Matcha Ichigo Sando

For the second installment of Strawberry Week, I present to you - the Matcha Ichigo Sando. Ichigo means “strawberry” in Japanese. There’s a lovely traditions of eating fluffy milk bread sandwiches filled with a variety of sweet and savory foods. Shout out to Bread Chu in San Francisco, they make a particularly yummy tamago sando that is stuffed with egg salad and truffles. (For special occasions only.)

The Japanese are also known to use sweet fillings for their sandos. These sweet fillings usually contain pieces of fruit and whipped cream. For my version, I cut the whipped cream with Marscapone cheese and a matcha-flavored powdered sugar. The umami-packed matcha powder perfectly compliments the sweet whipped Marscapone cream and the milk bread.

I decided to make my milk bread to go with this recipe using the recipe from Eat Little Bird. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the appropriate pain de mie pan so I used a regular loaf pan which caused the bread to come out a little smaller and more dense. If you are able to purchase a good quality milk bread from an Asian market, make sure it’s unsliced and approximately 4.5-inches tall so you have lots of room for fillings. Because my bread was a little smaller, it was the perfect size for a little breakfast or snack.

Ingredients

• 6 teaspoons confectioner’s sugar

• 2 teaspoons matcha powder

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• 2 tablespoons Marscapone cheese

• 6 small strawberries, stems removed and halved

Makes 2 Sandwiches

Directions

1. Sift the matcha and confectioner’s sugar into a bowl to break up all of the little lumps and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the heavy whipping cream with the matcha-flavored confectioner’s sugar just until you get soft peaks. Fold the Marscapone cheese into the whipped cream until combined. Do not over mix as you will deflate the whipped cream.

3. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto each side of the milk bread. Layer your strawberries on top of the filling with the tops facing outward. (So you can see the strawberries when cut). Add a bit more of the matcha flavored whipped cream on top of the strawberries before placing the second slice on top.

4. Slice the sandwiches in half and enjoy!