Would Gigi’s glamorous great-aunt approve of this sandwich? Probably not; I doubt those perfumed hands ever abandoned their silverware to slum it with anything involving a wrapper. However, this is a sandwich you could drink a glass of champagne with while on a picnic with your questionably older, wealthy boyfriend (who loves you, but also kind of wants to turn you into a classy prostitute).
I made my own marinated mushrooms. They’re so easy to make, I couldn’t imagine buying them, but sometimes antipasti or olive bars will have marinated mushrooms that would do pretty well in any sandwich.
The onions aren’t as time-consuming as it sounds. These onions pretty much take care of themselves. I just throw them in the pan and take care of other business while they cook, like make dinner or take out the recycling, and then I stir them whenever I walk by the stove.
I'm gonna try to format these recipes for someone who wants to pack these in the morning for work...
Makes 4 sandwiches
1 ½ tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 large yellow onion
Salt
9-10 oz button mushrooms
¾ cup of champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar, lemon juice, or even apple cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of sugar
1 ½ teaspoons of Dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of dried parsley
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
½ teaspoon of dried basil
3 tablespoons of veganaise
1 large clove of garlic
Dijon mustard
1 package of chevre
Fresh Basil (optional)
On Sunday Night:
For the onions, heat up 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Take one large yellow onion, cut it in half then slice it into half-moons. Add the onions to the pan with a pinch of salt, and sauté for about 8 minutes, stirring whenever you think about it. Then turn down the heat just a bit and continue to sauté for another 20 minutes or more until they are a dark golden color. Like, just when you think they’re done, give them 5 more minutes. You want them super soft and sweet. While they’re on their way, you can get the mushrooms going…
For the mushrooms, Brush/clean 9-10 oz. of mushrooms and cut them into quarters if they are large, halves if they are small and put them into a bowl. In a small sauce pan I put about ¾ cup of champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar (lemon juice would be pretty good if you have that many lemons or even apple cider vinegar), add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons of Dijon mustard, 3 cloves of garlic, ½ teaspoon of dried parsley, ½ teaspoon of dried oregano, and ½ teaspoon of dried basil. Whisk it all together. Put it on the stove over medium-high heat, and right after it starts to boil, pour it over your mushrooms. Let them cool a bit and and then sit overnight in the fridge et voila! This is also a great side dish and great for taking to a pot luck, just serve them at room temperature.
For the veganaise, take 3 tablespoons of veganaise and crush 1 large clove of garlic into it, mix well.
When everything’s done and cooled off, I cover the containers and put it all into the fridge for the morning.
Before Work:
Slice the baguette down the middle and toast under the broiler for a few minutes while you brush your teeth.
Spread the garlic veganaise on one side and some Dijon mustard on the other side.
Using a slotted spoon, drain some of the mushrooms and put them on the veganaise side of the baguette.
Add ¼ of the caramelized onions and ¼ of the chevre (toward the end of the week, I actually decided that ¼ a package of chevre, what is deemed a single serving, might be too much. Use your own judgment, maybe you’ll have some left over for your dinner salad).
Top it off with some fresh basil. I always love rolling the basil leaves up and slicing them into a chiffonade. (However, the first couple of times I made this, I didn’t put any basil on it and it was still pretty good.)
Right now I’m wrapping my baguette sandwiches up in foil and recycling it when I’m done. I’m on the hunt for a more reusable option, but it needs to keep the sandwich together until lunchtime!
Vegan Variation:
Leave the chevre out and make the basil mandatory and this will still be a pretty killer sandwich. Or I think you could easily substitute some tofutti cream cheese mixed with a squeeze of lemon.
I toted this to work with a pear from the Urban Farm Collective and a chocolate truffle I squirreled away at some point last week. At lunchtime I could hear Maurice Chevalier crooning at me from the belle epoch beyond.
(and if Gigi wants be Gaston’s kept woman, who am I to judge?)
-L.K.
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