Zorba the Beet Sandwich

Go ahead, laugh at the cheesy name of this sandwich.  I'm laughing, too.  But it's the perfect title for my favorite sandwich.  I'm a little bit obsessed with roasted beets, especially when they're marinated in balsamic vinegar.

One of my favorite sandwiches is the beet, goat cheese, and arugula sandwich from Grandaisy - mostly because it's packed with roasted beets - but I quickly grew tired of spending $7 for a somewhat small sandwich that wasn't really all that exciting in terms of flavor.

Bánh Mì Chay - Vegetarian Vietnamese Sandwich

One of my favorite places in NYC is Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches. It’s a tiny storefront in the East Village and they only serve bánh mì, which are awesomely delicious Vietnamese sandwiches. Banh mi are traditionally made with pate and pork, but Nicky’s makes a few other versions using different meats, including a vegetarian version with marinated portobello mushrooms. I used to get one about once a month, sometimes eating it in the tiny store at one of the two small tables, sometimes taking it home with me to my apartment just a few blocks (and later, a few subway stops) away. They were so simple, but so so so so good – the combination of a crunchy baguette, pickled carrots, cilantro, and magically marinated mushrooms was divine.

Sadly, I haven’t had one in the year and a half I’ve lived in Baltimore – it isn’t quite the culinary mecca that NYC is (although I recently learned that Red Emma’s, which is just a block away from my building, has a vegetarian version made with lemongrass-marinated tofu).

Spinach and Avocado Sandwich

Look, people, I apologize for the dearth of activity on here, but I haven't been feeling inspired this week. I've been a bit out of sorts due to residual jetlag and a barely-there-but-noticeable-enough-so-it's-annoying fever/malaise. That's not usually enough to stop me, but, because I had been out of the country for ten days, my fridge was empty save for condiments (I recently discovered that I have lots of vinegars), onions, potatoes, and jarred olives. I did have things in the pantry with which I could have culled together a meal, but that would have required far more brainpower than I was willing to exert. The combination of these circumstances has resulted in lunches of penne with defrosted vodka sauce (good thing I made lots of it last time) and dinners of microwaved black bean Gardenburgers with melted cheddar cheese (and sans bun – call it Atkins if you want to legitimize it; I just call it pathetic), a baguette with olives and brie, and chickpea, leek, and saffron soup (yet another thing I froze before I left). Go ahead, make fun of me and my weak meals.

Well, I felt slightly inspired this morning and threw together this sandwich for lunch because, quite frankly, I'm pretty damn sick of penne alla vodka. It would be silly for me to write this out as a proper recipe with measurements and all because, come on, it's just a sandwich that I made this morning. But I do think that the combination of ingredients is a good one and, having just eaten said sandwich, I can vouch that it's also a tasty one.

Spinach and Avocado Sandwich
serves me at lunchtime

• Good bread – I like oatnut or 12-grain
• A few slices of Fontina cheese
• Greek yogurt (or mayo…which is what I might have used if I had any in my barren fridge because I have no qualms admitting that I love mayo on sandwiches and with my fries, or frites, if you will)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Toasted pine nuts – just a sprinkling
• A few leaves of basil – I threw these in because I accidentally shook Basil (my basil plant, clever name, huh?) and he dropped a few leaves in his anger at this agitation that had been inflicted upon him. I showed him who's boss by putting them on my sandwich.
• Avocado slices – I used an entire half because my avocado was small
• Sliced cucumber
• Sliced tomatoes (good luck finding ones that aren't pink and don't cost upwards of $3/lb – I cheaped out and got mediocre romas that are sort of red…sort of.)
• Fresh baby spinach – a big handful is plenty

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Assemble all the ingredients on the bread in a manner that makes architectural sense. (You should probably do so in the order in which they are listed because, last time I checked, recipes list ingredients in the order in which they are used, right? Right.)

Slice the sandwich in half diagonally (you cannot slice it in half any other way because then you wouldn't be following my recipe, now would you) and scarf it down at mealtime, whenever that might be.

Eggplant, Olive, and Gruyere Pressed Sandwiches

This sandwich came about not through creativity, but rather because of the combination of my utter laziness and a dearth of food in my fridge. The following allowed me to pull this one off:

· I made two loaves of rustic French bread the other night; one was plain and the other was loaded with rosemary and nicoise and kalamata olives.

· With the exception of last weekend, the weather in Baltimore has been downright summery, so my plants are still giving me food. So I have tons of peppers and a few eggplants.

· I always have good cheese in my fridge. Always.