Books for Cooks: Sandwich for the road

James Beard award winning authors Jane and Michael Stern have compiled the best sandwiches from their travels into a new cookbook.

For “Roadfood Sandwiches” the Sterns have criss-crossed the country from New York to California for the best “heroes, hoagies, wraps, grinders, blimps, gyros and subs.” Each sandwich has a story so you’ll learn a bit of local lore as well.

At the Bread and Ink Café in Portland’s Hawthorne neighborhood, the Sterns love the Yiddish brunch on Sunday and the diverse menu, which includes Vietnamese spring rolls, Italian wedding cake and some of the West Coast’s best burgers, they wrote.

Here’s the recipe from “Roadfood Sandwiches” for an open-face sandwich of baked Dungeness crab.

Crab Bruschetta

From the Bread and Ink Café, Portland, Ore.

1/2 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers (see note)

2 scallions, thinly sliced

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons Wasabi Aioli (recipe follows)

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

12 slices baguette bread, toasted

1/3 cup pine nuts

Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the bread, pine nuts and lemon wedges. Mix well. Spread the mixture evenly on the 12 slices of toast. Sprinkle the top of each with a few pine nuts. Place on a baking sheet and bake until brown and bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Serve with lemon wedges alongside.

Yield: Makes 12 open-faced sandwiches.

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.

Wasabi Aioli

2 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons wasabi paste (mix wasabi powder with water or buy prepared paste)

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

Pinch of salt

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup canola oil

Place the garlic, wasabi paste, vinegar, salt and egg yolks in a food processor. With the processor running start to add the oils in a very thin stream (do not add too much at a time or the mayo will curdle). When you have added about a third of the oil, continue adding it in a slightly thicker stream, being careful not to add too much too quickly.

Any leftover aioli will keep for up to a week, refrigerated and covered.

Yield: About 1 cup

Note: This recipe contains raw eggs. According to the USDA, no one should eat food containing raw eggs. Young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system are particularly vulnerable to salmonella bacteria,) which can be present in raw or undercooked eggs. For more information, go to www.fsis.usda.gov.