Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: I thought of trying out a fried green tomato sandwich a few weeks ago, and I’ve had the idea stuck in my head ever since. I was a little worried about whether or not green tomatoes would make a good sandwich, but in the end, curiosity won out.

What we Loved: This sandwich was packed with flavor. Tart green tomatoes, fresh cilantro, sharp cheddar, and crispy caramelized onions all paired really well together for a great sandwich. I loved that this was something different than your ordinary sandwich, and I really loved how well the tartness of the green tomatoes really complimented the other flavors.

Helpful Hints: I debated what bread to use for this sandwich. Originally, I was going to use hamburger buns, but I had too many tomato slices and wanted something with more surface area. I was also worried that the buns would be too soft for my liking. In the end, I toasted some rye bread. The flavor was great, but I was a little disappointed that the bread got way too crispy and crumbled apart a bit as I cut the sandwiches in half. I’m thinking that a hoagie roll would work perfectly. Also, I rarely fry and instead use very small amounts of olive oil to saute, so my tomatoes aren’t fried in a lot of oil as they often are. If you want a more traditional, heavily fried flavor, use maybe 1/4 inch of canola oil to fry your tomatoes.

Other Sandwich Recipes: grilled portabella caprese sandwich, turkey tango joes

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich
Source: Original Recipe

4 slices bread, or two rolls/sandwich buns
1 green tomato
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, more if necessary
Handful fresh cilantro, stems removed
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, freshly grated
1 red onion, sliced into rings
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a small sauce pan. Add the red onion rings, and cook until very brown and carmelized, approximately 20-25 minutes. Stir often.

2. While the onions are cooking, slice the green tomato into 1/4 inch slices. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, the egg in a second shallow bowl, and the bread crumbs in a third shallow bowl. Dip each slice of tomato into the flour, then the egg, and then the breadcrumbs. Place the prepared slices on a plate.

3. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan, enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato slices, and cook until browned on each side and softened, approximately 5 minutes per side. Use more oil if necessary after flipping your tomatoes.

4. Assemble your sandwich, adding a handful of cilantro, the tomatoes, the shredded cheese, and the onions.

Black Bean Burgers with Cumin Cheese and Avocado

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: B and I have had a fabulous summer. We’ve been riding bikes, grilling out, and generally enjoying the great weather. We were lucky enough to travel to Europe, and we’ve got some great mini-vacations and time with family and friends lined up for the rest of the summer. When we’re home for a weekend, we love to explore the downtown restaurants, and with our new love of beer, we’ve been trying everything that the breweries in town have to offer.  That being said, sometimes we need a solid week or two of vegetables, fish, and vegetarian meals to even things out :)

What we Loved: I really fell in love with this sandwich. The black bean burgers had a ton of spice and flavor with the inclusion of cumin, chili powder, garlic, anaheim peppers, and onions. I also loved the nice brown crust that formed on the burgers while cooking, which was a good contrast to the soft inside of the burgers. All of the different flavors paired so well with a cumin seed cheese that I bought at a local wine shop and with a generous helping of mashed avocado. I’ve been really into avocados lately, and I don’t think that you can ever go wrong when adding avocado to a sandwich. And the cumin seed cheese, if you can find something similar, is amazing! It has such a strong, fantastic cumin taste. All together, this sandwich was a great burst of flavor, and I’m glad to have a couple of extra burgers tucked away in the freezer for later.

Helpful Hints: A cheese like the cumin seed cheese that I used might be difficult to find, but I would think that a couple of great alternatives would be pepperjack or a sharp cheddar. Really, the toppings for this burger are endless. With the leftovers, I’m thinking of using goat cheese and green chiles.

Other Sandwich Recipes: grilled portabella caprese sandwich, turkey tango joes with chimichurri sauce

Black Bean Burgers with Cumin Cheese and Avocado
Source:  A Veggie Venture

I made a couple of changes to the recipe to adjust to what I had on hand. Here’s the recipe as I made it, to serve two and with two extra burgers to freeze.

Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup anaheim peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 slices cheese
1 avocado
1 lime
Sprinkle of kosher salt
2 whole wheat hamburger buns

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onions and peppers, and cook until they are just beginning to brown. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

2. Transfer the onion mixture to a food processor. Add the cilantro, and process for just a few pulses until the mixture is roughly chopped. Add the beans, and pulse just a few more times until the beans are broken down but still in small chunks. You do not want a puree.

