breakfast sandwiches
I love pressed sandwiches but due to my small kitchen, I didn't want to buy a pressed sandwich machine. Though there are small ones, it's still something I need to plug in. That was until I found this awesome little item in Tokyo! The land of small kitchens would of course come up with small kitchen utensils!
Behold the pressed sandwich mold! Or the Grill Hot Sand as it was written on the package. There is even a video of how to use it on their official site. I found this at the Good Design Store Tokyo at the Kitte mall near Tokyo Station. It was 3500 yen and I was wondering ... was it worth it? Let me tell you, it is! I've made so many pressed sandwiches. It takes up so little space and super easy to use. All you need is a tiny toaster oven! The perfect size for a small kitchen! It also came with a small recipe book. One even had apple turnovers! The possibilities were endless!
It looks like this. A simple wire contraption with the center part a that pops up a bit to create that shape.
You open it up by popping out the hinge. It is easy to open and took no effort at all.
I'm going to go through my tutorial on creating a breakfast sandwich. What is a breakfast sandwich? When I was in Melbourne, I ate breakfast at this AMAZING place that sold all sorts of sandwiches and pizzas at Victoria Market. And one of the items they had was a grilled panini with a hard boiled egg, ham and cheese. It served everything a breakfast should have. Everything in one nice neat, easy to carry package. So, I recreate it here using the Grill Hot Sand. But if you don't have this, you can still create it with the grill press that you have.
Ingredients
1 hard boiled egg
2 slices of ham of your choice
2 slices of cheese of your choice (I used a processed sliced mozzarella from Marin Food, a Japanese brand because it said it had a slow melting point. I was just testing it out. I won't buy again and won't recommend. It felt very artificial and melted faster than regular cheese. Like it melted in my hands!)
2 slices of bread
Directions
1. Open up the contraption and place the slice of bread in the middle.
2. Add a slice of cheese, followed by a slice of ham, followed by the egg. The cooked your egg should be up to you. But if you want it not too dried out, I'd cook it a minute less than normal as it will continue to cook in the oven.
3. Add another slice of ham, followed by cheese.
4. Top this off with the final slice of bread and close the contraption.
Nothing fall out as it holds it securely in place.
5. Put into a pre-heated toaster oven for 2 1/2 minutes.
6. Flip the contraption and put it back into the oven for 1 1/2 minutes.
7. After time is up, take it out. Open the contraption and slide the sandwich out. It will hold its shape so no filling slides out! And ta-dah! Hot grilled sandwich in five minutes!
