Turn Your Favorite Salad Into a Sandwich
The carb-free craze has taken many forms over at least two decades – eating Atkins, Paleo, the carnivore diet, Whole 30 – all special in their own way, but with a general distrust and dislike of bread. To keep up with the times, sandwich establishments usually offer their wares in the form of salads with toppings ripped from buns and buns, sliced and spread over a patch of leaves.
In fact, I would have a hard time choosing between a really good sandwich and a really good salad, and I think going from one to the other should be a two-way street. If sandwiches can turn into salads, salads into sandwiches, you just need to adjust the proportions accordingly. Let me tell you how to turn a salad into a sandwich using my personal favorite, the wedge.
Isolate your star
Salads (usually) consist mainly of herbs. Protein or a hearty vegetable is often the second largest serving size, with the rest of the ingredients serving as delicious accessories. But lettuce shouldn’t be the focus of a sandwich, it should be the protein or vegetable with the best flavor. (Salads without salad are usually simpler. The caprese is already perfectly proportioned; just put it on the bread.)
When we think of salad and what makes it great, we often think of bacon, blue cheese, and, if seasonal, tomatoes. The BLT deal is the obvious choice here, with equal respect and space given to bacon and tomatoes (again, as long as they are seasonal). After you have identified the star (s) of the sandwich, look at the dancers.
Decorate the greens
Iceberg is the classic choice for a wedge, and I wouldn’t change it, but I would chop it up because shredded iceberg is my all-time favorite lettuce. I would also chop romaine, but not with delicate leaves like spinach. But no matter which salad you put from the bowl to the bread, you should take the time to season it.
After all, one of the best things about a salad is that the leaves are thrown into something that makes them taste less leafy, and you must bring that energy to your sandwich. You might think that I am in favor of sauce-drenched blue cheese, but I am not. (I have other plans for cheese.) Lettuce is not what we want; some red wine vinegar, some olive oil and balsamic or a tiny bit of plain vinaigrette will accentuate the leafy origin of the dish. while making everything taste a little better.
Secure the crumbly bits
About that blue cheese – those beautiful stunt doubles. Blue cheese imparts fatness and flavor, but its crumbs are also prone to dropping, making them a poor candidate for a sandwich, and it’s not the only little bite to watch out for.
Aside from the salad, everything in the blade salad is a crumbly piece that is destined to elude your bread if you do n’t do something . For each slice, you have three options: resize it, break it down into something with stamina, or mix it with mayonnaise.
For bacon, tomatoes, and red onions, just resize. Dice instead of cubes and these ingredients are great for making sandwiches. Blue cheese needs a little work. The easiest way – and the one I chose above – is to spread a thick layer of mayonnaise on the bottom of the bread, then break up the crumbs in the mayonnaise. It also works with chopped olives, capers and everything else, small and round. Mayo isn’t your only choice as a substrate: you can use hummus in salad-based sandwiches with chickpeas, and fresh goat cheese can be the substrate itself.
Another option is to make blue cheese mayonnaise, which I already have a recipe for . And cheese isn’t the only thing you can add to mayonnaise. Herbs , onions, and any suitable seasonings can be shaken directly to distribute the aroma evenly.
After that, you just need to lay it all out on bread, and this is where you should show your creative freedom. I’m always a proponent of good rolls, but I’m sure there are salads that require a strong, well-worn multigrain or a pleasantly sour culture.