Petit pain de l'Ermitage

This sandwich was an eclectic attempt (major gastronomic guesswork) at what I would imagine would be a great little sandwich to pair with the tour de force Hermitage wine from the Rhône Valley in France. Hermitage, and it's much lesser cousin Crozes Hermitage, are great examples of what wine geeks mean when they say "Terroir", you can taste the surrounding of the vines that grew the grapes, and Hermitage is very distinctive and among the best incarnations of Syrah in the world. Syrah is a favorite grape of mine personally that has inspired many meals, maybe because it was the first wine I made with grapes from California. This first winemaking experience had me sampling every syrah I could get my hands on for the year it took to turn grapes into wine. There is a stark contrast between new world and old world examples of syrah, and if you want to learn more about wine I'd strongly encourage you to work your palette with old world examples from the Rhône Valley, north and south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, even some provencial wines. The wine turned out great, and along the way I found out what a chamelion this grape was and how evocative it was of the earth and weather that made it.

So back to the sandwich ...



Start by creating a brunois of a pink lady apple, and also peeling and slicing another apple. Prepare a mixture of 1 oz of brandy, 4 oz of cool water, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Place the apple slices in the mixture to macerate in the fridge for 30 minuts.

Mince 1 medium shallot, and combine half the minced shallot with the apple brunois and 1 lb of spicy country sausage (hot). Form thin patties saute, adding a couple splashes of champagne vinegar just before flipping. Add the rest of the minced shallot to the pan and cook through over medium low heat, avoid scorching anything, adding a little more vinegar along the way or reducing heat as necessary.

Split two ciabatta rolls, or other simple crusty bread rolls, place a slice of swiss cheese on the bottom half of each and toast everything under the broiler for 5 minutes. Coat the top with a thin layer of quince paste, add a couple red lettuce leaves, spread a little high quality dijon mustard on the lettuce, add a few macerated apples, and place a patty on the bottom half of the roll.

This is a complex set of flavors, with many different tastes as you progress through the sandwich ... sweetness, bitterness, heat, richness and finally crispness. Overall, a very robust and yet refined experience. The macerated apples are key, but avoid over exposing these to the brandy mixture as a little goes a long way, and you definitely want to avoid directly exposing the apples to the brandy, otherwise you risk an overly pungent and offputting undertone of alcohol. What I like about this sandwich is that nothing dominates, it's balanced and was fun to eat. How many sausage sandwiches can you describe as having a clean crisp finish?