An important element to a well-built sandwich is something “pickled”, something that will give it a flavorful, crunchy, salty, vinegary punch. To achieve this, I made sort of a “fresh” pickle by thinly slicing a peeled cucumber, and blending it with chopped garlic, green onion, parsley, basil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I let this mix sit as I made the rest of the meal, allowing the flavors to meld.

The foundation of any good sandwich is the bread. It may not look very attractive in the photo below, but this is an extraordinary bread we’ve been enjoying lately call the Peace Bomb. The Peace Bomb is a hearty, grainy sprouted wheat baguette. It may sound like it’s too healthy to be good, but it is truly delicious, in fact it is so flavorful, nutty, chewy and tender that it’s tasty straight from the bag. There is also a great story behind this sensation. The fellow who makes it, Dave, had taken some tough turns in life. But, after a few stints in prison, he found a way to turn things around and is now trying to make the world a better place “one loaf of bread at a time”. It’s a great story and a great bread. Good job, Dave!

I sliced the baguette in half lengthwise and pan toasted it in butter to give the cut edge a nice caramelized crust. This crust added rich buttery flavor and also gave the sandwich an additional “crunch” sensation.

My apologies for the photo quality, I took these with my iphone in my dark little galley {if they had seen me reach for my camera, they’d have known I was up to something other than cooking down there;}.

But I snuck up to the salon for a quick sunshine shot of the next layer, tomato halves; halved slices are easier to eat than full slices.

Finally, I layered on the “pickled” cucumbers, spooning the remaining sauce over the tomatoes, and lettuce for added flavor.