Thursday, March 3, 2011

Monte Cristo Sandwich

A Monte Cristo sandwich typically is a ham and Swiss cheese grilled sandwich that's been dipped completely in an egg batter before being fried. I've never had one, personally, but I saw a recipe for one and thought I could make a vegan version of it. It was a complete hit with my family and is very simple. I had vegan cheddar on hand, so that's what I used, and it worked great. I took a picture of the garlic blend that I used for the outside, but it came out too blurry. We have a town a couple of hours from here called Gilroy, and it's known for its garlic; the blend comes from them and is amazing. If you don't have a good garlic blend, then you can use garlic powder blended with onion powder and pepper. In the end, the sandwich ended up being an upgraded grilled cheese. I'll show you how...




Monte Cristo Sandwich

Ingredients:

Sliced sourdough bread
Vegenaise
Mustard
Vegan ham "lunchmeat"
Vegan cheese, your favorite flavor
A good garlic blend, or your own blend of garlic powder, onion powder and pepper
Vegan margarine

Directions:

Spread the vegenaise and mustard on the bread, and add a couple of slices of the vegan ham and cheese. Heat a large pan over medium heat. In a small bowl, mix a ratio of 4 Tbs. of vegan margarine with 1 tsp. of the garlic blend with a fork. Spread on both of the outside slices of bread. Use this ratio as many times as you need to make as many sandwiches as you want. Place three to four sandwiches in the pan and cover with a well-fitted lid. Cook for five minutes, carefully flip each sandwich with a large spatula, cover with lid again, and cook for another five minutes. You should have a nicely browned sandwich on both sides. If you find that your sandwich is burning, add a touch of margarine directly to the pan. I think having the ham in the sandwich prevented the cheese from completely melting, but it was very soft, especially in the middle and was delicious! Serve with some steamed veggies for a rounded out meal. I made more than enough sandwiches to feed five hungry vegans.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

9 comments:

  1. Vegan In The VIMarch 3, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    It's tough to veganize French food. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MaggieMarch 3, 2011 at 11:47 AM

    Your food pics always make me drool! lol I'm not kidding around either hehe :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. RoseMarch 3, 2011 at 11:56 AM

    That garlic blend must put this over the top! Looks delicious...easy to see why it was a big hit with the family.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JessicaMarch 3, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    Between the sourdough and garlic, this looks like a great sandwich.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just UsMarch 3, 2011 at 1:45 PM

    I agree with everyone else. This is one good lookin sandwich. Sounds so yummy! The addition of that garlic blend has to be the key. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  6. dirtyduckMarch 3, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    "In the end, the sandwich ended up being an upgraded grilled cheese."

    you always have some great lines in your posts BM.

    ReplyDelete
  7. MillieMarch 3, 2011 at 6:35 PM

    This sandwich sure looks great...it is making me hungry, especially now since I haven't had any bread for over 3 weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. blessedmamaMarch 4, 2011 at 11:01 AM

    Thank you all! I'm not going to say that I'm going to try and veganize every recipe I see now, but there are some challenges that have been on my mind, that I think I'm going to try and tackle. The garlic blend definitely makes a difference, but there are some really good blends in the stores, too. I think what really put this sandwich over the top is love...aw.

    ReplyDelete
  9. JennyMarch 7, 2011 at 10:53 AM

    "An upgraded grilled cheese" - what could be better than that?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)