Kristen's Recipes

4 T. softened unsalted butter
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 C half-and-half or whole milk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
8 slices sandwich bread
3/4 pound baked ham, thinly sliced
2 C shredded Gruyere cheese
2 T. white wine vinegar
1 tsp apricot jam or orange marmalade
2 T. fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
3 T. extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
6 C mixed baby greens, any variety

Heat a heavy nonstick pan or a griddle over medium-low to medium heat. Heat a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add 2 T. of the butter and melt. Whisk the flour into the butter and cook 1 minute, then whisk in the half-and-half. Season with 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper and cook 2 minutes to thicken. Remove from the heat. Spread the bread slices with the sauce and make sandwiches, using a couple of folded slices of ham per sandwich. Spread the remaining 2 T. of softened butter lightly across the outside faces of each sandwich. Spread the shredded cheese across a plate and gently press each side of the sandwiches into the cheese, then place on the hot pan or griddle. The cheese will brown and form a crisp coating as the sandwich cooks and heats through. Cook 3 minutes on each side, or until evenly golden. In a salad bowl, whisk together the remaining tsp. of mustard, the vinegar, apricot jam, and tarragon. Whisk in the EVOO in a slow stream. Add the greens to the bowl and toss to dress. Season the salad with salt and pepper and serve on large plates with the hot sandwiches alongside.

4 pretzel slider buns, recipe here
2 cups shredded or sliced corned beef
2-3 slices Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mayo, ketchup, and mustard in a small bowl and mix well. Slice slider buns open and spread both sides with sauce. Layer on corned beef. Top with Swiss cheese, covering beef (1 slice will be too big for 1 slider, so cut in half or fourths to get just enough to cover the corned beef). Place assembled sandwiches in a baking dish with sides (a square Pyrex pan or even a cake pan will work well) and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove and serve!

Take 8 pita bread rounds and mix & match your recipe from these options…

1 pound Alaska Surimi Seafood (Imitation Crab), finely chopped
2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and finely chopped
1/3 cup green onion, finely chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise, or for a lighter version use non-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard, prepared
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste
Sugar, to taste

8 slices French bread
Nonstick cooking spray
8 tomato slices
4 leaves of leaf lettuce

Combine Alaska Surimi Seafood, eggs and onions in a large bowl. Add mayonnaise, mustard, paprika and salt. Mix well to combine; season to taste with black pepper, hot sauce and sugar. Set aside.

Line bread in two rows on the counter. Measure about 1/2 cup salad mixture on each of 4 bread slices; top with 2 tomato slices, 1 lettuce leaf and bread top. Heat a nonstick griddle over medium-low heat and spray with cooking spray. Place the sandwiches on the griddle. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes, turn and grill for another 2 minutes or until golden brown. Cut each sandwich in half at an angle to serve.

12 oz. Alaska Surimi Seafood (Imitation Crab)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 Tablespoon chopped chives or green onions
1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
3 English muffins, split
6 slices (about 1 oz. each) or 1-1/2 cups shredded Cheddar, pepper-jack, or Swiss cheese

Blend together Alaska Surimi Seafood, celery, chives, mayonnaise, mustard, and lemon pepper seasoning; set aside. Toast or broil muffin halves. Portion about 1/3 cup seafood on cut side of each muffin. Top each sandwich with cheese slice or 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Broil or microwave until cheese melts.

24 good white dinner rolls
24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 C. mayonnaise
1/3 C. miracle whip

1 T. poppyseeds
1 1/2 T. yellow mustard
1/2 C. butter, melted
1 T. minced onion
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. You do not have to use all of the sauce! Just use enough to cover the tops. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy. Serve warm.

For the Pastry:
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 cups cold water
9 ounces (about 2 cups) medium rye flour
4 1/2 ounces (1 cup) bread flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
Eggwash (1 egg, plus 1 tablespoon water, beaten together)
1 tablespoon caraway seeds (or more as desired)

For the Filling:
About 1 pound cooked corned beef, thinly sliced or chopped
About 2 cups sauerkraut, drained
About 1/2 cup Thousand Island dressing
About 1/2 pound Swiss cheese, grated

To make the Pastry: Combine the yeast and water in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Place the rye flour, bread flour, gluten, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse several times to combine. Cut the butter into chunks and add it to the food processor. Pulse until you have pieces about the size of a garbanzo bean. It’s fine if there are some larger and smaller pieces. Add the flour/butter mixture to the yeast and water and mix gently until all the flour is moistened. Try not to break up the butter any more. At first the mixture might seem too dry, and after it is mixed it might seem too sticky. This is fine. Cover the bowl with a plastic bag or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, flour your work surface generously, and turn out the dough. Flour the top of the dough and pat it into a rough square shape. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 10- by 18-inch rectangle. Flour the dough as needed to keep it from sticking to the counter and the rolling pin. Working quickly so that the butter doesn’t melt, fold the dough in thirds like a business letter resulting in a 6- by 10-inch rectangle. Roll the dough out into an 18- by 10-inch rectangle again. Repeat the folding, roll again, and fold once more. (If the butter begins to get soft, refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes before proceeding). After the third roll and fold, fold the dough in half crosswise resulting in a roughly 6- by 5-inch rectangle. Flatten it a bit, wrap it in plastic, and put it in the refrigerator for at least one hour or up to overnight. To Assemble and Bake: Adjust two oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Flour your work surface and cut the dough into 4 pieces. (If you work fast, you can leave them on the counter. Otherwise, refrigerate them until you’re ready for them.) Roll the first piece into 9- by 12-inch rectangle. Layer one quarter of the corned beef, sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and cheese on the sandwich (use more or less of each ingredient as desired), keeping it within the center third of the dough lengthwise and leaving about an inch uncovered at each end. If you’re a big fan of the Thousand Island dressing, I suggest being less generous on the sandwich and having some at the table to add as needed. If you use too much, you risk having a soggy sandwich. Using a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or pastry cutter, make slits about an inch apart along the long ends of the dough, up to the filling. I make the cuts at an angle, but you can make the straight. Fold one of the uncovered ends over the filling, then begin folding the strips over the filling one at a time, alternating sides and crossing them at the top. If they look a little too short to reach, don’t worry—they’ll stretch. When you get to the far end, fold the end over the filling first, before you fold the final strips over. Transfer the Danish to your prepared baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and continue with the other three pieces of dough. Let the Danish dough rest until it feels puffy when you touch it, about 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap from the dough, brush with the egg wash, and sprinkle with caraway seeds. Bake at 400 degrees until the pastry is nicely browned, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.

4 slices good crusty bread

1-2 T butter

4 T fig jam

Brie cheese, sliced

1-2 granny smith apples, sliced

4-6 slices prosciutto

Spread butter on one side of all four slices of bread. Place bread butter-side-down on grill pan over medium-low and spread fig jam on the top of each slice. Now, start layering your ingredients on two slices of the bread. I went with brie cheese topped with apple topped with prosciutto and finally topped with more brie cheese. It was a pretty can’t go wrong combo, though I was tempted to keep layering and layering and layering. The only thing that stopped me was knowing my cheese wouldn’t melt properly.  Take the fig spread-only slice of bread and place it on top of the layered slice. Press down and let grill for about 2 minutes, until bread begins browning. Then flip over and let the other side of the bread brown and the filling gets all melty.