Weeknight Cooking

Every at-home cook should be very careful constructing his or her own Parisian-style sandwich.  The biggest problem – I'm now convinced – is that once you assemble the Parisian Tuna Sandwich, for example, stocked with fresh ingredients, and laced around its edges with a sweet oil, you might not

ever depart again from the recipe, only desire home-spun offshoots, and then shun for the rest of your days the three thousand fast-food options available out there in the drive-thru universe.  This could be troublesome for business; Subway might notice one or so fewer customers, and the guilt pangs would soar to the level of devastating.  All this is to say, try the Parisian.

First, before assembling the mixture, picture the fresh oily goodness of a little side-street boulangerie.  Remember that the ingredients are freshly picked from Pierre's edible garden, that the tuna might be unprocessed, and that, under the yellow Mediterranean sunshine, the oils of the meats and olives would shine like the luster off small diamonds.  Find a good hoagie or vienna style bun.  Hard boil

some eggs (remember, we want to peel, cut, serve these warm on the bun in a moment).  While boiling for 10 minutes, open up the buns and toss the insides of the bread with a little splash of red wine vinegar mixed with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Assemble some spinach onto the bun, followed up by fresh tomatoes, whatever sized slices of radishes you might enjoy, a couple of chunks of anchovies

(salty and great in small, small doses).  Red onions chips, if desired.  Dip a couple of bags of oil-packed tuna in the rest of your red vinegar dressing then scoop that onto the buns.  Add some chopped (pitted) kalamata olives.  Break open your eggs, cut the way best suited for the lay of the sandwich, and place.  From here, I went ahead and toasted the sandwich quickly under the broiler. When they came out, because of the variety packed under the bread, eyes were distrustful, alarmed, curious....what to think all of this under one roof!  But, if portioned to balance, the oil serves as a way to pull of all of the crisp warm ingredients together.  Eyes turned to wide open enjoyment.  Subway watch out.