Sandwiches

Pulling from the greatest hits of chicken salads, with crunchy walnuts, crisp apples, sweet raisins and a spiced mayo-yogurt dressing, this best-of-all-worlds sandwich subs out the chicken for cauliflower. The aggressively roasted cauliflower serves as a sponge, soaking up all the flavors of the dressing while adding layers of bitterness and earthiness. This salad only gets better as it sits, allowing the flavors to meld and the cauliflower to soak up even more dressing. Even once it’s built, this sandwich improves after it has sat for a few hours. Do you plan ahead?

It may seem silly to give a recipe for avocado toast, but there is an art to it, as with most things that are both simple and perfect. Here, you want to make sure of a few things: that the bread you use is sturdy and has some taste; that there's enough salt and citrus to bring out the avocado's flavor; and that you use a good olive oil to bring it all together. These garnishes, from the Australian café Two Hands in Manhattan, are tasty but unnecessary. —Julia Moskin

Spicy heat plays well with melty cheese (think: queso dip, stuffed jalapeños, Buffalo wings and blue cheese). Here, kimchi and mozzarella cheese come together for a twist on the classic grilled cheese. Mildly flavored mozzarella is an especially good choice in this recipe because it lets the kimchi shine, but you could also add ¼ cup of grated Cheddar, Monterey Jack or even pepper Jack for more kick. If you have grilled steak, roasted vegetables or practically any other savory leftover in your fridge, chop it up and add about ¼ cup to your sandwich along with the kimchi.

Legend has it that the tuna melt was accidentally invented in the 1960s at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Charleston, S.C., when the cook didn’t notice that a bowl of tuna salad had tipped over onto a grilled cheese. We may never know if this story is true, but there’s no doubt that the tuna melt has become a classic American diner food. This recipe adds chopped cornichons and whole-grain mustard for a satisfying crunch and vinegary element.

This 10-minute, vegetarian meal is happily reminiscent of a Welsh rabbit, a Reuben sandwich and nachos. Toast slices of bread under the broiler, then top with the fermented trio of sauerkraut, pickled jalapeños and Cheddar. After a few minutes under the broiler, the cheese bubbles and crisps and the cabbage warms and mellows. The sauerkraut provides plenty of vegetables and, along with the jalapeño, tames the richness of the cheese. Adapt as you wish: Smear mustard or horseradish on the bread or trade the sauerkraut for kimchi.

These pan-fried quinoa cakes can be served with a side dish or made into sandwiches by tucking them into buns with toppings. To cook enough quinoa to make the cakes, in a large saucepan bring 1½ cups water and ½ cup quinoa (rinsed and drained) to a boil. Stir in 1 teaspoon kosher salt, then cover, reduce to low, and cook until the water has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover, drape a towel across the pan, re-cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and cool to room temperature.

In Vietnamese, "banh mi" is the word for bread. However, it also refers to a sandwich featuring chicken, pork, or tofu and crunchy pickled vegetables. For our own version, we started by making crispy, flavorful tofu. We sliced the tofu into sandwich-size slabs and drained them on paper towels to make it easier to get a crispy crust. Then we dredged the slabs in cornstarch and seared them in a hot skillet until they were nicely browned. For the vegetables, we quick-pickled cucumber slices and shredded carrot in lime juice and our vegetarian fish sauce substitute.

Yee’s recipe for a bang-up grilled cheese includes an Emmy-worthy tomato jam, something you can use to pump up a multitude of dishes, including turkey burgers and cheese plates. 

In an attempt to liven up grilled cheese, some add so many ingredients that the cheese is an afterthought. Our grown-up grilled cheese sandwiches start with flavorful aged Gruyère to which we add a small amount of wine and Brie. These two ingredients help the aged cheddar melt evenly without becoming greasy. A little bit of fresh chives increases the sandwiches’ complexity without detracting from the cheese, and a smear of mustard butter livens up the bread.

For great-tasting, cohesive burgers, we start by grinding tortilla chips in the food processor. We then pulse the beans with the chips so the beans maintain some texture. Eggs, and flour, which contains sticky amylopectin, help to hold the burger mix together. To keep the preparation simple, we add no-cook seasonings that bolster the Latin American flavor of the burgers. Letting the mixture sit in the refrigerator for an hour gives the starches time to soak up moisture from the egg, so the patties are easier to shape.