3. Transfer the bean mixture to a bowl, and add the bread crumbs, egg, chili powder, cumin, and a sprinkle of salt. Mix well, and form the mixture into four burgers.

4. Heat another drizzle of olive oil in the saute pan. Add the burgers, and cook for approximately 3 minutes to brown. Flip the burgers when they are brown. Add the slices of cheese, cover the pan, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

5. While the burgers are cooking, mash the avocado in a bowl. Add a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lime juice.

6. Serve the burgers on hamburger buns, topped with the mashed avocado.

Grilled Portabella Caprese Sandwich

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: We always want to squeeze every drop of summer out of the year that we can, and that means a lot of grilling!

What we Loved: This meal is so easy to prepare and so healthy to eat, and it still has a ton of flavor.  Caprese salad (mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil) is great on its own, but it’s even better when you add a nicely charred mushroom cap. I love to eat vegetarian meals a couple of times a week, and this is a great grilled vegetarian meal that tastes just like summer. And it can be on your plate in about 15 minutes, which is really nice for a busy night.

Helpful Hints: I think that this sandwich is deserving of a grilled sandwich bun. We ate ours without grilling the buns, and they were great, but I really think that grilling the bun would give the sandwich a nice, crispy texture that it was missing. I also think that adding a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of black pepper on top would taste wonderful.

Other Portabella Recipes: grilled portabella mushrooms stuffed with zucchini and roasted yellow peppers, portabella mushrooms stuffed with sundried tomatoes and kalamata olives

Grilled Portabella Caprese Sandwich
Source: Original Recipe, to serve 2

2 large portabella mushroom caps
Extra virgin olive oil
4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
4 slices tomato
A handful of fresh basil
2 whole wheat hamburger buns
Balsamic vinegar or black pepper, if desired

1. Drizzle both sides of the mushroom caps with extra virgin olive oil, and grill until the mushrooms are browned, approximately 10 minutes.

2. Place the mushrooms on the buns, and assemble the sandwich using mozzarella, basil, and tomato slices. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar or sprinkle with black pepper if desired.

Chicken Panini with Roasted Red Pepper Spread

Cuisine: American/Italian

Inspiration: One of our favorite places to shop for groceries is Trader Joe’s. They have natural, wholesome food for great prices, and ofen times we find some great products that we wouldn’t find anywhere else. While we were shopping at Trader Joe’s recently, they were sampling bites of a grilled cheese sandwich prepared with their roasted red pepper spread with eggplant and garlic, and it tasted delicious. Though I don’t buy many prepared foods at all, the great thing about picking up a spread, dip, etc. from somewhere like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods is that it won’t have artificial ingredients. I bought a jar of this spread to experiment with, with one of my intentions being to make a panini.

What we Loved: What’s not to love about a panini? Crunchy bread and gooey cheese will always combine for a great meal. We both particularly loved the incredible flavor that the roasted red pepper spread lent to this sandwich. I used a really liberal amount of the spread, and it melted down into all of the other ingredients for a great combination of textures and a really strong red pepper flavor. If you like the flavor of roasted red peppers, you will love this spread and this sandwich!

Helpful Hints: If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you or if you can’t find a roasted red pepper spread in the store, you can always use slices of jarred roasted red peppers instead or roast your own red peppers for the same effect. Just pop the peppers under the broiler until the skin of the peppers is black and charred, then place the peppers in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to cool, and the skin should then peel right off, leaving you with great roasted peppers. Slice and add them to your sandwich, or put them in a food processor with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic to make your own spread.

Other Panini Recipes: Turkey Pesto Panini, Herbed Grilled Cheese Panini

Chicken Panini with Roasted Red Pepper Spread
Source: Original Recipe, for two sandwiches

4 thick slices Italian bread
Extra virgin olive oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (sliced into thin cutlets, seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled or sauteed)
Trader Joe’s Roasted Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic, or something similar
Manchego cheese, sliced
Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Brush the outside of each slice of bread with extra virgin olive oil. Cut the cooked chicken cutlets into thin slices.

2. Build the sandwiches in the following manner: bread, red pepper spread, manchego, chicken slices, grated Parmesan, manchego, red pepper spread, bread.

