Sundried Tomato & Roasted Broccoli Sandwich // S1E3 Squeeze
Listen, this episode is a difficult one for us X-Files food bloggers, since there’s nothing like a liver-eating, stretchy mutant who builds newspaper nests out of his own bile to really excite the appetite. But this is the first real Monster of the Week, featuring one of The X-Files‘ most memorable monsters. And after a pie and a side dish, we thought we’d debut this blog’s first main entrée, a Sundried Tomato & Roasted Broccoli Sandwich.
Kayla had suggested we should make lemonade as a nod to the episode’s title, but Reegan disagreed. And, while it would be the obvious route, we certainly won’t be making anything with liver– have we mentioned we’re vegetarians? We could come up with a vegan liver substitute, but…why?
So instead of thinking about Mr. Tooms and his dietary preferences, we’re going to really focus on Scully’s lunch early on in the episode. This salad. What is that? Why has Scully been given a plate of raw vegetables, including vegetables you don’t usually even see in salads. Look how miserable she is eating it. It speaks to Gillian Anderson’s acting ability that she really sells Scully eating this as a plausible lunch. We really hadn’t noticed how terrible this meal was until this, our tenth(?) and food-focused watch through.
So, we thought we’d make a dish that uses the ingredients in Scully’s salad, but is a lunch that Scully might actually want to eat. Instead of raw, unseasoned broccoli, we roasted ours and then liberally seasoned it with dill and lemon. Since the only thing we see Scully actually eat is a cherry tomato, which she chooses to cut in half, we highlighted tomatoes via a sundried tomato cream cheese. And, while Scully’s salad has some sort of cucumber? zucchini? situation, we decided on a thin layer of raw zucchini to keep the bread from getting soggy and add some crunch to this sandwich.
Method
Preheat oven to 450° F. Cut the broccoli into 1 inch pieces and toss in olive oil and salt. Roast for 20 minutes, until the florets become browned and crispy.
While the broccoli roasts, prepare the rest of the sandwich ingredients. Thinly slice the zucchini and set aside. Add cream cheese to a medium sized bowl. Chop the sundried tomatoes into small pieces and mince (or grate) the garlic, and add to the cream cheese. Stir to combine, taste, and then add as much salt as you’d like. Zest and juice the lemon into a large bowl.
Once the broccoli is roasted, remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and finely chop the roasted broccoli. Add to the large bowl with the lemon juice. Season with dill and stir to combine. Taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Toast the bread. Assemble the sandwich by spreading the sundried tomato cream cheese mixture on the insides of each piece of bread, followed by a layer of zucchini. Add about 1/2 C of roasted broccoli to one slice of bread, and then top with the other slice. Cut sandwich in half to serve.
Well wrapped in foil or plastic wrap, the Sundried Tomato & Roasted Broccoli Sandwiches will keep for 24-48 hours, making them great for lunch prep or travel. The layer of cream cheese and raw zucchini keeps the bread from getting soggy.
You can make this sandwich vegan by using a vegan cheese spread instead of cream cheese, and by using a vegan bread.
Sundried Tomato & Roasted Broccoli Sandwich Recipe
Sundried Tomato & Roasted Broccoli Sandwich
Equipment
- lemon zester or microplane
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli cut into 1'' pieces
- 1 small zucchini thinly sliced
- 2 oz sundried tomatoes diced
- 6 oz cream cheese
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tbsp dill
- 4 slices sourdough bread
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450° F.
- Cut broccoli into 1" pieces and then toss in olive oil and salt. Roast for 20 minutes, until it begins to brown.
- While the broccoli roasts, thinly slice the zucchini and set aside.
- Add cream cheese to a medium sized bowl. Chop the sundried tomatoes into small pieces and mince (or grate) the garlic and add to the cream cheese. Stir to combine, taste, and then add as much salt and pepper as you'd like.
- Zest and juice lemon into a large bowl.
- Remove roasted broccoli from oven, and transfer to cutting board. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Finely chop roasted broccoli and add to the bowl with lemon juice and zest.
- Season with dill. Stir to combine. Taste, and add more salt or dill as needed.
- Toast the bread.
- Assemble the sandwich by spreading the sundried tomato cream cheese mixture on the insides of each piece of bread, followed by a layer of zucchini. Add about 1/2 C of roasted broccoli to one slice of bread, and then top with the other slice.
- Cut sandwich in half to serve.
