somewhat detracts from the non-stick properties), but I suppose it's important to maintain that residual bacon flavor.
Once the pancetta had cooled a bit I chopped it up into bacon bits (this had already started to happen in the pan, so I just needed to give a few more chops to get it to a good place).
Now it was time to make the sandwiches! I started off with four slices of sourdough buttered on one side (buttered side down) with the 6 ounces of Fontina spread evenly between them.
Next came the leeks:
And finally, the pancetta bits:
Once those were topped they were ready for cooking! Things went pretty smoothly during the cooking process save for the fact that having several small pieces as sandwich toppings made it tricky to flip the sandwich while keeping all the pieces inside. Things got a little messy in the pan, but since the bacon residue was still all over the place it wasn't a big deal. Especially because I got a finished product that looks this delicious:
Taste Review:
There wasn't a strong aroma unless you got right up in the sandwiches grill-- luckily eating a sandwich means you are doing just that, so I would say the sandwich gave off an aroma of light onions and buttered toasted bread. The initial appearance reminded Colin of a BLT-- probably just because of the bacon bits.
Upon tasting, the first thing I noticed was how creamy the cheese is! I actually wasn't paying attention too closely to the notes I was writing while eating and ended up saying "cheese is creamy" twice, so it must be true. It had melted very well and had a light enough flavor that it made its presence known without slapping you in the face (unlike some other cheeses...sharp provolone, I'm looking in your direction).
The best way for me to describe this sandwich is "understated and elegant." It had a delicate balance of flavors that worked well together to make a rich taste without making you feel like you were over-indulging. The leek gave just the right amount of onion flavor without leaving a stinky onion taste in your mouth for hours to come. Add to that the light salty/sweet pancetta and you've got a delightful treat. If you wanted the flavors to be stronger you could certainly add more onion and/or pancetta, but I think this was the perfect balance to keep things light and tasty. Colin and I both finished our sandwiches quickly and probably would have wanted more had it been available! So by the "did we finish?" indicator, this was a winner.
One aside is that this sandwich made me realize how truly important good bread is. I'm not sure what it is about this Pepperidge Farm sourdough, but every sandwich I've made using it has been tasty! It toasts very evenly and has the perfect sourdough flavor without being too chewy or overly sour.
FINAL RESULTS:
| Sandwich: | Italian Ham and Cheese |
| Gooey-ness: | 3.5 |
| Aroma: | 2 |
| Appearance: | Delicate look with little bacon bits and soft green leeks. |
| Taste: | A |
| Gooey Scale | Aroma Scale |
| 1 = still cold/hard | 1 = can’t smell a thing |
| 2 = slightly melted but still firm | 2 = tender waft |
| 3 = melted evenly | 3 = makes your stomach growl |
| 4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) | 4 = strong scent |
| 5 = runny | 5 = overpoweringly pungent |
| 6 = sloppy mess! | |
Hooray! What a comeback from last week's near failure! Not sure what we'll be trying next week-- we've got several recipes left that involve goat cheese, or maybe I'll find one that uses the rest of the sourdough loaf I bought, or maybe both! Stay tuned to find out!
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