February
07
Sochi Sliders!
Sochi has hardly been a shining beacon of hostdom, but Let’s Lunch* has made the Winter Olympics its theme for February, so to get in the spirit of things, I’m humming the Olympic theme song, like I did before I ran the torch for the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 …
… and I’m keeping focus on the athletes who trained four years to get to this stage.
So my Sochi-themed sammy is a Sochi Slider, in tribute to all those lugers, bobsledders and skeletoners.
The filling starts with a pork loin filet (lean meat to rep the Olympians), flash-fried with a little salt and pepper.
Then I topped that with garlic– and lemon-sautéed rainbow chard (in support of all the LGBT athletes, their loved ones and fans):
I squeezed lemon juice and sprinkled fresh lemon zest onto the chard after separately cooking the leaves down with olive oil.
Everything was sandwiched on Russian-inspired sourdough three-grain mini-buns. The “Russian-inspired” part is the addition of wheat, rye and ground coriander seeds.
Jessica tried the full-pork version:
And April tested it out vegetarian-style:
April wanted a second slider sans pork. “This is good!” she said.
“I don’t just like it, I love it,” said Jessica, who took an extra roll home to eat later.
Jessica’s lesson for the week comes from something she read from Anaïs Nin: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Love this, and how it speaks to what the Olympic stage is for.
Sandwich Surprise is always up for expanding its circle of food friends and potential Sandwich Surprisees! Subscribe to my blog, or click here to follow my Twitter account, or here to like my Facebook page.
*Let’s Lunch is a growing global group of friendly, fun food bloggers that meets monthly for a virtual lunch date via Twitter (#letslunch) and shares posts on a new topic each time. Here are the other Let’s Lunchers’ posts!
Annabelle’s Saganaki (or Flaming Cheese) at Glass of Fancy
Betty Ann’s Ham and Pineapple Garlic Rice at Asian In America
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s Solyanka a.k.a. Russian Beef Soup for the Olympic Soul at A Tiger In The Kitchen
Cheryl T.’s Vegetarian Poutine at Miss Cheryl Tan
Grace’s Coconut Hot Chocolate With Kahlua at Hapa Mama
Jill’s Go-For-The-Gold Honeybell Chess Pie at Eating My Words
Linda D.’s Meyer Lemon Cake at Free Range Cookies
Linda S.’s Guinness Stout Ice Cream at Spice Box Travels
Lisa’s Hot Borscht at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy’s Russian Tea at A Cook And Her Books
Mai’s Chocolate Guinness Whoopie Pie at Cooking In The Fruit Bowl
Margaret’s Olympic King Cake at Tea and Scones
Nancie’s Kotleti a.k.a. Russian Hamburgers at Nancie McDermott
sandwich surprise! 
That looks so good! I would have loved it if you surprised me with that. Guess that means I need to make it. Did you make the buns?
Love the rainbow chard tribute. 🙂
Thanks, Mai, and thanks for hosting! I would have loved to share these with you. They’re easy to make, especially if you buy the rolls.
But I made the Russian-inspired buns by mixing 2 1/4 c. lukewarm water with 1.5 T. coarse salt and 1 t. yeast with 1 c. active sourdough starter, 4 c. white organic flour, 1/2 c. rye, 1/2 c. graham flour (which is a type of whole wheat flour) and 1 t. ground coriander. Mix with a spatula until it’s combined, and let rise for two hours. You can put in the fridge after that, or go ahead and bake immediately. (If you put it in the fridge, the dough needs to rest at room temp for an hour or two).
When you preheat the oven to 450˚, start prepping the filling. Sauté 2 cloves of garlic — sliced thinly or minced — in 1/8 c. olive oil on medium-high heat until the garlic starts to turn golden. Then you add in the chard leaves from one bunch of rainbow chard, chopped in 1/2-inch ribbons, in batches by the handful, stirring until each batch wilts down. I cooked it until the leaves were a little softer than al dente, around 6-8 minutes, and removed to a bowl.
Then you add another 2-3 T. olive oil and sauté at the same heat level the chard stems, chopped, with 1 clove of chopped garlic. Cook for about 5 mins and then stir in the cooked leaves, along with the zest from one lemon. Salt and pepper to taste.
Pound the pork loin filets until they’re about 1/6-inch thick. Heat 2 T. olive oil on high heat, then flash-fry the filets 1 minute on each side, making sure to salt and pepper each side.
When you’re ready to bake the buns, grease a muffin tin with olive oil. Then you either wet your hands or flour your hands, and make little rolls — each should fill about 2/3 the cups of a muffin tin. Bake for 15 mins, then turn the rolls over in the tin and bake for another 5 mins.
Slice buns in half, put half a pork filet on the bottom, top with chard, squeeze fresh lemon juice on the chard, and cover with other bun half. Enjoy!
I love everything about this post, from your photograph (WOW!!!!) up top, to the multi-level fillings, and most especially your choosing to use the Rainbow Chard: sandwiches for one and all! I will have one of each, please….
Thanks, Nancie! I’m sure I asked you this already, but where do you live? Maybe I can Sandwich Surprise you someday!
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I just love these Sochi sliders! What a great idea. You had me at pork loin. But once you added the garlic and lemon, then I knew this would be a winner. It was fun doing Let’s Lunch with you. Thanks for the blog-love !
Thanks, Betty Ann! Lemon and garlic solve a lot of culinary issues. I can’t wait to try your rice dish!
Awesome theme and flavors! Would love to hear how you ended up being a torch bearer– neat-o!
Thanks! I was the senior Olympic reporter for ESPN The Magazine doing a story on a day in the life of the torch, so the torch folks suggested I run a segment. I was in the same van of 10 runners as Venus and Serena! Beyond bucket list highlight, for sure. 🙂
Hope you have the photo blown up and framed in your living room 🙂
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Here’s to the Sochi slider ~ that really looks yummy!
Awesome post .i hope everybody will like your post
It is a informative post , thanks for sharing
“Lean meat to rep the Olympians” lol, I love everything about this post. And what awesome buns! You’ve inspired me to add Russian flair to my next batch.
Nice! Let me know when you bake any bread 🙂
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I don’t think I’ve ever tried chard on a sandwich, but since I love it in other things, I have no idea why! Sounds delicious.
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