Random Recipe: Mozzarella, Mushroom, Basil, and Tomato Sandwiches

University has begun. Although I think I've mentioned this before.

And so with university having begun, the first signs of stress, sleepless nights, and reams and reams of paper start to appear.. (not to mention the ghosts of all those trees we seem to have killed while printing...)

And naturally, there is less time to do the things you really wish to do.. those include one's nails, watching a movie, spending hours in the kitchen, and cuddling up in bed with a book..

But sometimes, feeding oneself takes prominence over all other tasks and duties, and that is when you try and make something that you know you'll really enjoy eating.

I was so excited when I read about Dom's challenge for this month. It was to pick a random recipe from all your food related magazines and clippings and the like.. I have a little section on my bookshelf devoted to recipe related magazine clippings/magazines but to be honest with you, I've never made a recipe from any of them. That's why I was so glad when I read about this month's challenge because then I'd be able to explore something new out of all these recipes I had never tried.

The magazine I randomly picked was called "Soups and Sandwiches" by Fine Cooking. I bought it at JFK airport this April so that I could have some light reading/entertainment on the fifteen hour return flight (although traveling with 18 twenty year olds was much fun in itself.)

I like the idea of soups and sandwiches for dinner. It's light yet filling and hearty and is very convenient to eat. Since I've recently gone vegetarian (since the beginning of this month actually) I tried picking a random recipe from the vegetarian section of the magazine which was towards the end. I ended up with mozzarella, mushroom, basil, and tomato sandwiches which are very quick to prepare.

Recipe
Ingredients:
4 sandwich rolls/buns
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp crushed garlic clove
basil leaves
1 cup button mushrooms, cooked
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Procedure:
Combine the mayo, cheese, and garlic in a bowl and evenly spread over both sides of cut sandwich rolls.
On the bottom half, layer mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and tomato.
On the top half, place the basil leaves.
Sandwich together and lightly heat on a heated grill plate for 4-5 minutes until bread is lightly toasted.
Serve warm.

I had these with some tomato and capsicum soup.. the combination was amazing!

I hope I'm not past the posting deadline for this! >_< sorry if I am, Dom! :(

In other news, I just realized that this was my first savoury post of the month (and it's the end of the month!)
But I have made some nasi goreng, pasta, and grilled fish a few times.. all really good.. hoping to post up some of those recipes soon!

I also made macarons after doing much research on techniques. I now have two A4 pages full of tips and techniques that I've gathered while reading blogposts, watching videos, and reading cookbooks. Should I have a post on my macarons? "Dissecting the Macaron" as I'd like to call it..

Sorry about the picture quality! I didn't have a proper camera with me and these were about to be gobbled up in a second.. 

The Epic Picnic

Arva's carrot cake sandwiches

Sukaina's strawberry and hazelnut cake

Anja's peppadews, veggie sticks, and hummus

What do you think of when you hear about almost a dozen food bloggers getting together for a picnic?


 If you thought exquisite, creative, and absolutely delicious food, then you're absolutely right.


This weekend, a whole bunch of us at Table Talk gathered at Safa Park for an afternoon of foodies and food. Every dish was more delicious than the last and for around three hours all we did was chat, eat, and take photographs. It was wonderful. 

The dessert section

More of Sukaina's cake

Sarah's Melba toast

Sarah brought spicy chicken wraps and melba toast with pickled beet, goats cheese and curried onion jam. I didn't eat the spicy chicken wraps (I must have missed them amongst all the food!) but the melba toasts were absolutely heavenly. They were perfectly bite-sized and I must have had about 5 or 6 without even realizing.


Arva brought carrot cake cookie and cream cheese sandwiches and halloumi and zaatar southern-style biscuits. The carrot cake sandwiches were SO creative.. and absolutely delicious.. They were two tiny rounds of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in the middle. 


Sukaina brought strawberry and hazel nut cake with mascarpone frosting which was sooo light, elegant, and flavourful. 


Anja brought rosewater-scented pistachio cake, avocado chocolate truffles, hummus and veggie sticks, and feta-stuffed peppadews. The peppadews were wonderful as they were just the kind of thing I felt like eating after my habanero pepper attempt went disastrously spicy. And the hummus was soo good.. don't think I've ever had homemade ones and these beat all the ones I've had at restaurants.


Kari brought Reggae Salsa... Mexican salsa with a Jamaican Twist and Toasted Pita Chips which was magical!


Sandy brought Goat Cheese Tomato Tart which I must have had a hundred slices of.. gorgeous!


Sally brought ginger chocolate cookies and mini spiced butternut squash frittatas. The cookies were one of the best things I think I have ever eaten. The two flavours went wonderfully together and the frittatas were delicious as well. 


Yasmin brought mini chocolate pudding tarts which looked way too amazing to be homemade but they were! Each tartlet was a little piece of perfection.


Lin brought roasted tomaotes with salt pepper, basil & garlic and banana and lemon muffins. The best 
thing about the tomatoes was that they were homegrown! 

Edwina brought a zucchini and chocolate cake- which fully converted me to the idea of zucchini in cakes. I had seen tons of zucchini cupcake recipes before and always found it very odd. I decided to be adventurous and try Edwina's cake and LOVED IT! I never knew how great zucchini can work in a cake. It was soft and subtle and complemented the chocolate flavour in the cake WONDERFULLY. 

As for me, I brought some Italianesque sandwiches and these corn muffins. 

Anja's pistachio and rosewater scented cake

Yasmin's chocolate tartlets

All the food.. and my Italianesque sandwiches

Sandy's goat cheese and tomato tarts

Spicy Chicken Pitas

This is one of our signature dishes at home and last night I finally learnt how to make it! It was much easier than I expected it to be. The best thing about it is that it's very versatile. You can make it with lamb mince instead of chicken mince and you can vary which vegetables you use.

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 garlic cloves, crushed

2 medium tomatoes, chopped coarsely

1 medium green capsicum, chopped

500g chicken mince

2 teaspoons soy sauce

3 teaspoons vinegar

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon garam masala (indian mixed spice)

2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons chilli flakes

1/4 cup water

4 lettuce leaves, shredded

1 tomato, extra, sliced

3-4 chopped gherkins

1/2 cup chopped coriander

20 slices small white arabic bread

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Procedure

Heat oil in pot. Gently fry onion until softened. Add chicken and stir for two minutes. Add the soy sauce and vinegar, stir.

Add all the spices, stir until fragrant. Add water, mix well. Place lid on pot and cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Then, add capsicum and cook for five minutes. Next, add tomatoes and coriander.

Slice the bread in half and lightly spread the inside of each with mayonnaise . Fill bread with chicken and top with lettuce, tomatoes, and gherkins.