Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book

Unlike Summer produce that you can toss into a salad, Winter veggies often require roasting, which has the added benefit of warming up your house. This week, I took another page from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book to prepare roasted radicchio sandwiches with a seasonal side of Brussels sprouts.Though I'm not usually partial to open-faced sandwiches, this Italian-inspired recipe won me over with a surprising combination of ingredients and comforting, wintry flavors. The punchy gorgonzola and slightly bitter radicchio get a sweet assist from honey and candied walnuts. You can make the walnuts from scratch if you want, though I used store-bought candied pecans. For more details on the recipe and to see how I made it, read more

How you feel about Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book depends on how you feel about sandwiches. If you see sammies as a fast dinner option on a busy night, then this is not the book for you. But if you prefer to elevate your humble sandwich with gourmet ingredients, then you should give Silverton's book a shot. As she writes in the intro, "Don't look at them as complicated sandwiches, but as satisfying entrees on bread."

This cookbook grew out of the Thursday sandwich nights at LA restaurant Campanile, where different twists on classics like the grilled cheese are showcased every week. The 100-plus recipes are divided into eight categories, some more sandwichy than others. For a detailed breakdown, read more

I've let Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book languish on my desk for too long, so this weekend I finally decided to make a recipe from this famously excessive sandwich collection. (Stay tuned for a full cookbook review.) Since I was having friends over for a casual dinner, I avoided the more labor-intensive recipes in favor of a simple but delicious sandwich that would showcase the fresh tomatoes I bought that morning at the farmers market.

This PLT — pancetta, lettuce, and tomato — is a variation on the classic BLT (from New York's 'Ino) using Italian pancetta and arugula. Silverton's book is designed so that, if you choose, you can prepare each ingredient without shortcuts — for instance, braising artichokes rather than buying jarred ones or even making bread from scratch. Since the recipe called for it, I opted to make my own lemon aioli from Silverton's recipe. But despite my ambition, this dinner ended up being something of a disaster. To find out why, read more