The Book of Sandwiches

In The Book of Sandwiches, you’ll find sandwich recipes for every day of the week and every week of the year. Sandwiches for comfort food cravings, for quick meals to grab and go, even for high-impact (low-key) ways to impress your friends. (Make someone a great sandwich and you’ve got a friend for life!) Inside are sandwiches for late nights when the hunger hits, and for the next morning when your energy is low. Try the very best new versions of well-known sandwiches, plus tonnes of truly inventive ideas for sandwiches you’ve never thought of before. Jason frequently appears on CTV Your Morning as their in-house food expert, and he’s sharing his recipe for his Pastrami Monte Cristo below.  —Vita Daily

Pastrami Monte Cristo

I spend a lot of time in the UK, and when I’m in London, one of my favorite places to spend a Saturday morning is Borough Market. It bustles with people and teems with butchers, fishmongers, cheese makers, and spice traders. Not only can you get all your groceries from local purveyors, but there is an endless amount of takeout food stalls, with offerings from freshly shucked oysters and a glass of Champagne (be prepared, the lineups for oysters are always the longest) to paella, falafel, raclette, and much more—make sure you arrive with a healthy appetite.

The idea for this sandwich came about when my friends and I stopped at the market one Saturday morning and had breakfast. My pick was a duck pastrami Monte Cristo. It was a delight. I would have loved to include duck pastrami in this recipe, but it’s simply much too hard to find; if you can find it, though, or better yet, if you can make it, go ahead and include it! This sandwich comes together quite quickly and would be great not only for a weekend brunch but also for a weeknight dinner. 

Makes 2 sandwiches.

•  2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 4 slices egg bread 
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise 
• 12 slices pastrami
• 4 slices Gruyère 
• 4 tbsp black cherry jam 
• 2 large eggs
• Kosher salt and cracked black pepper 
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter 

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Spread mustard over one side of two slices of the bread and mayonnaise over one side of the other two. Divide the pastrami between the two mustard-slathered slices and top each with two slices of Gruyère. Evenly spread a few tablespoons of black cherry jam over each and then top with the other slice of bread mayo side down. 

Crack the eggs into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. 

Melt the butter in a cast-iron pan over medium heat. Carefully dip each sandwich into the egg mixture, letting each side soak for a minute or so, and then fry until the bottom is nicely golden brown, about 1–2 minutes. Flip and continue to cook for another 1–2 minutes. 

Transfer the sandwiches to the prepared baking sheet and into the oven to melt the cheese, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the sandwiches rest for 5 minutes before digging in and enjoying! 

Excerpted from The Book of Sandwiches by Jason Skrobar. Copyright © 2024 Jason Skrobar. Photographs bySébastien Dubois-Didcock. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.