Pastrami, Gruyere cheese, omelet and caramelized onion on Ciabatta for a beefy breakfast sandwich that will stay with you all morning long.
Bronx Breakfast Sandwich
By Sue Lau | Paltable Pastime
Breakfast on the go in the City of Pastrami-Love just might mean a handful of this sexy thang in a plain paper wrapper. Or not. Why not have it at home instead?
And at home, it is coming up on Mother’s Day where we try to treat Moms to the kind of breakfast they would like. My own mother has sadly passed (as the time surely comes for all of us) so I have taken on the mantle of the family’s Mother Hen. And while I do most all of the cooking at home myself—don’t be sad—-I insist upon it or I would be sad—there comes a time when someone might make something for me.
Now I don’t have wimpy tastes when it comes to breakfast. And while I like a dainty pastry such as couign amann (and would swoon over it) I also love meat for breakfast.
We can go down breakfast meat lane with all the usual suspects: bacon, sausage, ham, scrapple, goetta, and the like, why must we limit ourselves there? One of the meats I adore is (fatty) pastrami, and I will often grab it late morning at a deli stacked mile high on rye bread. And then test myself to see if I can eat it all.
So why not add an egg and see if it makes a go for breakfast? So here it is, and yes it does (make a go of it for breakfast).
Now this is a mighty big sammy. I cut this baby in half and Bill and I shared it easily. It’s a thing of love. 😀
You know while normally I’d say cut back on the meat amount so you can eat all of it (and many of you can eat all of it- and me too if I am “powerful hungry”) I really like with sandwiches and burgers to have thicker meat and less bread, so half a sandwich with more meat is tastier to me than a whole sandwich with much less meat.
I think you’ll enjoy this. I served it with orange slices and recommend fresh fruit of any kind. If you serve it closer to noon or have it as breakfast-for-supper, you might throw on some barrel pickles. And cottage potatoes (sliced potatoes pan fried in the skillet- you know the drill) or chips depending on the time might be suitable as well.
This recipe is also being included as part of Sunday Supper, which is undergoing a format restructuring– so while you may not see the usual recipe list below, you can still find any associated recipes for the week by searching Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+ and the like) with the hashtag #SundaySupper.
I also had put this together for Part 3 of the ongoing Ready Set Cook challenge I am participating in with some foodie friends, where we create recipes with a limited ingredient list.
Ready, Set, Cook!
Another year, another #RSC…
If you recall, a couple weeks ago I told you about #RSC, in that I have been presented with a limited list of cooking ingredients and am confined to that to develop recipes. It’s sort of like a chopped basket.
Here are links to the recipes I created a couple of weeks ago in Round One:
Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Soup
Wild Rice and Mushroom Cabbage Rolls
Then I created four more recipes for Round Two:
Blueberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Also, for those who have followed me online over the years, here is one of the recipes I put in for the first RSC on Recipezaar back in 2002. It won.
Santa Fe Pork Medallions with Peach Salsa
Here is another recipe that won in a RSC a different year, and also in a CSM contest:
Strawberry Sweetheart Streusel Muffins
Ad now it is time for:
Round 3
Which is the last cooking round for the year, after which we cook each other’s recipes for the round.
For the third round, the ingredients and courses have changed from rounds one and two. The object is to select a course, and create a recipe using one of the main ingredients and anything from the pantry list but nothing else. I wonder…what would you have made with these?
