A few weeks ago, we had a friend visiting for the weekend.  He is a recent convert to the omnivore lifestyle – after over 30 years of a purely vegetarian diet.  Food is nearly like a religion and each style has its adherents who hold to it with zeal and conviction that borders on fanaticism.  So when our friend converted, we were so thrilled that he had chosen to walk the other side that we now consider it our mission to ensure that his forays into the omnivore lifestyle are rewarding enough to cement his place as a member of our growing sect 🙂 “Thou shalt not backslide”.   Still, even with this new adventurous palate, his lifetime of preparing only vegetarian cuisine means that he is at a loss as to what to do when confronted with meat or fish.  He does well enough when dining out, but at home he needs to prepare vegetarian cuisine if he is to eat at all.

When he visited, he remarked that our blog is woefully lacking in vegetarian style sandwiches that he could create at home.  We have been remiss, and so have prepared this little sandwich in his honor. Subu, this one’s for you (more acts of repentance to follow).

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 slice bread
• 1 tbs hummus
• romaine lettuce
• 2 big pieces roasted pepper (enough to cover the bread)
• 2 slices tomato
• 1 big slice of feta cheese (1/3 to 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• freshly ground pepper

Use a sharp knife to finely chop the oregano leaves and set aside.

Toast the bread and spread with the hummus.  We used homemade roasted jalapeno hummus, but any hummus (store-bought or homemade) would do. Add the lettuce leaves, roasted peppers and tomato. We used a white oxheart tomato – a heirloom variety that we are trying in our backyard garden this year.  It is a meaty, low-liquid, low-acid tomato. Turned out to be great for this sandwich.

Heat a stove top grill on high and add the feta cheese slice.  Grill the on one side for 2 minutes and then flip and grill the other side for 2 minutes more.  Add the still warm grilled cheese to the sandwich and sprinkle with the oregano leaves, olive oil and freshly ground pepper.