We have been trying to do our part to support local food during COVID, and this time of year, that means bakeries.
Which means I have a lot of bread in my house. Which means I make a lot of sandwiches. Probably my all-time favorite is the tuna melt, which I made recently with pickled chicory, as suggested by a recent issue of Food and Wine. (Very tasty.) I always love a good veggie grinder, and I’ve taken to making them for lunch sometimes, with lots of sauteed vegetables, a crown of melty cheese, and maybe some giardiniera and olive salad to top things off.
My 8-year-old is super picky but loves grilled cheese sandwiches (provolone, please), so a good grilled cheese is always on the menu here. Of course, my beloved tuna melts are a close cousin of the grilled cheese, as is this grilled cheese sandwich with garlicky broccoli rabe that I am serving up today.
I tend to serve broccoli rabe in the winter months; it’s nice and hardy, and a lovely green to balance out all the fleshy root vegetables I’m always serving up. I tend to blanch it for just about a minute before I actually start cooking with it. I match its bitterness with tons of garlic, and if I was just serving it straight, would most likely finish it off with a squirt of fresh lemon juice.
As for getting a golden brown crust, instead of buttering the outsides of your bread, use a thin layer of mayo. (Hellman’s if you’re on the East Coast, Best if you’re out West, Duke’s if you’re in the South.) I’ve realized the amount of mayo it will depend on what size bread you’re using. But the mayo is what makes the bread that deep brown, and greasy in the best way possible.
I also don’t assemble my sandwich on the counter. Once my bread is shmeared, I turn to my heated skillet, add a generous tablespoon of butter, watch it melt, then put a slice of bread down. Then I add my cheese — then the prepped rabe — then top it with more cheese and the second piece of bread. Fry that sucker for a good six minutes on medium-low heat, then gently lift up a corner and admire how nice and golden it’s turned. Lift with a spatula, slide a second pat of butter on the pan, then flip down on the other side. Cook until golden and gooey.
For optional extra credit: This sandwich would be even better with something vinegary inside. I went looking for the aforementioned giardiniera or olive salad in the fridge and came up with an open bottle of sundried tomato pesto, which I smeared on both pieces of bread inside. I felt a bit like MacGyver doing that, so please know this sandwich will be delicious even without that.
Ingredients
1 bunch broccoli rabe
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Pinch of kosher salt
Olive oil for skillet
For the sandwich
2 pieces of cheese, such as provolone
2 pieces of sturdy bread
Mayo
Butter
Directions
Give your broccoli rabe a rinse; I cut off just the end of the stem.
Put a large pot of salty water on to boil.
Once it’s boiling, add the rabe to the boiling water and cook for just one minute.
Quickly drain the pot. You can have a bowl of icy water ready to plunge the vegetable in to stop it from cooking. Oftentimes I don’t have enough ice on hand and I end up just giving it a good rinse in very cold water.
Once your rabe is cooled down, either by an icy bath or a rinse in cold water, bring it to a cutting board and chop it small, about quarter-inch pieces.
Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic, red hot pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. Add the broccoli rabe and saute for about six minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
Remove pan from heat.
Prepare the grilled cheese sandwich as described above, adding enough broccoli rabe in between your two pieces of cheese. Yes, it will be a challenge to flip the sandwich, but by the time your sandwich is ready to flip, the cheese will have done a good job of melting to the bread.
Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.