Broccoli Classic

I have been making broccoli sandwiches for myself since I was a kid. In high school, I would sauté broccoli and put it on top of mashed potatoes between two slices of bread. In my early twenties I got hooked on steamed broccoli with ham and cheese on a sesame seed hamburger bun. Now I roast it and top it with mayo, pickled lychees, pine nuts, and a salty, crumbly cheese.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayo

• 4 sub rolls, split lengthwise

• 2 heads of roasted broccoli or grilled broccoli

• 1 cup lychee muchim (recipe follows), mostly drained of its juice

• 1 cup ricotta salata cheese [Ed. note: roughly shredded]

• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

• 1/4 cup fried shallots

A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches (Courtesy of Clarkson Potter. Cover photo copyright © 2016 by Noah Fecks.)

Directions

This one could be hot or cold—it just depends on your confidence level and attitude. If you want it to be hot, I suggest having everything ready so that when you finish cooking the broccoli, you’re ready to make a sandwich.

Put some mayo on the rolls and top with the broccoli and lychee muchim. Press it all down a little with your hand so that you make a nice flat base for the cheese, pine nuts, and shallots. Sprinkle on the cheese, pine nuts, and shallots, and close the sandwich.

MUCHIM BRINE

Makes 1 cup of marinade, good for soaking about 2 cups of anything.

In Korean, the word muchim means “mixed” or “seasoned,” but is generally employed to describe a Korean cucumber salad called “oi muchim.” It is spicy and intense and tastes a little bit like a fresh (as in non-fermented) kimchi. At No. 7 Sub, I wanted to fuse oi muchim with a classic kosher dill pickle. We use whole Kirby cucumbers and marinate them in the oniony, garlicky brine described below for a few days.

And when we decided to try the brine on lychees, it made something super magical! Here is the main recipe for the brine and a few suggestions of what to brine with it, but you should use it for anything that you like to pickle.

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced against the grain, then minced

• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped

• A few drops of sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 2 teaspoons red chile flakes (this is a pretty spicy recipe, so if you’re not into it, maybe just do 1 teaspoon, but keep in mind it is just a small component of a sandwich, so don’t take the chiles out entirely or I will know)

• 1 cup white vinegar

• 2 whole scallions, thinly sliced

• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Stir together the garlic, ginger, shallot, sesame oil, sugar, chile flakes, vinegar, scallions, and salt until thoroughly mixed. This marinade can be used to pickle just about anything. Just soak whatever you’d like in the brine for at least an hour before using, and save it in the brine, refrigerated, for up to a couple of weeks.

LYCHEE MUCHIM

Drain one 20-ounce can of lychees (save the syrup to make cocktails!), halve them, and combine them with the marinade.