The Best Sandwich Ever... I Swear!

I love a good sandwich; but I am also picky about them. The bread has to be excellent, toppings carefully selected, and any of my long-time readers know how finicky I am about ratios. But when the sandwich has each of those things going for it, it can be a thing of beauty. And I am not alone in thinking this, Nancy Silverton in her fabulous book, Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book echoes these sentiments, and gave me an outstanding midday meal.

A sandwich to be savored, with care placed in both the ingredients, and the composition, this sandwich of Soft-Scrambled Eggs, Long-Cooked Broccoli, and Feta Cheese was perfect. Nestled on grilled sourdough bread, the crowning achievement to this lunchtime meal was of course, the long cooked broccoli. Now I have eaten plenty of broccoli in my day. In fact, it was my favorite vegetable as a child. But I had never eaten broccoli that had been cooked for hours, each floret soaking up luscious olive oil like a sponge.

Granted, the broccoli is not the prettiest of things after its hours of cooking, but it just may be the most delicious. Who knew that withered, brown, and desiccated could actually be complimentary words? Slightly piquant from cooking with a dried red chile, and squeezed with a touch of lemon juice, the broccoli proved to be the ideal foil for the other toppings. The creaminess of the small-curd, soft-scrambled egg was perfect. The saltiness of the freshly crumbled, French Feta cheese was magnificent. Top the entire sandwich off with a grinding of black pepper and a sprinkling of minced chives, and forget finishing off this sandwich with yet another slice of bread-- you have to see this sandwich in all of its glory!

Is your mouth watering yet? It's okay if it is. If you would like the recipe for Long-Cooked Broccoli, it's on the Daily Specials page. This broccoli would be super on its own, or smeared on a baguette as crostini. When you find a stupendous recipe, like this one, the options are endless.