You know that episode of Friends where Ross sticks a piece of gravy-soaked bread in the middle of his sandwich and calls it the moist maker? It sounds goofy, but it does hit on a key element of good sandwiches: They must be moist to be delicious. It's actually a pretty good life lesson in general.
In the past, I've relied on braised greens or broccoli rabe as the moist element, or have gone with a deep fried vegetable.
This time, rather than using a single moist-maker, I'm going with a selection of three moderately moist ingredients—sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and sun-dried tomato mayo—that together combine to make a synergistic Captain Planet-like explosion of moistness, all neatly contained in a crisp griddled crust.
First up: mushrooms sautéed until deeply browned. I used a mix of button mushrooms and portobello, sliced thin, but cremini (aka baby portobello) or shiitake would work as well. The key with sautéing mushrooms is to remember that cooking takes place in two distinct phases. When you first add the 'shrooms to the pan, they start expelling liquid out of their porous inner structure. It's only after this excess moisture has evaporated that they can begin to brown, which concentrates and adds complexity to their flavor.
Bear in mind: even though you're driving off water from the mushrooms' interior, the end results still taste moist due to the nice coating of olive oil the mushrooms get as they cook. A little garlic, lemon juice, and soy sauce amp up their flavor.
Next: a sun-dried tomato mayonnaise. Regular mayonnaise (you can use either a store-bought vegan mayonnaise or our homemade version) is nicely moist and tangy on its own. Processing some sun-dried tomatoes, some garlic, and a splash of lemon juice into them makes them more so, adding a sweet, jammy element as well.
Last ingredients: deeply caramelized onions. There's a rule with caramelized onions that is as unbreakable as the first law of thermodynamics and it goes like this: the longer you take to caramelize your onions, the better they will taste.
That said, your goal should always be to balance effort required with results achieved. Using my quick caramelization method, you can get onions that are about 80 percent as good as perfectly caramelized onions, in just a fraction of the time—as short as 15 minutes. In this case, I'm letting them go for about 30 minutes while I prep the rest of my ingredients.
Once all three elements are assembled, I slap them together and grill them on a panini press.
Pro-tip: don't smash your sandwich down all at once. This will cause your stiff crusts to break and compromise the structural integrity of your meal. Instead, close the lid gently and let the sandwiches cook for a few minutes to soften up the crust before pressing down more firmly.The sandwiches that come out have a certain pizza-like quality to them, a result of the combo of tomatoes and onions with crisp crust. It's a good fix if you crave the intense sweet-and-savory flavor of a Totino's pizza roll, but in a more sophisticated and filling package.
A hearty vegan sandwich with a balance of sweet caramelized onions, savory mushrooms, and a tangy sun-dried tomato mayonnaise.
YIELD: Serves 2
ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound button, shiitake, cremini, or portabello mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup homemade or store-bought vegan mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 small loaves ciabatta or other hearty rolls, split in half
Directions
1.Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned and a pale brown patina builds up on the bottom of the pan, about 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon water and scrape up browned bits. Repeat, cooking, adding water, and scraping up bits until onions are soft and very sweet, about 30 minutes total. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2.While onions cook, heat remaining oil in a large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add sliced mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released all their liquid, the liquid has evaporated, and the mushrooms have deeply browned, about 15 minutes. Add half of garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add soy sauce and half of lemon juice and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3.Combine mayonnaise, remaining lemon juice, tomatoes, and garlic in a food processor. Process until a rough purée is formed, about 30 seconds, scraping down sides as necessary.
4.Preheat a panini press. Spread both sides of rolls with sun-dried tomato mayonnaise, top bottom bun with onions and mushrooms, close sandwiches, place in press, close gently, and cook for 5 minutes. Press more firmly to compress sandwiches and continue cooking until crisp and fully heated through, about 5 minutes longer. Serve immediately.