This particular post has almost nothing to do with my usual step-by-step recipe! But it does have EVERYTHING to do with my new found love of growing herbs and other things in my tiny balcony garden!
The first in line are a basil bush (photos of which I shall share later) and lettuce, planted in the same pot as my bougainvilleas! Apparently they flourish together, or so my once-a-week-gardener told me! Please don’t harbour any illusions about me having a green thumb! Quite the contrary, almost anything green withers the moment I look in its direction! But my gardener does a fantastic job of planting and weeding etc., while AK does an even better job of watering them!
Here’s the lettuce:
Can you see the lone fallen bougainvillea flower?!
Here’s another one…
And here is the lettuce after plucking (is that the right word?) and washing, resting peacefully in my colander…
I was warned by the gardener not to take too much lettuce from the pots until it had had a chance to flourish a little more, but I just couldn’t resist and got myself about 6-8 leaves of green and red, thoroughly washed them and stuffed them inside a sandwich. The other stuff that made up the sandwich were:
Chicken – Pepper Salami
Cheese Slice
Onion – cut into rings
Tomato slices
1 double fried egg per sandwich
Garlic-Basil-Butter: I softened a little salted butter (about 2 tbsp for 3 sandwiches), added finely chopped fresh basil (about 6-8 leaves) and 1 big clove of garlic (minced) along with a dash of ground black pepper.
I assembled the sandwiches (without the lettuce) and grilled them in the oven at 150 C for about 13-15 minutes. When done, I opened each from the non-cheesy & non-sticky side and shoved in 2-3 whole leaves into each sandwich!
Dipped it in a whole lot of Hot & Sweet Ketchup, Smoked BBQ Sauce and Spicy Mustard (not all together of course) and had a yummy and easy breakfast!
Trust me, there is nothing as satisfying as consuming vegetable/ herb produce from your very own garden. This simple sandwich was the most enjoyable meal I have had in a long time!