One of the weekend bakers best friends is all those incredibly delicious grilled sandwiches that can be found on most recipe sites. Home baked bread has limited shelf life, and most of us have limited space in our freezer. That can lead to problems as there is a limit how much croutons and breadcrumbs you need. Most of us don’t like to waste bread. Especially not the bread we have done by ourselves.
Bruschettas and crostinis can be one solution. And grilled sandwiches. Most food blogs have at least one or two recipes, and on Pinterest, there’s tons of them. And here comes another one.
Grilled sandwiches with spinach and tapenade.
I found this recipe on DeLallo’s homepage a long time ago. They promise this sandwich to be a lunch that you will never forget. And I can only agree. It’s simply damn delicious.
To do this sandwich, you need sourdough bread, tapenade, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, your favorite cheese, butter, and olive oil. If you don’t happen to have any sourdough bread you can use any of your favorite sandwich bread. Start by heating up the oil over low or medium heat in a pan or skillet. Crush the garlic cloves and cook until it starts to become golden. Enjoy the lovely fragrances that only fried garlic can provide, but be careful, so you don’t burn it. The taste of burnt garlic is horrible. It’s one of those ingredients that can ruin a whole dish if you don’t treat it well.
Stir in the spinach and saute´until it starts to wilt. I emphasize “starts to wilt”. The spinach should not turn into a green slimy string, so don’t overdo it. 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat should be enough. Take away from heat and remove the garlic.
Now it’s time to build the sandwich. Start by spreading generously with butter on two slices of bread. Heat up a skillet or griddle over medium heat, and place one bread slice in it, butter side down. Top with spinach, cheese, and tapenade. Finish with two tomato slices and the second slice of bread with butter side up. Fry the sandwich 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until the cheese starts to melt.
This is the tastiest way to cook this sandwich. Almost all of the butter will be soaked up by the bread slices and make it taste like heaven. But, maybe not so healthy. If you don’t like all that butter, you can make it like this instead. Build the sandwich on a cutting board without spreading any butter on the bread slices. Then you just add a small amount of butter in the skillet when you fry the sandwiches. You can, of course, rule out the butter completely but I don’t recommend that. Just a small amount of butter will make the sandwich so much tastier.
I have tried both versions, and I vote for number one. But I’m of course notorious for my weak character when it comes to butter. And if for some strange reasons you think about using margarine instead. Just don’t.
As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists.
Joan Dye Gussow
Grilled sandwiches with spinach and tapenade
Ingredients
- 10 ounces spinach
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 slices sourdough bread or you favorit sandwich bread
- 4 slices cheese (make those slices thick)
- 1/2 cup tapenade
- 1 tomato sliced
- 4 tablespoon butter for spreading Or as much as your conscience allows.
Instructions
- Crush the garlic cloves and cook until it starts to become golden. Stir in the spinach and saute´until it starts to wilt about 2-3 minutes. Take away from heat and remove the garlic.
- Spread butter on two slices of bread. Heat up a skillet or griddle over medium heat, and place one bread slice in it, butter side down. Top with spinach, cheese, and tapenade. Finish with two tomato slices and the second slice of bread with butter side up.
- Fry the sandwich 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until the cheese starts to melt. Serve immediately.
