Pastrami on Rye

"New Yooooooooooooooooooork, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do..." ~Alicia Keys (Empire State of Mind).

Wherever you live, you have to admit: one city in the world has an  allure like no other. New York. The city that never sleeps, rich with culture, diverse with people and attitudes. The city seems to crackle with possibility and and I don't think there is a person out there who doesn't find the thought of living there - or at the very least visiting it - extremely appealing.

So, is it any wonder then that it wasn't the variety of personas Ruth Reichl morphed into or the detailed descriptions of the meals she enjoyed at the various restaurants, but the locale of her book, Garlic & Sapphires, that inspired me most? The street scenes, the buzz of the city and its hidden treasures all come to life in Ruth's account of her time spent as the New York Times' restaurant critic. I wanted to inhale the very essence of the city whilst reading and in fact, I could almost smell the Manhattan air as I did so.

Something quintessentially New York was therefore the no-brainer choice for my first This Book Makes Me Cook challenge. Cheesecake, bagels, lox and cream cheese were all contenders for the crown, but the winner was  a NY classic - pastrami on rye. Soft, fresh rye bread, paired with a dab of mayonnaise, a couple of slices pastrami, nutty emmenthal and sour pickles and garnished with dribbles of coarse grainy mustard.

The perfect portable meal for the get-up-and-go lifestyle of the locals. And if you haven't read the book in question, I can think of no better partner for this sandwich.

PS: Doesn't this excerpt from the book just encapsulate the very essence of the joy of cooking?

"... while cooking demands your entire attention, it also rewards you with endlessly sensual pleasures. The sound of water skittering across leaves of lettuce. The thump of the knife against watermelon... The seductive softness of chocolate beginning to melt from solid to liquid. The tug of sauce against the spoon when it thickens in the pan, and the lovely lightness of Parmesan drifting from the grater in gossamer flakes. Time slows down in the kitchen, offering up an entire universe of small satisfactions." ~ From Garlic & Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

Pastrami on Rye 
Makes 1 sandwich

2 slices of rye bread
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 slices of beef pastrami
2 or 3 slices emmenthal
1 dill pickle, sliced
2 tsp grainy mustard

1. Lightly spread both bread slices with mayonnaise. 
2. Layer the pastrami, emmenthal and pickle onto one of the bread slices.
3. Add dollops of mustard here and there and top with the other slice of bread.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 360.2, Total fat 15.5 g, Saturated fat 3.5 g, Polyunsaturated fat 0.7 g, Monounsaturated fat 2.0 g, Cholesterol 42.4 mg, Sodium 2,067.5 mg, Potassium 316.2 mg, Total carbohydrate 33.6 g, Dietary fiber 4.8 g, Sugars 3.1 g, Protein 18.3 g

Good source of: Selenium 42.6 %, Manganese 28.2 %, Niacin 24.4 %, Zinc 24.2 %, Thiamin 21.5 %, Iron 19.2 %