Lamb Sandwich

One of my favorite books of all time is 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' and in it Robert Jordan comments a few times that he is not yet a skilled enough writer to describe all that he is seeing and wants to record. I feel the same way, these little vignettes are only shadows what they try to describe and if I was any good they would be 10x better. With that said, you have to take the following description and multiply everything by a factor of 10 to properly appreciate it.

I am a food junkie with a deep and abiding psychological problem. When I used to travel to the Bay Area for work, I would eat the Mongolian Beef (double meat, no onions, extra spicy and 2 Cokes) from the Crispy Fry at the Emeryville Public Market for both lunch and dinner every day. If I was a day I did some training in the morning I would add 2 Samosas with both spicy green and sweet brown chutney. The only times I missed out were on the nights I drove into the city to meet with my brother and his wife for dinner. On more than one occasion though, I would guiltily stop for a bit of Mongolian before I went in to meet with them. Its never because I was overly hungry, (though just thinking about it right now is making me hungry) its that I can't get enough of that flavor. Its not important to describe the meal (perfectly tenderized beef, blend of pepper/soy spices and a hint of curry powder....I asked) the point is that once I get something like this stuck in my head, I am powerless in its grip. I have ducked meetings to make sure I did not miss out a session. I planned my flight times to maximize intake and have taken to-go boxes to the airport rather many times.

My Stockholm version of the Mongolian obsession is the Lamb Sandwich. I talked about Hotorgshallen previously (you can click the Brits flag to see it in English but you will have to read with an accent) and I am the frequent and popular customer at La Gazelle (the littler guy, the one holding a lamb leg like a club still works there and usually has a snuss pouch in his lip). I know I am a popular customer because I have a nickname. I can't get them to spell it for me but sounds like 'Nos Saladin'. I am not even clear what language this is but I am guessing Arabic. If you know anyone that can translate it I would be grateful, all they will say is that it means 'wise man' but I wonder.

Every working day I am in Stockholm I go by and pick up a sandwich and a Coke for lunch. I will occasionally supplement with a meat piroger when they are available. The fact that they have this killer sandwich is almost a coincidence as it is one of the best food vendors in the city. I can't identify or pronounce most of the items but they are primarily from N. Africa and Algeria in particular. Imagine a butcher counter about 20' long shaped like a lazy 'J'. On the hook of the J is food meant to be taken home for cooking: spiced chicken breasts, eggroll-ish things filled with spinach and lamb, herbed potato pancakes (my kids freak out for these), Pirogers (meat or veg), some kind of a breaded cauliflower etc. No beef now that I think about it, only lamb and chicken. I will have to ask about that.

Further along the counter are about 15 trays (varies by day on what is fresh) containing various veggie dishes and some sauces. The sauces include (forgive the brutal spelling I have no idea really) tzatziki, baba ganoush, hummus (those that have had the pleasure can now recall Gerhard doing his Hank Hill 'What the Hell's hummus?') and a few others that I have tried but can't recall, pronounce or recommend. The veggie trays change daily but are comprised of mixes of eggplant, bell peppers, carrots and I am sure lots of other things. Some are spicy, some sweet it really is an amazing mix. The 2 common daily dishes: roasted/rosemaried/(!!!) sliced carrots and a spinach puree with yogurt, feta, garlic and olive oil.

Finally you come to the meat section of the case. On the top row there is: a tray of Lamb Sausages (they call them merguez but that might be Swedish for sausage, not sure), a tray of chopped lamb that has been slow roasted (something like brisket), a tray of lamb innards (the guy has tried to tell me several times and from where he is pointing on himself it might be lamb liver, kidney, ass.....no way to tell and I have never risked it), a tray of chopped chicken that has been marinated, grilled and mixed with peppers and spices, a tray of huge lamb chops that I think are already grilled and meant to be taken home for re-heating, roasted diced potatoes (these are made in a secret laboratory at NASA, they are impossibly crispy on the outside and light and tasty inside) and a tray of roasted vegetables based mostly on onion (obviously I can't tell you how that bit is).

The way it works is that a customer comes up and can either have filled a small aluminum tray with any combo of the above meats/veggies/sauces or any combination on bread (white or wheat French rolls made fresh at the bakery just across the hall in the market or in a homemade Pita roll) for 30 Swedish Kronors (@ 7 per that is $4.20 which is incredible as you can't get a pack of gum usually for 30 SEK).

So the Nos Saladin Sandwich (did I mention they named this particular sandwich that I invented after me?) consists of the following ingredients: Wheat Bread (you can go Pita once every couple of weeks to mix it up a bit), Salat Machwia (no idea on the spelling but its like a roasted bell pepper salsa chocked full of spicy peppers), 3-4 Lamb Sausages (these are the length of a french roll and maybe 50% bigger in diameter than a pencil, bright red and mildly spicy on their own), 2 scoops of the roasted potatoes and a careful spread (its already bursting out of the bun) of the creamy spinach. The creamy spinach is a controversial addition and many of my followers (I am the Rasputin of the lamb sandwich) eschew it in favor of boring iceberg lettuce. You can't drop the spinach, the texture combination against the lamb sausage is ideal and the sweet creamy flavor paired with the Machwia sauce is perfect. It took me weeks to make this perfect blend and while I do recommend you experiment with all the options available, know that you will come back to the Nos Saladin in the end.

Incidentally, as I think about it my caloric intake between 7 and 5 Monday to Friday is almost identical day to day. I get coffee at the coffee stand near the office along with 2 chocolates. I am famous there too and the gorgeous Indonesian girls that work there clearly each have a thing for me. They had been putting a blue foil wrapped item on top of my coffee cup for the first few months which I always assumed was a sugar lump and promptly threw away until one day I mentioned to them that I didn't need the sugar at which point she informed me that it is some amazing dark chocolate that goes great with coffee. I feel like an idiot for throwing all that chocolate away and now she gives me 2 each time I stop by. La Gazelle for lunch and I usually eat at my desk. Most days when I get the sandwich I will also pickup a German pretzel (slightly crisp outside, doughy softness inside, tangy sea salt covering the top) to go along w/ the 3PM coffee. I eat one of the afternoon coffee chocolates and save the 2nd for JB. We have a little ritual when I get home where we invent wild distractions so that the girls will not catch me slipping him the pre-dinner chocolate.

I am getting a bit light on work to do now as my part of the project is winding up, its Friday (no one in Sweden works on Friday) and a day off for all of Denmark (a prayer day which I don't get for a secular country). Just killing time till 11:30 when La Gazelle opens.