The Tiffany Conroy Memorial Sandwich is, in my opinion, the best legacy of the time I spent working with Tiffany Conroy. We were sweat shop labour in an office next door to St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

Whatever was happening at the office, the proximity to so much good food made life more bearable. Tiffany would often say “I need a savoury snack,” before disappearing. We often created elaborate sandwiches using whole loaves of bread, mainly because one loaf was the smallest quantity for sale. By far, our favourite was the sandwich that would later be named in Tiffany’s honour upon her departure.

It is a delicious sandwich with strong flavours, but manages not to be overpowering. It’s the sort of thing I could eat every day and not grow tired of it.

If you are at St. Lawrence Market, it starts with the baguette from the basement vendor. The employee there, Don, always called Tiffany by a name other than her own, often two or three times in one sentence: Stephanie, Siffany, Daphne, and my favourite Staphne. These mild annoyances seemed trivial when lunch was so close at hand. Plus, in the cat and mouse game of office politics, Tiffany and I were over-educated mice, and we were happy talking to market vendors on company time.

Baguette on hand, we were ready to take on the world, or at least head upstairs to the cheesemonger and prosciutto merchant.

The Brie Bandits always gave us more Cambozola cheese than we wanted (and charged us for it), so we learned to order 100 grams (scant) of Cambozola cheese.

Next, one needs 100 grams of prosciutto. This is not a time to be thrifty. Buy the best that you can afford and make sure that it is properly sliced. Doing anything else disgraces the memory of Tiffany Conroy and her sandwich. If they have the special stuff were where the hogs have only been fed acorns and Perrier water, all the better. Schlieffer’s has the best selection.

The black olive tapanade is something that a variety of vendors sell under the name “Tasty Tapanade”, and it comes from the same supplier. I have been unable  to find it outside Toronto, so make my own from a puree of black olives, capers, anchovies, lemon juice, and pepper.

Next we would pick up some arugula and fresh lemon, before dashing back to the office for assembly. (We kept our grainy “Triple C” Kozlik’s mustard in the office fridge.) The rest is easy.

Split the baguette and spread the cheese on the bottom then put some mustard on top. The tapanade should be spread on the top side of the baguette. Next, layer the prosciutto on top of the cheese and top with lots of fresh arugula and fresh lemon. Squish into a sandwich, and celebrate the memory of Tiffany Conroy, a food lover and friend.

Tiffany Conroy Memorial Sandwich

• 1 baguette
• 100 grams (scant) Cambozola cheese
• 100 grams prosciutto
• Arugula
• 2 tbsp Black olive tapanade
• Grainy mustard to taste
• Lemon to taste

Directions: put between bread.