Kitchen Encounters

~ Sausage and Everything Bagel Breakfast Sandwich ~

It's been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I whole-heartedly believe it, but, I also have strong opinions about it.  The first:  A protein-packed breakfast is better than a sugar-shocked one.  I love pancakes, waffles and French toast as much as the next person, and indulging in them occasionally is divine, but, on a daily basis, I don't believe them to be the best way to start the day.  The second:  In today's busy food world, folks will put down the sweet pop tart in exchange for a savory sandwich if it can be made in advance, or several days in advance.

A work week of made-ahead breakfast sandwiches.

Sausage, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches are my specialty.  I make ten of them every Sunday, wrap 'em in plastic and stack 'em in the refrigerator.  Monday thru Friday (the work week), these tasty ten sandwiches are breakfast for my husband and myself.  When I tip-toe down the stairs in the dark (at the ungodly hour of 4:20AM), I take one out and let it warm up on the counter for about 30 minutes.  After 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave, I'm eating my breakfast.  I repeat the process in the daylight, when my husband makes his appearance in the kitchen. 

10  high-quality New York-style same-day-baked everything bagels, the kind bought at a bakery rather than found in the bread section of the average grocery store

10  sweet sausage links

10  large, medium or jumbo eggs

10-20 slices yellow cheddar cheese (1 or 2 per sandwich)

~ Step 1.  Using a pair of kitchen shears, remove the casings from ten sweet sausage links and form each link into into a 4"-round patty.  Place five sausage patties in a 12" skillet.  Over medium heat, fry the sausage patties, until cooked through and lightly-golden on both sides, using a spatula to flip them over once during the process, about 8 minutes per side.  Remove sausage patties to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.  Repeat this process with the remaining five sausage patties.

~ Step 2.  Crack 10 eggs into the sausage drippings remaining in the skillet. Lightly-season tops with salt and pepper.  Over medium-high heat, fry the eggs to desired degree of yolky doneness.  Towards the end of the process, I like to place a lid on the skillet for about a minute to form an opaque and protective skin atop the still jiggly yolks. Remove the skillet of eggs from stovetop, cover and set aside.

~Step 3.  To assemble the sandwiches, using a serrated bread knife, slice all ten bagels in half horizontally.  Depending on the size of your toaster, lightly-toast one or two bagels.  As bagels emerge from the toaster, top the bagel bottoms with one or two slices of cheddar cheese, a still warm sausage patty and an egg.  Add the top of the bagel, wrap each bagel sandwich in aluminum foil and set aside -- wrapping the warm sandwich and its warm components in foil steams the bread to the perfect texture.  Repeat process until all ten bagel sandwiches are assembled and wrapped in foil.

~Step 4.  Starting with the first sandwiches you wrapped in foil and working your way to the last sandwiches that got wrapped, remove the foil and tightly-wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap (preferably commercial food service film which is heavier and higher-quality than ordinary Glad- and Saran-type wrap).  Stack the sandwiches neatly on a shelf in the refrigerator.  To reheat, remove a sandwich from the refrigerator and set it on the counter for 30-45 minutes.  In the meantime, take a shower, put the coffee on, check your e-mails -- whatever.  Place the plastic wrapped sandwich in the microwave oven on high power for 90 seconds.  Unwrap and eat.

The perfect protein-packed & savory start to the workday...

... & hearty enough to eat one half & share the other half: 

Got guests coming for the weekend or a large crowd to feed? Sausage & Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole:

Sausage and Everything Bagel Breakfast Sandwich:  Recipe yields 10 breakfast sandwiches.

Special Equipment List:  kitchen shears; 12" nonstick skillet w/lid; nonstick spatula; paper towels; cutting board; serrated bread knife; toaster; aluminum foil; plastic wrap

Cook's Note:  Another one of my favorite everything bagel sandwiches, the ~ Smoked Salmon & Folded Omelet Bagel Sandwich ~ contains all the components of a classic bagels and lox presentation. The folded omelette that goes atop this sandwich, is a great substitution for the fried eggs featured today.  

