Stephan Bendall

I love sandwiches. They can be as simple or as complicated as you like and despite their simplistic looks they can be as delicious as any fried, BBQ’d, boiled, or baked dish. And of course you don’t need to just slice up some stuff and stick it between bread, you can use the BBQ and the oven and the stove to enliven whatever you choose to put in your sandwich.

Sandwiches get too little attention in the dessert laden blogging world and I want to change that starting today. This is my first post in my new series on sandwiches and over the next week I will be posting some of my favorites for you to try. The recipe today is for an old favorite of mine, the Avocado Melt. This recipe is really quick and healthy and is an easy way to get even the pickiest eater to have some veggies.

When I look at a menu my eyes jump right past the vegetarian options. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, I just find a meal without meat a little unsatisfying. I have heard all the evidence about environmental damage and the health benefits of vegetarianism but I just can’t do it.

Therefore it’s a bit of a surprise that one of my favorite sandwiches happens to be vegetarian (at least the kind that allows cheese). I came upon this recipe a long time ago and can’t recall where it came from nor can I remember why I made it. A vegetarian sandwich with radishes is not something I will migrate to but nonetheless here I am blogging about how much I love it. It must have been fate that brought me and this sandwich together.

The salt of the cheese, soft texture of the avocado, crunch of the cucumber and radish, and the peppery sprouts all come together to make a sandwich that elevates above the crowd. Oh and I almost forgot – this sandwich, like all others, is made even greater with some thick sliced and thick crusted fresh bread.

Avocado Melt – Recipe

Serves 2

4 slices of thick fresh bread – preferably whole wheat or whole grain
1 ripe avocado
2 radishes
8 slices of cucumber
A handful of sprouts – I used a mixed variety, but also like alfalfa sprouts in this a lot
Aged cheddar

1. Cut you avocado in half and remove the pit. If you have never removed an avocado pit, just gently hit the pit with the heel of your knife so that it sticks into the pit and then gently twist the knife to loosen the pit and remove it. Be careful when removing the pit from your knife. Slice the avocado while it is in the skin. I keep a somewhat dull paring knife around just for this since it won’t cut through the skin of the avocado. Then remove the avocado by using a spoon and running it along the inside of the skin to gently scoop out the slices.
2. Thinly slice the radishes.
3. Preheat your broiler (I use a toaster oven since it is simpler and I can just use the toast setting). Place the bread onto a baking sheet and top two slices with cheese.
4. Broil or toast for a couple minutes until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted.
5. Layer the avocado, radishes, cucumber, and sprouts on top of the cheese. Finish with a dash of salt and pepper and the toasted slice of bread.

Enjoy!

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