Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Trio of Yum Yum Sandwiches

I have no idea why the author of Vegan Yum Yum would take down her website, stop posting on Twitter, and otherwise disappear from the vegan community. It's a shame, because her recipes are great! Last week I made three sandwiches from the book.

The first was the Pan-Seared Tomato and Rosemary Artichoke Sandwich.It was extremely messy but amazingly delicious. The messiness comes from a balsamic reduction (heat 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar on medium for about 5 minutes, until it reduces by half and becomes sweet and a little thick) drizzled over the sandwich. Sliced artichokes sauteed in olive oil with rosemary, pan-seared tomato slices, baby spinach, and some basil complete this sandwich. I very rarely eat white bread, so having this on white baguette bread was a huge treat for me. Two huge thumbs up for this sandwich!

The second was the Picnic Sandwich (sorry for the bad photo).The first step is making the spread, which is a puree of nuts (recipe called for pine nuts; I used walnuts) and sundried tomatoes in olive oil. Spread that on both sides of the sandwich, then top with zucchini slices sauteed with Italian herbs. Add baby spinach, and you've got another really awesome sandwich. She calls it a picnic sandwich because it can be wrapped up in plastic and sit for a few hours in a backpack and still taste good. This sandwich also gets two big thumbs up (the white baguette bread was awesome again).

The third was the Smoky Miso Tofu Sandwich.I first made a marinade from miso, lemon juice, sugar, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and liquid smoke, brushed it on the tofu, and baked the slices for about 20 minutes.Next I made the Cashew Miso Mayo from Appetite for Reduction, which is a simple puree of cashews, miso, water, and apple cider vinegar. I spread the mayo on wheat bread, added the tofu slices, and topped it with baby spinach. This sandwich was just okay. I didn't love the tofu, and I usually always love tofu. And I think there were conflicting miso tastes between the tofu marinade and the mayo.

I'll definitely make the first two again. Until then, Lauren (Vegan Yum Yum author), please come back!

3 comments:

  1. I get her here? http://veganyumyum.com/about/

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  2. Yeah, it's a total mystery about her disappearance. There are Missing signs all over the information superhighway.
    I want to try that picnic sandwich too! I love zucchini. I'm going to take myself on a date to the park. Too bad about the miso tofu; they look awesome. I'm always impressed by thinly sliced cooked tofu for some reason.

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  3. Your sandwiches look amazing. Too bad about the tofu one not being so hot.

    That is mystery of her disappearing...mabye she will come back....just maybe.

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