3. Cook the sandwiches in a panini press for 8-10 minutes or on a grill pan until browned on each side.

Turkey Tango Joes with Chimichurri Sauce

I had some leftover hamburger buns in the freezer that needed to be eaten, so I pulled up this recipe that I’ve had saved for a while. As a kid, I always loved sloppy joes with a nice slice of melted cheese on top. And I still do! Sometimes a good sloppy joe sandwich is just the perfect meal. This recipe is different than your standard sloppy joe, using ground turkey and a sauce made from tomato puree, Worcestershire, and spices.  The turkey joes are then topped with a tangy chimichurri sauce for a really flavorful sandwich. I’ve never had chimichurri before, so I was excited to test it out, and I was happy with the tangy and fresh flavor.  This chimichurri is made with parsley, oregano, thyme, garlic, onion….lots of good things….and it paired really well with the turkey joes. I served the sandwiches with this zucchini saute for a fun and healthy weeknight meal.

Turkey Joes with Chimichurri Sauce
Source: The Crepes of Wrath, originally from Rachel Ray

I cut this recipe in half, and then I made some adjustments to the amounts from there because I wanted some extra sauce. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from the stems
1/2 cup of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 garlic clove
1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
8-10 oz tomato puree
1 teaspoon paprika
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 whole wheat buns

1. Preheat a saute pan over medium high heat. Crumble the turkey into the pan, and cook until browned, approximately 7-8 minutes. Season the turkey with salt and pepper.

2. While the meat is browning, add the oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic, and onion to a food processor, and pulse until finely chopped. Add the red wine vinegar and the olive oil to the processor, and process until a smooth sauce forms.

3. Season the chimichurri sauce with salt and pepper. Add half of the sauce to the cooked turkey, and mix to combine.

4. In a small bowl, combine the tomato puree, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. Add the sauce to the pan, mix, and cook for 2-3 minutes. After I added the sauce, I didn’t think it was “saucy” enough, so I threw in some more tomato puree and worcestershire. You can certainly add more ingredients until the sauce is to your liking.

5. Sprinkle the red pepper flakes into the pan, and mix to combine, using more if you want some extra spice.

6. Spread the top of the buns with chimichurri sauce, spoon the turkey mixture onto the bottom of the buns, and serve.

Turkey Pesto Panini

We need to eat paninis more often. They’re so fun and delicious. And perfect with Zingerman’s bread, our favorite.

Turkey Pesto Panini
Source: Original Recipe to serve 2

4 slices bakery bread, cut thick (we used a red pepper cheese bread…)
6 slices turkey breast (we used black peppercorn turkey breast…)
2 tablespoons pesto
Smoked gouda cheese, as desired
Sundried tomatoes, as desired
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Brush the bottom of two of the pieces of bread with extra virgin olive oil.

2. Assemble the sandwich with all ingredients. I added cheese, then turkey, then sundried tomatoes, and then more cheese. I then spread the inside of the top piece of bread with pesto.

3. Place the other two pieces of bread on top of the sandwich, and brush with olive oil.

4. Cook in a panini press (we use a George Foreman) until brown.

Herbed Grilled Cheese Panini

This may have been the greatest grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had (except for yours, B….they’re my favorite). I used some whole wheat bread fresh from Zingerman’s bakery (the best!), brushed it in extra virgin olive oil mixed with herbs, and used some goat cheese and sharp cheddar inside. Seriously…this was really, really good. Really good. I might have to have it for dinner again this week.

Herbed Grilled Cheese Panini
Source: Original Recipe

I know. Who needs a recipe for grilled cheese? But I’m getting really into this blogging thing, and I really loved this sandwich. If you couldn’t tell.

Crusty whole wheat bread, sliced
Extra, extra sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
Goat cheese, crumbled
Extra virgin olive oil
A handful of fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
A handful of fresh oregano, very finely chopped
Black pepper

1. Mix the chopped herbs and black pepper with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and brush onto each slice of bread.

2. Place the bread for the bottom half of the sandwiches herb-side down on a panini press (we use a George Foreman) and fill with cheddar and goat cheeses. Add the top slices of bread.

3. Cook until the bread is browned and the cheese starts to ooze out from the middle. Yum!