Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book

Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book by Nancy Silverton with Teri Gelber, copyright 2002

Open-Faced Sandwich with Braised Leeks, Hard-Cooked Eggs and Anchovies, page 30

Prepared January 9, 2008

Nancy Silverton and her husband, Mark Peel, own and run Campanile restaurant in Los Angeles. It's a high-end Italian restaurant and is well-respected in the foodie community. This book was born of Campanile's Sandwich Night (Thursdays, if you happen to be in L.A.). The selection of sandwiches is really very interesting and I have made a few different items from the book. The pictures are gorgeous, by the way.

This sandwich requires that you make an aioli, braise leeks and marinate anchovy fillets, in addition to hard boiling a few eggs. All the components can be made ahead of time. This makes what could be a fussy sandwich really simple to prepare.

A few days ahead, I braised the leeks. Silverton's method calls for braising in the oven and I am sold on this method. You place the leeks into a roasting dish, pour chicken broth over them and then lay sliced lemon over the leeks (I had no lemons in the house, so I used a blood orange instead). Then you cover the pan and roast the leeks in the oven for 45 minutes covered and another 45 minutes uncovered. These leeks were really delicious. They were silky soft and perfumed with orange.

On the day I made the sandwiches, I marinated the anchovies in olive oil, lemon zest and parsley. The oil and zest reduced the incredible fishiness of the anchovies. After an hour or so, they were still fishy, but not unbearably so.

I was supposed to make an aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and failed. I couldn't get the sauce to emulsify. Sooooo ... I cheated and took some Hellman's from the fridge, added crushed garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The end result may not pass for authentic in Provence, but in myhouse it worked just fine.

Finally, I hard boiled some eggs. Now I was ready to make the sandwiches.

The sandwich is composed thusly: grilled bread, spread with aioli; sliced breaised leeks; hard boiled egg; anchovy; anchovy marinade. It was good: we agreed that we liked all the components, but decided we almost preferred them individually as opposed to together. You have to eat this sandwich with a knife and fork and that gives you a nice opportunity to mix and match flavors to your liking.