tomato and gochujang slaw sandwiches

for the sandwich days of summer, which we're currently in the thick of

one thing about me is that i love nothing more than a great sandwich. i’ll make and eat them any time of year of course, but i lean even more closely to the sandwich sun in the summer. they’re easy to share, pack up and take on the go, can be light and fresh or heavy and rich, are a great way to use up odds and ends, and many require simple assembly with no real cooking or prep.

if you think a sandwich is just a sandwich, i think you’ve never had a great one. there’s something undeniably special and extremely delicious about one that’s thoughtfully assembled, and if i were to be dramatic i’d even say that “great sandwich assembly” is an under appreciated art form. not everyone knows how to make a good sandwich, but anyone who wants to can learn by making (and eating) lots of them, considering the layers, the textures, the flavors and the physics along the way.

berlin is going through a sort of sandwich renaissance of late, with many newly opened restaurants bringing a variety of otherwise unavailable sandwiches onto the scene. so i’ve found myself eating quite a few sandwiches lately that i myself have not made which, while unusual, has not been unwelcome.

two sandwiches i ate in berlin recently

while i throughly enjoyed the majority of these forays into other peoples’ sandwiches, it didn’t stop me from making and enjoying my own. tomato sandwiches are one of my favorites to make when the heirloom tomatoes are huge and heavy, and one afternoon as i set about making one for lunch, i saw i had a thick sliver of leftover cabbage in the fridge and decided to layer it in.

i made an easy japanese cabbage salad with very thinly shaved cabbage, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil (side note: i love this as a simple side salad with any dish you’d eat with short grain rice, and it’s also really good tucked into a breakfast burrito). i piled the cabbage high on thick slices of tomato between two slices of soft, pillowy milk bread. it was tasty as is, and i may even make that one again sometime but for this recipe, i wanted more, so i added gochujang and mayo to the slaw and toasted the milk bread on one side, rubbing it with garlic for a subtle sharpness and allium aroma.

everyone has their sandwich preferences, so feel free to adapt this one to yours. stick with a simpler slaw if you don’t like the sweet spice of gochujang. use a heartier sourdough bread. if you don’t want to use cabbage, sub in shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce, just make sure to use enough to get a thick layer packed onto sandwich. add sliced turkey or stack in some cucumber.

---

this time last year:

---

tomato and gochujang slaw sandwiches

makes 2 sandwiches

for the slaw

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon gochujang

1 tablespoon kewpie mayo

1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

salt

ground white or black pepper

1/4 head pointed cabbage (substitute: iceberg or romaine lettuce)

to assemble

1 tablespoon salted butter

4 thick slices soft sandwich bread (if you’re in berlin, i highly recommend getting a loaf milk bread from keit and slicing it yourself for this recipe)

1 clove garlic

1 large heirloom tomato

msg (optional)

1. use a mortar and pestle to grind up the sesame seeds slightly; you don’t want a powder, just to break up the seeds a little bit. set aside.

2. add 1/2 tablespoon salted butter to the cast iron pan and toast 2 slices of sandwich bread on one side until a deep golden brown; repeat with remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter and 2 slices of bread. depending on the size of your pan and bread, you may be able to toast them all at once or have more than two batches.

3. once one side of each slice of bread is toasted, rub the garlic clove all over the toasted side of each slice; be gentle enough not to rip or poke a hole in the bread and firm enough to sort of use the toasted surface of the bread to grate the garlic.

4. add 1 tablespoon gochujang, 1 tablespoon kewpie mayo, 1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, ground sesame seeds and plenty of salt and pepper to a large bowl and mix to combine. slice the tomato into thick pieces and season with salt and a pinch of msg, if using.

5. use a sharp chef’s knife or mandoline to shred 1/4 head green cabbage and add to the bowl, gently massaging it with the gochujang mixture until evenly coated and ever so slightly softened; if you’re using lettuce, skip the massage and just toss to coat. taste and season with more salt, pepper and/or toasted sesame oil.

6. to build the sandwiches, lay a large piece of parchment paper on a cutting board. place one slice of toasted bread in the center, toasted side up. top with half the tomato slices and pile on half the slaw. top with another slice of bread, this time toasted side down. squish the sandwich down, then wrap tightly in the parchment paper. repeat with the remaining bread and sandwich fillings, then use a serrated knife to cut each sandwich in half. serve immediately.

---

more from darn good:

hong kong-style french toast with kaya

grated tomato spaghetti “carbonara”

no churn blueberry, mascarpone and cinnamon cookie ice cream

→ browse my full recipe archive here ←