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2024)

~ Glorious Golden Potato and Onion Sandwich Rolls ~

Get out the deli-roast beef, Swiss cheese and horseradish sauce.  An onion roll turns any plain-Jane roast-beef sandwich into an extraordinary roast-beef sandwich.  I love potato bread and any type of slightly-sweet and pillowy-soft potato rolls in general. Unless I am specifically looking for a crusty, semi-firm roll, 'tater-type rolls are my all-purpose sandwich rolls of choice -- that includes hamburger and hot dog rolls too.  The only thing better than a soft, slightly-sweet potato-sandwich roll is a soft, slightly-sweet potato-sandwich roll laced with small bits of onion and herbs.

I tout these for roast-beef sandwiches -- they're great 'burger rolls too.

Imagine my glee when I successfully turned my brioche in the bread machine recipe into glorious, golden potato rolls.

1/2  cup buttermilk

3  tablespoons salted butter, cut into pieces, preferably at room temperature

1/2  cup mashed Yukon gold potato, from 1 medium-large potato that has been microwave-baked (I use a slightly-generous half cup)

1  extra-large egg, lightly-beaten 

3  tablespoons sugar

2  1/4  cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon each:  dried herbes de Provence, sea salt and coarse-grind black pepper

2  teaspoons onion powder

2  tablespoons dehydrated minced onion

1  packet Fleischmann's granulated yeast, not rapid-rise yeast granules

no-stick cooking spray

~Step 1. In a 1-cup measuring container, in the microwave, heat the buttermilk to steaming, 30-45 seconds.  Add the butter cubes.  Using a fork, stir until the butter is melted into the buttermilk.  Add the mashed gold potato.  Stir until nicely incorporated.  Using the fork, in a small bowl, whisk the egg, then stir it into the mixture.  Add and stir in the sugar.

~Step 2.  Add the liquid buttermilk/potato mixture to bread pan of bread machine.  In a medium bowl, measure and place the flour, herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, onion powder and dehydrated minced onion, then, using the fork give the dry ingredients a gentle stir.  Scoop dry ingredients atop wet ingredients.  DO NOT STIR.  Using your index finger, make a shallow well in the top of the flour mixture and pour the yeast granules into the well.

~Step 3.  Insert the bread pan into the bread machine.  Select the "dough" cycle for a 1-pound loaf, then press "start".  In less than 1 1/2 hours you will have a light, manageable dough that has proofed twice.

~Step 4.  Line a 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan with parchment.  When bread machine signals the dough has proofed, lightly-spray a light-weight plate with no-stick and lightly-oil your fingertips with a bit of the no-stick spray from the plate. Using your oiled fingertips, transfer dough to prepared plate, which has been place on a kitchen scale.  You will have 1 1/2 pounds dough.  Using the scale as a measure, divide dough into 8, 3-ounce pieces.  Between the palms of your hands, roll each piece into a ball and arrange the balls of dough, well-apart, on prepared pan.  Cover the pan with a lint-free cotton flour-sack-type towel and allow to rise a third time, by about 1/2 half (not doubled), about 45 minutes.

~Step 5.  Bake rolls on center rack of preheated 350º oven, until golden brown, and, when tapped with the knuckle of your index finger, they sound hollow, about 18-20 minutes.  Do not over bake.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, 1-2 hours.  Best served same-day-baked, but they're fine the next day too.

~Step 6.  My favorite sandwich served on these onion rolls:  a copious slather of horseradish sauce, a generous layer of shaved red onion, a heaping handful of very-thinly-sliced rare-roasted deli-beef, and two thin slices of lacy Swiss cheese.

Cool rolls completely, 1-2 hours, then slice & serve:

Top w/horseradish sauce, red onion, a heap of beef & Swiss:

Glorious Golden Potato and Onion Sandwich Rolls:  Recipe yields 8, 3 1/2"-4"-round sandwich rolls.

Special Equipment List: bread machine; 1-cup measuring container; fork; bread machine; kitchen scale; 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan; parchment paper; lint-free flour-sack-type towel; wire cooling rack; serrated bread knife

Cook's Note:  I adore sweet potatoes.  As long as I can find them in the grocery store, which is about nine months out of the year, I keep them on hand always, as, for me, a humble, baked sweet potato slathered with butter is a meal.  That said, for a variation on the potato-roll theme, one that I make each year for Thanksgiving,  try my recipe for  ~ Sweet & Savory Herbed Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls ~. 

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2024)