Sunday Supper, Episode 4: Vegan club sandwich recipe

There are a few things that I miss about Michigan, with friends and family ranking high on the list. I also miss the vegan club from Brick Road Pizza. A lot.

For three months, I've contemplated the possibility of emulating the Grand Rapids' restaurant's recipe at home. Earlier this month, I tried. It didn't taste like Brick Road's version, but it was good in its own right. The inspiration and basis for my sandwich(s) was taken from Vegweb.com, where I found the simple - if unwieldy named - "Husbands Love This Vegan Club Sandwich." Full credit and a sincere thank you to the creator of the recipe.

As always, I altered the recipe to suit my tastes, budget and pantry contents.

Vegan Club Sandwich
Ingredients
-1 block of extra firm tofu, drained, patted dry and cut into 1/2" thick slices
- 1/2 block tempeh, cut into thin slices
- 3 TB extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 TB soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 tsp liquid smoke (Surprisingly cheap at Whole Foods)
- Naan, one piece per sandwich
- 3 pieces of Romaine lettuce
- Sliced tomato
- Vegan mayo (I am obsessed with Vegenaise)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Tofu cutlets: Mix a marinade olive oil, soy sauce, Dijon and black pepper in a small bowl. Dip each piece of tofu in the bowl and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Save leftover marinade.
Tempeh bacon: Add liquid smoke the marinade and dip each piece of tempeh into the mix. Do this carefully, since tempeh is pretty dry and tends to crumble before cooking. Place this on a separate baking sheet.

Place both baking sheets in oven. Flip tofu and tempeh slices after 15 minutes, and cook for another 15 minutes, or until tofu is golden brown and tempeh is crisp. Let cool.

Build your sandwich by lightly toasting the bread. Spread vegan mayo on each side of bread, layer tempeh and tofu, and add lettuce and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tips: Keep a close eye on the tempeh, which can quickly escalate from "nice and crisp" to "No, no. I like well-done food. Honestly, honey, I don't mind that it's tearing my mouth to pieces."
The recipe calls for maple syrup for the marinade. I bet this is a delicious touch. However, with the pronounced lack of deciduous trees in Florida, maple syrup is outlandishly priced - even for Whole Foods. The recipe also calls for white bread, but I felt Naan would be the closet thing to the delicious homemade bread served at Brick Road Pizza. It was the right call. Also, next time, I will marinate the cutlets for about 20 minutes and add chopped dill pickles as a topping. And, heck - I would like to throw seitan in the mix somewhere. It's no BRP, but it's the closest thing we've got.