Creamy, Crunchy Avocado Melt

In general, I’m not too big on sandwiches. Well — let me qualify that. I’m not too big on deli-meat sandwiches. I suppose years of taking turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread to lunch finally took its toll. Every so often, though, I’ll get a craving to make a sandwich with different vegetables, maybe an herb spread, melted cheese always works, and some good, crusty bread. And the urge struck last week: all I could think about making an avocado melt. Why? I don’t know. I’d never even made this sandwich before, but all I could think of was how good creamy, luscious avocado paired with some good melted cheese and some crunchy vegetables for texture sounded.

So, when I went down to the Farmer’s Market on the weekend I picked up a cute little loaf of whole wheat bread (just enough for 4 thick slices), some radishes, a greenhouse cucumber and some pea sprouts. I already had the avocado waiting at home for me, along with some good Grafton Village maple-smoked cheddar. This is one of my favorite kids of cheeses — have you ever tried it? It’s delicious! On a side note, I just looked at the description on their web site:

“Our Maple Smoked Cheddar is bathed in the cool smoke from smoldering hard maple wood for four to six hours. What taste could be more typical of Vermont? The smoke is used to season, not to preserve. It adds a delicious nuance reminiscent of bacon…”

A-ha!! That last sentence is the key: that must be why I like it so much… 🙂

The sandwiches came together really quickly: I cut the slices of bread, laid them on a baking sheet, covered two of the slices with cheese, and popped the sheet pan under the broiler for a few minutes to toast up the bread and melt the cheese. When the cheese was nice and gooey, I topped it with sliced, buttery avocado; thin slices of radish, thin slices of cucumber, and the sprouts.

The verdict? MMMMM. Creamy, smoky, crunchy, lots of textures and good flavors mingling together. It would be a great sandwich served cold (i.e. don’t bother to melt the cheese) in a pita, too — I think I may try that next, especially if we have another heat wave!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

View printable recipe

Ingredients
4 thick slices of whole wheat or multigrain bread
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
2 radishes, thinly sliced
8 slices of cucumber
a small handful of your favorite kind of sprouts, or two slices of lettuce
maple-smoked cheddar, such as Grafton Village (or just regular smoked or non-smoked cheddar)

Directions
Preheat the broiler. Place the 4 slices of bread on a baking sheet, and top two of them with slices of the cheese.

Meanwhile, prep all your other ingredients so they’re ready to go.

Place the bread slices under the broiler for a few minutes, just until they’re lightly toasted and the cheese is melted. Remove the pan from the oven.

On top of the melted cheese, layer the avocado slices, radish slices, cucumber slices, and sprouts (or lettuce.) Season with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining slices of toasted bread, and serve.

Serves 2.