grilled sandwich & roasted red bell peppers

I recently bought a grilled sandwich maker.

You put your sandwich inside of this meshed "basket" and grill it in the fish drawer.

It came with a little book of recipes to try.

The first time was a fail...the bread stuck to the mesh...it was pretty frustrating to pry it off.

The recipe book instructs you to use 8-slice bread.

In Japan, our loaves of bread usually look like this square block (see photo above).

You can buy your bread pre-sliced by different slice amounts....in Osaka we could buy 4, 5 & 6.

In Tokyo, you can buy 5, 6 & 8.

4 means that there are 4 slices in the bag and 1 slice is about 3 centimeters (about 1.18 inch) thick.

5 means that there are 5 slices in the bag and 1 slice is about 2.4 centimeters (about 0.944 inch) thick.

6 means that there are 6 slices in the bag and 1 slice is about 2 centimeters (about 0.78 inch) thick.

8 means that there are 8 slices in the bag and 1 slice is about 1.5 centimeters (about 0.59 inch) thick.

At some bakeries, they will slice the bread for you according to the thickness you want.

Me, I used to buy even numbers because there are 2 of us...who knew a slice was actually scientifically measured...

So, the first time I tried the gadget, I had used 6-size...this meant my bread was actually thicker, I had to cook it longer and at a lower temp.

What you put into the sandwich also determines how long and at how high your temps need to be.

The manual instructs you to cook most everything before putting it into the mesh basket and also try not to put anything too wet in there because the cooking time is so short, everything has to cook quickly so that the bread's outside will stay crisp.

This try I had the heat too high and in for too long resulting in black, black, black...

Finally I think I figured out how to adjust the heat (I can't believe I can't find anything online for my stove model).

I still need to practice with different fillings...but will continue to use 8 size bread, pre-cook whatever I put in there and do this on weekends when I have a little more time in the mornings.

On a side note, I also used the fish drawer to roast some red bell peppers...instead of 40 minutes in an oven it took about 20 minutes.

While the peppers were in the fish drawer, I had flashbacks of Rap Replinger's "Auntie Marialani's Cooking Show"....

If you are not familiar with Rap Replinger, he was local comedian that was part of my childhood.

Anyway, the peppers turned out great, I peeled the skins off and will use the peppers in hummus.

What have you been up to lately?