Luscious, savoury, and satisfying, Grilled Asparagus and Mushroom Sandwich with Cheddar and Herbs is a scrumptious offering that ticks all the boxes of a memorable plant based sandwich.
Like any great sandwich, a plant based sando needs a number of tasty ingredients to elevate it from just 'doing the job' to 'I can’t wait to eat that again' territory. Things don’t have to get too complicated to budge things in the right direction, and a satisfying sandwich is definitely worth a little culinary effort. Enter my Grilled Asparagus and Mushroom Sandwich with Cheddar and Herbs.
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Wherever your kitchen takes you
This delicious sandwich can easily be made made at home, on a bbq, at a campsite, or at an outdoor kitchen, and has the necessary array of flavourful ingredients to make a plant based sandwich great. Grilled bread is rubbed with fresh garlic, green onions, asparagus, and succulent oyster mushrooms are grilled until tender and caramelized and topped with melty cheddar, and a delicious green herb and mustard slather ties everything together. Far be it from me to proclaim the importance of a great sandwich, and so I leave it to Keanu Reeves to proclaim “Life is good when you have a good sandwich.” I certainly agree!
Ingredients and method
To get things started, you need some hearty bread - try an Italian or sourdough loaf. Once your bread is toasted or grilled, rub the bread with a raw garlic clove and set aside, in order to prepare the other ingredients.
The herb and mustard slather simply combines finely chopped herbs - here I use basil, cress, sorrel, and parsley from my garden but you can use whatever you have on hand - a squeeze of lemon, a glug of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a spoonful of good grainy mustard. Mix, and set aside.
Now for the main ingredients. The green onions get grilled or pan fried first, and if you have room, you can get the asparagus going at the same time in the same pan. Once the green onions are tender and caramelized, add them to one piece of your garlic rubbed bread.
As the asparagus takes longer to cook, once the onions are out, you can start the mushrooms on the other side of the pan. Sprinkle everything with a bit of salt and cook until the asparagus is just tender. Layer the asparagus on top of the grilled green onions. Add the herb and mustard slather to the other side of the bread.
Continue to cook the mushrooms until they are starting to caramelize and become tender, then layer with slices of cheddar - I use goat cheddar but you can use your cheese of choice including vegan - cover with a lid or a plate, and cook until the cheese is melty and bubbly.
Transfer the oozy, cheese covered mushrooms onto the asparagus. Put both sides of the sandwich together, cut in half and enjoy!
Substitutions
Oyster mushrooms are the best choice for this sandwich because they are flavorful, larger in size, don’t give off a ton of liquid when cooked, and have a satisfying ‘meaty’ texture when cooked. If you can’t obtain oyster mushrooms, substitute with whatever you have access to, such as larger regular brown mushrooms.
For the herbs, use what you have on hand - any mixture of soft herbs such as basil, parsley, cilantro, sorrel, cress, watercress, or arugula will do the trick. In my sandwich I use basil, cress, sorrel, and parsley as I usually have those in the garden, but I change things up depending on what I have on hand.
As for the cheese, my favourite cheese to use is goat cheddar for both the flavour and melty texture. You can use whatever you prefer that will melt well, including vegan cheese to make things entirely plant based.
Getting Ahead
I’ve made this sandwich at both an outdoor kitchen and in my home kitchen without any advance preparation, in about 10 -15 minutes. If you prefer to get some of the elements done in advance, you could easily cook up the green onions, asparagus, and mushrooms beforehand, leaving them at room temp. When you’re almost ready to eat, you could pop the mushrooms back in a pan with the cheese on top to melt, while you prepare the toast slices and herb and mustard slather. Then all you have to do is assemble the sandwich and you’re ready to enjoy!
Serving Size
This recipe is written for one serving, so multiply the recipe amounts by the number of people eating to increase to your desired number of servings.
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Grilled Asparagus and Mushroom Sandwich with Cheddar and Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread Italian or sourdough
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 2-3 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 2 green onions cut into half into shorter lengths, and then cut into quarters lengthwise
- 4 stalks asparagus tough ends removed
- 50 grams fresh oyster mushrooms
- 2-3 slices goat cheddar or other melty cheese, including vegan
- 1 handful soft green herbs finely chopped, such as basil, parsley, cilantro, sorrel, cress, watercress, arugula
- squeeze of fresh lemon
- 1 heaping tsp grainy mustard
- salt to taste
Instructions
First prepare the bread.
- Toast or grill two slices of bread until lightly toasted and browned on the edges. Taking a raw clove of garlic, rub the clove directly onto the top surface of each of your toasted bread slices. Set aside.
Now grill the vegetables.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan or grill top set on medium heat. Add the green onions and cook until soft and caramelized, then remove and add on top of one slice of the toasted bread.
- Add a bit more olive oil if needed, then add the asparagus, and if there is room, add the mushrooms, add a sprinkle of salt, and cook until tender, browning, and starting to blister. If you don’t have room in the same pan, just cook the asparagus first, then the mushrooms. When done, remove the asparagus and layer on top of the green onions.
- With the mushrooms alone in the pan or grill top, layer a couple of slices of cheddar on top, cover with a lid, plate or foil, and let the cheese melt.
Prepare the slather.
- Add the finely chopped herbs, a glug of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, the grainy mustard, and a pinch of salt. Stir and taste, adjusting amounts as needed.
Assemble the sandwich.
- WIth one side of the sandwich already layered with green onions and asparagus, add the oozy cheese topped mushrooms on top of that side. Spread the herb and mustard slater on the other side of the bread, assemble the sandwich sides together, cut, and enjoy!
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