Round 3 – Categories
- Breads:
- Sandwiches/Wraps:
- Vegetarian Dishes:
- Casseroles:
Round 3 – Main Ingredients List
- Ground meat/ beef/chicken/turkey
- Pasta – penne/ziti/macaroni/cannelloni/fusilli
- Rice – white/brown
- Flour/ all purpose/bread & roll/whole wheat/rice/potato/cornflour/cornstarch
- Yeast
- Cornmeal/polenta/grits
- Cheese/ Cheddar/Monterey jack/Havarti/Gruyere/Mozzarella
- Mushrooms/ oyster, button, wild, cremini, portabella
- Fresh Leafy Vegetables /Spinach/arugula/cabbage/Swiss chard/beet greens
- Peppers / Sweet red bell/ Poblano pepper/ cayenne peppers – (ground poblano, ground ancho and ground cayenne)
- Hot sauce
- Cucumber (no pickles)
Round 3 – Pantry List
- Cream soup/ mushroom/chicken
- Bread crumbs/ fresh/dried
- Onions/ sweet/red – white/shallots/scallions
- Marinara Sauce/ fresh tomatoes/canned – diced
- Peaches/ apricots/pears/avocado/ cherries
- 1/2 and 1/2 cream/ heavy cream/milk
- Italian seasoning – (dried mix of – oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil, rosemary and sage) (not to be used separately)
- Dijon mustard/ original/coarse/smooth
- Condiments /mayonnaise – plain/ketchup/mustard
- Nuts/ walnuts/hazelnuts/pecans/pine nuts
- Vinegar – Red wine/ white balsamic/apple cider
- Dried fruit/ golden raisins/currants/figs/candied ginger/ dried mango/dried pear
- Canned salmon
- Horseradish cream
- Chicken/vegetable broth
- Citrus /orange /lemon
- Eggplant/artichokes/zucchini
- Potatoes /squash/turnip/ rutabaga
- Eggs
- Jarred pesto sauce red/green/walnut
- Beans/ canned – black/cannellini/chickpeas/pink/kidney/ baked beans
- Sliced meats/ Ham/turkey/salami/chicken/ pastrami/roast beef/pimento loaf/prosicutto
- Fats/ Butter/ olive oil/coconut oil/peanut oil
- Sweetner/ sugar/white/brown/agave
- Baking powder/ baking soda
- Garlic – fresh/powdered
- Bread /rolls/wraps/naan (white, whole wheat, french, Italian, etc) dinner/sandwich roll (no dessert rolls – cinnamon buns, pastries, crossiants, etc) – wraps – (flatbread, pita, flour/corn tortilla)
- Spices – cinnamon,nutmeg, all spice, Chinese 5 spice, ginger, star anise, cardamom, fennel seeds, caraway and cumin
- Salt
- Pepper
Remember, only ingredients on the list are allowed, and nothing else!
As my sandwich course, I opted to keep it simple. Because for breakfast, who doesn’t want simple?
In the coming days (over the next two weeks) I will also be posting recipes in the breads, vegetarian, and casseroles categories. We only need submit one recipe for the group to share cooking each round, but you know me, the blogger-overachiever. Someone shouts “Cook!” and I ask “How High”?
It’s the way of things…*giggle*!
Bronx Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients:
- 2 Ciabatta rolls (or other sandwich rolls or bread of choice)
- 8 ounces Boar’s Head deli-sliced beef pastrami (preferably fatty pastrami if you can procure it)
- 2 large eggs
- 4 slices Boar’s Head Blanc Grue® Gruyere Cheese (or other sliced Gruyere cheese)
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- butter
- salt and black pepper
- whole grain Dijon mustard
Method:
- Caramelize onions in a small amount of butter in a nonstick skillet.
- Heat pastrami in a small amount of butter in a skillet.
- Whisk eggs separately in small bowls and lightly season with salt and black pepper. Heat a little butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet and add beaten egg; swirl the pan to spread the egg and allow it to set over low heat. Use a pancake turner to tri-fold the omelet, then fold it in half.
- Lightly spread ciabatta with mustard; top with heated pastrami, then cheese, then omelet, another slice of cheese, then onion. Top sandwich with the roll.
- Serve as is, or place in a toaster oven or microwave for a little bit to get the cheese extra melted.
- Serve hot.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
Join me later in the week for #BreadBakers (when we do recipes for breads with seeds), Imrpov Cooking Challenge (recipes will include both Lavender and Lemon) and Burger Month, when I post the first of two burgers I made for that, the first one being the Kotlet Kubideh Burger, which is a play off the fabulous Persian kotlet kebab.
I prefer savory breakfasts and your delicious sandwich hits all the marks!
What a great sandwich Sue. It was amazing, full of flavor and it had great textures. We really enjoyed the pastrami prepared this way. What a great use of game ingredients. This sandwich certainly is a winner. One that I will enjoy again. (BK)