The Tot Head: A Simple Sandwich For The Munchies

Posted by hisweetsweet on July 12, 2013 in Food, Recipes | 19 Comments

You don’t have to be high to get the munchies (though it makes watching Bram Stoker’s Dracula a lot more fun; don’t ask how I know this), which is why it’s the July theme for Let’s Lunch*.

That, and because fellow Let’s Luncher Cheryl Tan has a short story in the new Akashic Books anthology, The Marijuana Chronicles, along with folks like Lee Child and Joyce Carol Oates. (Yay, Cheryl!)

When the munchies hit, they must be heard. They’re all about craving easy, tasty, fried deliciousness. And my brain on the munchies looks a lot like Tater Tots, sport peppers, fried pickles, garlic bread and Cheez Whiz on a burger.

I bought everything in an Acme by the Jersey Shore, and though my garlic bread was fresh baked using the Master Boule recipe from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day, you can get pre-made ones for an even simpler fix.

After making the bread with plenty of melted butter, minced garlic and parsley, I deep-fried the tots in olive oil, then stuffed a little sport pepper or tabasco pepper in each.

I originally wanted to stuff them before frying, but the tots just fall apart when you do that. And anyway, there’s a tiny satisfying crunch to pressing a pepper into the middle of a just-fried tot.

Then I deep-fried a red pepper, sliced into big, flat chunks without flour until they got blistery …

… followed by thinly sliced dill pickles dredged in white flour and Old Bay Seasoning (no egg necessary).

As I pan fried a bunch of burger patties, I melted a jar of Cheez Whiz in the microwave for 1 minute.

I haven’t had the official munchies since college, but I totally spaced when I forgot to turn off the oven on the garlic bread, so they turned into large croutons.

(This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps … )

This week’s Sandwich Surprisees: My sister Diana—

— and my nephew Max.

(My niece Mia (with Mom above) said, “I don’t roll with spicy,” so she just tried the garlic bread with the parsley scraped off. “I like the crunchy bread,” she said. “I give it 3 billion hundred stars!”)

“It’s really flavorful,” said Max. “I like the spicy tots. And the fried pickle gives it an extra — ” he added, while making an exploding fireworks gesture with his hand.

“The bread is a little tough to eat,” said Diana. “But it’s frickin’ effing amazing.”

“Yeah, I would have made it a little less crispy,” said Max. “And maybe put less filling so it’s easier to eat. But out of five stars, I give it four and a quarter. It’s awesome.”

I also would prefer triple the amount of deep-fried red peppers because their apple-like sweetness offset the salty, cheez whizzy richness of the rest of the sammy. But I think with a Tot Head, a Dude might abide.

Sandwich Surprise is always up for expanding its circle of food adventurers. Subscribe to my blog, or click here to follow my Twitter account, or here to like my Facebook page.

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*Let’s Lunch is a growing global group of friendly, fun food bloggers that meets monthly for a virtual lunch date via Twitter (#letslunch). We share posts on a different topic each time. Here’s what the other Let’s Lunchers posted on the munchies today!

Cheryl’s Spam Fries with Key Lime Dip at A Tiger In The Kitchen

Jonathan’s Chocolate Chewy Squares at JonathanSantlofer.com

Lisa’s Cheesy Nachos at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Emma’s Homemade Pizza Rolls at Dreaming Of Pots And Pans

Pat’s Munchie Mania: Sausage Rolls at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook

Grace’s Fry Sauce With An Asian Twist at Hapa Mama

Annabelle’s Scallion Pancakes at Glass of Fancy

Linda S.’s review of Sam Sifton’s Trini-Chinese Chicken at Spice Box Travels

Vivian’s Spam Kimchi Sandwiches at VivianPei.com

Linda D.’s Heavenly Hash Popcorn at Free Range Cookies

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