Mouthing Off

Mortadella and Cheese Panini; © Con Poulos

Imagine a world without cheese—no pizza, no mac and cheese, no cheeseburgers, no cheesecake, no grilled cheese. It would mean the disintegration of society as we know it! The end of the world! Possibly the complete implosion of the entire known universe! Well, thankfully, ExxonMobil has patented the process of “cheese fracking,” insuring that none of us will ever face a future sans cheese. And that means we can go merrily on pairing wine with our grilled cheese sandwiches. And that, my cheese-fanatic friends, is a big relief. "American cheese and white bread. Shouldn’t be scoffed at, even by foodies, and never scoffed at by seven-year-olds." »

Pair these simple open-faced sandwiches with a fresh, lemony white like an Albariño. / © Sally Gall

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

Oh, Costco, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: Chinese sausages, chapati flour, Israeli quark, Lundberg rice (at a fraction of retail) AND eight packs of Season brand sardines packed in olive oil (yay!). My go-to quick meal often includes opening a tin of sardines, mixing them with some type of onion and mayo or mustard and slapping it on grainy crackers. These open-face sandwiches are definitely a more complex step up but still fast, easy and supernutritious. After my long Saturday morning runs, this so totally hits the spot. My kids aren't convinced (neither is my husband, but at least he doesn't wrinkle his nose), so I tend to enjoy them in relative solitude, which is all right by me, especially after a long run.

It doesn't hurt to wash it all down with a cold, crisp IPA or two—I especially like Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada—but then the whole solitude thing can seem a little depressing (by appearances only). I'm reminded of MFK Fisher (that goddess) and how she prepared herself elegant meals that she enjoyed with wine all by herself. SEE RECIPE »

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This riff on a BLT uses fried cornmeal-dusted green tomatoes instead of the usual red tomatoes in this classic sandwich. // © Quentin Bacon

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

It's so hard to wait till the end of summer for all those green tomatoes straggling on the vines to make fried green tomatoes. It's easy enough to get a few at the farmers' market early in the season, if I ask one of the farmers to pick some for me. I've tried this tangy BLT with tomatillos, which work in a pinch, but there's something about green tomatoes that is just so comforting. SEE RECIPE »

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This riff on a classic Vietnamese sandwich uses classic borscht ingredients like chopped beets and horseradish mayonnaise. / © Con Poulos

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

Honestly, what's better than a sandwich? It's the most efficient vehicle for total food-to-face delivery. It seems, though, that every storefront houses either a burger joint, cupcake café or Vietnamese sandwich shop. Though I will never get tired of traditional banh mi, I was looking for something different when I came up with this riff, which uses quick-pickled carrots, beets and horseradish—classic borscht ingredients—to make a clever and unusual Moscow Banh Mi. SEE RECIPE »

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Even meat-loving Texans love Grace Parisi's Spiced-Tofu Sandwiches. // © Lucas Allen

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

Our staff is pretty tough when it comes to recipe critiques—especially something as "fringe" as tofu. They hear "come to the kitchen to try a tofu blah blah blah…" and either come by reluctantly, or tune it out altogether. I had to tempt them back with a pork sandwich in the same message. In this dish, extra-firm tofu is marinated in a fragrant mix of coriander, fennel, black pepper, bay, paprika and garlic for 48 hours to soak up the spices' flavors. Then it's grilled and sandwiched with sweet pickles, lettuce, tomato and BBQ mayo in brioche buns. This "burger" ended up getting more kudos than the pork sitting on the adjacent platter. Texan and big meat guy Ray Isle was impressed—that's extraordinarily high praise! SEE RECIPE »

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Grace Parisi's melty campfire sandwich: Double-Grilled Antipasto Sandwiches // © Tina Rupp

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

A short while ago, a friend and I were swapping campfire stories—mostly about what we cook over an open fire. He mentioned skewering a slab of bacon and a hunk of cheddar on the end of a long stick and slowly toasting them until they're sizzling and melted. He then slapped them between a hard roll and enjoyed a yummy sandwich. Thinking it sounded delicious, I tried it myself. Unfortunately, just as the cheese reached maximum melt-itude and I was reaching for my bread, the hunk oozed off the stick and onto the coals (thankfully, I had a backup of PB&J). Not one to give up, on the next camping trip, I brought prosciutto to wrap around the cheese, thus enveloping it in a crispy, meaty crust and keeping it on the stick! SEE RECIPE »

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