A Lovestead Natural -- Yum, Yum

I just finished reading the Wednesday food section in the Spokesman-Review.  It was delicious reading.  

Today's lead feature focused on the best Reuben sandwich in Spokane.  The main photo showed a prep cook from O'Doherty's (the Love family's favorite Spokane restaurant) smiling and holding a plate with an attractive sandwich with its dill-pickle accessory.  

I thought that certainly must be the best of the Spokane Reubens, but, no, the winner comes from a downtown cafe called Madeleine's.  Madeleine's reuben was pictured with some lovely little vases of flowers.  After all, presentation is everything, right?  

On the list of 14 favorites was the Davenport Hotel where you can eat your Reuben and tidy up with a CLOTH NAPKIN.  

Now, that feature always  makes my sandwiches taste better.  

By the way, for my friends Denise and Pierre, Arby's made the list, even though ranked at the bottom----of the top 14, that is,  and probably served with paper napkins.  

I wonder if Pierre, Denise and the gang serve Reubens down there at the Sandpoint Arby's?  If so, I'll stop by one of these nights and pick up a couple of Patty Melt Boy and Polar Swirl Girl.

Since today is another ugly wet one, I'm allowing thoughts of food to keep my mind off the outdoor misery.  Might even go to Costco to stock up on our basics:  that big hunk of Tillamook medium cheddar, macadamia nut chocolate caramels, unbaked baquettes of French bread, spaghetti sauce, ham slices, the double pack of honey-flavored bacon and those huge Foster Farms chicken breasts, among other items.

Oh yeah, I can't forget the two packages of Longhorn Barbecue German sausages, which brings me to one of my  Lovestead favorites.  Maybe the rest of the family doesn't like it so much, but I do.

In fact, we had this meal last night.  It's a once-a-week regular. 

 

Thaw out a couple of Longhorn German sausages and two stadium hotdog buns---those are the ones with the gentle rolling hills on top.  Grab that big hunk of Tillamook medium cheddar out of the frig and chop off a slice about 1/4 inch thick.  

Cut the cheese, literally please . . . into 1/4 by 1/3 inch strips, give or take a little.  If you do it right, you've got a strip to chew on while finishing the rest of this main dish. 

Stuff the cheese slices you haven't eaten into the bun, taking care not to have the bun separate at the seam.  Then insert the sausage on top of the cheese and carefully fold the sandwich as much shut as you can without all the ingredients pushing the seam open and falling all over the floor.  

Wrap in aluminum foil and warm up in a 350-degree oven.  If your husband doesn't come home until 6:30 when he's supposed to be home at just after 5, tell him it's his fault if his German sausage delight has turned into concrete.  Fortunately, I have a husband who doesn't complain about overcooked food.  

He just pretends to eat it while reading his newspaper and dumps it in the garbage while I'm watching the news.

If that bun, sausage and cheese come out of the oven in a reasonable time, the cheese should be melted, the bun slightly crunchy and the sausage,  still nice and juicy.  For my accessories, I add Best Food's mayonnaise, honey mustard mustard as opposed to dressing, slices of bread and butter pickles and a little relish.  

Absolutely heavenly to my palate!

Last night the side dish was French fries baked in a bit of olive oil, salted and touched off with a dash of bacon salt.   I did use the honey mustard dressing for my fries, not the honey mustard mustard. 

Fattening, caloric meal,  yes.  Tasty enough to want more, yes.  

Stuffed in the garbage can?  No, I didn't see any of Bill's sandwich in there----probably because he arrived home BEFORE the sandwich had finished its baking cycle, not 90 minutes later.  

Of course, I haven't dug through the garbage to make sure.

And, for you Wood's German sausage lovers, of which I'm one of those, too, we all know that they're encased in a little thicker skin than the Longhorn folks use around theirs.

So, to prepare your sandwich, try the same method as above, only slice the sausage at intervals of every 1/4 inch or so down to its back skin.  

One must insert those slices to avoid chomping down and having the rest of the sausage,  dressed with its drippy condiments,  following that initial bite right out of the bun and proceed to dangle over your lips and resting on your chin while you're still desperately trying to sever first bite from the rest of the its body.

Not a pretty picture, especially for the eating-etiquette crowd.  So, I've learned the slice method is essential for Wood's sausages.  

I wonder if the Spokesman-Review is gonna send that reporter on a tasting test for sausage sandwiches.  If so, I hope they'll put me on the list.   And, to add a special farm twist, I'll provide some country bibs so they don't drip mustard,  mayonnaise and relish on their shirts.