This California veggie sandwich makes the most of the state’s summer bounty

I like to think about myself as somebody who will eat absolutely anything. Organ meats? Love ’em. Uncooked seafood? Straightforward. Fried crickets? They’re nice dipped in chile powder, between sips of mezcal. And I don’t hate many meals, however the one factor that comes closest to me is a salad, particularly as the entire meal. And in Southern California, fairly presumably the land of the perfect salads one can get within the U.S., I do know that’s not a preferred opinion.

Salad greens are fantastic, and shaved uncooked veggies are pleasant. However collectively in a bowl all by themselves? That’s the place I get misplaced. Even for those who pile on cheese, meat or bread, it nonetheless doesn’t fairly really feel substantial sufficient for me. Granted, I eat 4 eggs minimal for breakfast day-after-day and sometimes put away a complete giant branzino alone when out to dinner, so “substantial” means one thing totally different to me than it most likely does to you.

However over time of residing in Los Angeles, I’ve discovered the model of a salad that I completely adore: the California veggie sandwich. Mainly a salad between two slices of bread, it’s the dish that may have me fortunately consuming tons of uncooked greens and greens each single day. However to name it a salad between bread shouldn’t be fairly proper both, as a result of it misses what makes a veggie sandwich so fantastic within the first place. It’s the actual combine of greens — cool cucumbers, creamy avocado and peppery, crunchy sprouts — that varieties the trifecta for an ideal sandwich.

Years in the past, after I first moved to New York Metropolis from Mississippi, the place I used to be raised on a gentle weight loss plan of fried catfish and stewed turnip greens, I used to be enamored with the “hippie” meals I encountered within the well being meals shops that completely didn’t exist the place I grew up. Seitan- or tofu-packed sandwiches, brimming with sprouts and hummus, tucked between two soggy slices of bread wrapped in cellophane; they have been beguiling to a younger child used to BLTs being as near a vegetarian sandwich as you may get. And in some way, I additionally discovered them scrumptious in a novel means, despite the fact that they have been dry because the Mojave and I’d should chase every chew with a glug of water.

However when working at a restaurant or check kitchen of a meals journal, the place wealthy and fatty and extremely seasoned meals surrounded me, there should’ve been one thing in these dry “well being” sandwiches that my physique was craving to stability out the remainder of the meals I’d eaten throughout the day. Whereas working at Saveur journal in these early days, my colleague Betsy Andrews wrote concerning the “California sandwich” for a particular sandwich-themed challenge. I obtained to check the recipe — a handful of alfalfa sprouts, tomato slices, avocado and do-it-yourself buttermilk ranch dressing between two slices of whole-grain bread — and I used to be instantly hooked upon tasting it. This was what I wished all these dry bodega sandwiches to be.

(Katrina Frederick / For The Instances)

Ever since that day, making veggie sandwiches has been a pastime, particularly on Sundays after a farmers market run. My accomplice loves these sandwiches, too, so we frequently mess around with totally different mixtures or get your hands on new ones to strive at eating places. Of those I purchase, fortunately two are in my neighborhood. One is at All Time, Tyler and Ashley Wells’ restaurant in Los Feliz. Their sandwich — as large as an toddler — comes on sourdough bread bursting on the edges with cucumbers, sprouts, avocado, cheddar, pickled purple onions and, most vital, Kewpie mayo; it’s a incredible deli-style iteration. And the second is at Mates & Household, Roxana Jullapat’s bakery in East Hollywood, the place her “hippie” sandwich takes a barely extra inexperienced strategy, filling the house-made sourdough with mashed inexperienced peas, avocado, cucumber and sprouts perked up with salty Greek feta and spicy radishes.

All three of those sandwiches play an affect within the recipe that I’ve been making for the previous couple of weeks — the veggie sandwich is the best lunch for this explicit a part of summer season. I begin with a whole-grain bread, which I often detest, however in any such sandwich, it really works. You need that nubbly, hearty bread to stability the non-veggie elements and provides the sandwich loads of weight, lest it float into the air with nothing however feathery sprouts inside. Whether or not it’s five-grain, seven-grain, or damn-near 31 grains, I don’t care; the extra grains the higher.

I then perk up store-bought mayonnaise with contemporary chives and lemon juice, however that’s it; I need to maintain this affair so simple as doable. (Do-it-yourself mayonnaise would clearly work effectively right here too, however I’ve made sufficient of that in my life and would quite go away it to the professionals.) I slather the mayo on the bread, then pile on slices of cucumber for a chilly crunch; avocado for its inexperienced, waxy creaminess; and sharp white cheddar for a salty, fatty edge.

However the perfect a part of the sandwich is the sprouts. I think the sprouts are the place the “California” moniker comes from, since a long time in the past something seemingly wholesome was synonymous with the state. No matter their provenance, I really like the way in which the sprouts tangle collectively and, while you chew down, crunch in mass, releasing their peppery chew. And as anybody who’s eaten a veggie sandwich is aware of, a sprinkling of sprouts simply won’t do; they have to be packed in like a baseball-sized fur ball, forming at the very least half of the thickness of your entire sandwich. I really like the traditional, clear taste of alfalfa sprouts, however radish or broccoli sprouts are additionally nice; use no matter you will discover.

That mass of sprouts is a superb stability to the creamy mayo, cheese and avocado — even whereas staring in any respect these fatty elements, this sandwich is unafraid to proclaim itself as “wholesome.” And I suppose I see myself in it too. I’m making an attempt my finest to eat my veggies on a regular basis, however I do know that each one I really need is my greens between some good bread with a whole lot of cheese and mayo. After all of the dry tofu sandwiches I’ve had in my life, is that an excessive amount of to ask?

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