balcony premier with club sandwich

I have, as you may know, waited eagerly for the spring, the sun, the warm winds. And they are here! Today I had my first lunch outdoors, chicken with herbs and chanterelle rice, on a very nice and sunny roof terrace with my dear friend A. And this evening my man and I had our first dinner on the balcony. We have a lovely balcony turned westwards so we get a lot of evening sun, and soon we will fill it with geraniums and other flowers, and herbs for cooking.

I had planned for a pasta with beef, mushrooms, zucchini and mustard but as it turned out my man wanted to celebrate spring with the best meat available in the shop, Swedish fillet of beef. Since he is the sandwich expert in this household, I have told you before about his great prawn sandwiches, I only assisted him in the making of these delicious club sandwiches with fresh rocket and spinach, tomatoes, a thick stew of mushrooms and zucchinis spiced with a little mustard and of course the wonderfully tender meat. He is also very good at the presentation as you can see!

This weekend it is going to be about 20 degrees each day, lovely lovely! I have lots to do cleaning, folk dancing and meeting friends but will try to blog a bit too.

Fantastic club sandwiches
Serves 2 on a sunny balcony

2 slices of fillet of beef or some other good meat
10-12 champignons or other good mushrooms, cut in half or quarters
1/2 small zucchini in half-moons
2 tbsp plain flour
100 ml cream or milk
1-2 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper
4 slices of good bread
a handful of rocket and spinach
some tomato slices
2 slices of mozzarella

Start with the stew. Prepare the mushrooms and zucchinis and fry them in a little butter until a little tender. Powder over the flour and stir a little to bind the fluids, then add the milk a little at a time and let simmer for a couple of minutes until it thickens. Spice to taste with mustard, salt and pepper.
Fry the meat a couple of minutes on each side - everyone seems to want their meat differently but we prefer it a little pink inside. Salt and pepper. Put the meat aside and let it rest while you fry the bread. Get your plates ready and combine your sandwiches as you please. Ours were bread-salad-meat-stew-bread-mozzarella-tomato. A wooden skewer helps to stabilize it. Carry them out in the sun and eat them immediately! A cold (Estonian) beer is nice to have with it. And try to ignore the teenagers driving back and forth with their mopeds (aaargh! Is this an international problem? Drives me crazy, but I also understand it is irresistible).