The Beauty and The Beet

The shortest career I ever had was as a Sandwich Delivery Company Co-Owner. (wooof… to the title…;)). My then boyfriend and I decided to start up a sandwich delivery business. What could be so hard? we thought, we know how to make sandwiches, people are hungry and we can deliver to their work place. Sounds like the beginning of an empire right? The next day we woke up- early, went to the bakery and bought 50 freshly baked baguettes and some stuff to put in them. We made beautiful sandwiches, wrapped them nicely in a huge pink basket and went skipping into the horizon like Little Red Riding Hood. Well not really.. we just went to knock on office doors, car mechanic shops and other businesses.

We were so embarrassed to walk around carrying this ridiculous big pink basket and we didn’t have much success. By the end of the day we closed shop and that was the end of it. At least we ate baguette sandwiches for the next 2 weeks…

One of the things I learned from that experience is that the most important part of a sandwich is the bread, as my friend said: “If the bread is good -the sandwich is good”!

Preferably, It’s better to have it all good, the bread, the spread and the filling just like this tofu, veggie, caramelized onion baguette sandwich, Bon Appetite!

Ingredients

1 French Baguette or Hero

1 Pack Extra Firm Tofu

Adobo Spice Mix (or any spice mix you like)

Caramelized Purple Onions

1 Tbsp. Maple Syrup

Roasted Red Peppers (Better to make in advance)

Black Olive Tapenade

Bunch of Baby Arugula

2 Cloves of Garlic

¼ tsp. Dried Basil

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

The best way to save time is to make everything in advance (except for the tofu and toasting the bread with garlic)

Caramelize the onions in a non stick pan, Start with Medium heat and turn down to low heat, stir occasionally, add a little water every few minutes when the onion starts to stick to the pan. Add salt and maple syrup (to fully caramelize would takes 30-45 minutes). I use 4-5 medium onions, its enough for more than 2 sandwiches so there is left over for other uses.

Roast the red peppers: with a sharp knife, make small incisions on whole peppers, roast them in the oven until the skin is getting dark brown. remove from the oven and cover to help release the skin. after cooling peel the thin skin, cut and marinade them in apple cider vinegar and salt.

Slice the tofu into about ¼ Inch thick pieces. Dust the tofu generously with salt and spices. Fry in oil for a few minutes on each side, until golden on the edges.

Cut open and brush the baguette with a mixture of 2 Tbsp. olive oil, crushed garlic, dried basil, salt and black pepper. I recommend a garlic crusher, it makes it so quick and easy.

Toast the bread face down in a toaster/panini maker for a minute or two and start layering the olive tapenade, arugula, tofu, roasted peppers and caramelized onion.