Cook's Exchange: Keep it fresh for summer goodness

Readers, if you still have some fresh tomatoes or ones purchased at the farmer's markets, here is a sandwich that shows off the flavor of those tomatoes. This recipe is calculated for one person, but can be doubled or tripled to fit your needs.

GRILLED MARGHERITA SANDWICH

1 ciabatta bun

1- 1/2 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese

Fresh basil leaves -- 3 each sandwich

3 ounces beefsteak tomatoes

Pinch kosher salt

Pinch ground black pepper

1 teaspoon balsamic vinaigrette dressing

3/4 ounce Monterey Jack cheese, sliced

1 teaspoon olive oil

Slice bread in half horizontally. Slice tomato into 1- 1/2-ounce slices. For each sandwich, place onto the bottom half of bread 2 thin slices of mozzarella, 3 basil leaves, 2 slices of tomato, a pinch of salt and black pepper and 1 teaspoon of vinaigrette. Top with 1 slice of Jack cheese and top with the other half of bread.

Lightly brush oil onto both sides of sandwich and cook on medium hot flat top of skillet. Cook sandwich on both sides, pressed with weights until bread is toasted and cheese is melted or use a panini press. Serve immediately.

Note: The thicker the bread, the more time on the skillet, so lower the heat to give ample time to brown and melt the cheese without burning the bread.

Nutritional data: Calories, 521; protein, 23.2 grams; carbohydrates, 50.3 grams; total fat, 25.3 grams; cholesterol, 52.5 milligrams; sodium, 1,034.1 milligrams; dietary fiber, 3.9 grams; saturated fat, 11.3 grams.

-- From Superfoods

Fig update

"I saw in your last column about people wanting to find figs," Lynette Faul said. "Sorry to say, but figs are just about done for this year. We have a big fig tree and had they emailed you the start of May we could have helped.

"Figs go through May to mid-July, and now there are small green ones on the tree but do not foresee them getting any bigger. Leaves are starting to fall, which tells us summer is ending," she said.

All you fig lovers need to start the quest earlier next year, so that figs can be found.

Talk about good

Last week, my daughter and I had the opportunity to try an excellent chicken dish from a Coast restaurant. It was a chicken paillard, which had been rolled in seasoned breadcrumbs and either fried or baked quickly. The thin chicken breast was topped with a Newburg-type sauce with fresh chopped tomatoes. The flavor was spot on.

A paillard is a thin, boneless chicken breast or veal scallop that is grilled, sautéed, fried or baked. It is pounded flat to about1/4-inch in thickness.

This is certainly a dish I plan to try at home. The sweet flavor of sherry came through in the Newburg sauce, a simple dish served with a Caesar salad.

If you, like me, want to try this recipe, here is my mother's Newburg sauce that I plan to use to top the chicken breasts. My mom preferred lobster Newburg, but this is the basic sauce recipe.

NEWBURG SAUCE

1/4 cup butter

3-4 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half

2-3 beaten egg yolks

1/4 cup cream sherry

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in pan, stir in flour, salt, and pepper to taste. Add milk and evaporated milk or half-and-half. Heat. Beat egg yolks in bowl and temper with the hot sauce mixture. Add the tempered yolks, stirring constantly. Stir until thick and smooth. Add sherry and stir until smooth.

Andrea Yeager, can be reached at ayeager51@cableone.net and takes requests at Cook's Exchange, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535-4567.

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Cook's Exchange: Keep it fresh for summer goodness."