It's tomato season y'all! That means I'll be eating this miso butter tomato sandwich all day, every day until it's over.
I posted a tomato sandwich with miso butter on Instagram the other morning and it kind of popped off! Like, for me, I'd say it was mildly viral. These days my socials are getting the engagement they used to. Ya feel?! Who knew a simple miso butter tomato sandwich would resonate so much. And resonate it did! I was told how incorrectly I had made my sandwich by a few people. I also had a few trolls commenting that I forgot the bacon and lettuce. But overall it was mostly excitement and it influenced a lot of people to make their own tomato sandwiches.
It turns out a lot of you are growing tomatoes, so maybe that's why it became a hit! I however recently purchased some very expensive organic heirloom tomatoes because my seasonal craving for tomatoes, mayo, salt and pepper on fresh bread hit hard. I did want to elevate the tomato sandwich though, so I added miso butter too and fried the bread in it. That gave it the perfect umami kiss it was longing for!
To make this miso butter tomato sandwich you obviously need amazing tomatoes. I like the heirloom varieties this time of year. How pretty are the red and yellow ones together? Luckily I found these two below, which were very large, for only $4.99 at Trader Joe's (not organic, but local).
You can also get white miso paste at Trader Joe's for a good price too. There's no need to run around looking for it at smaller grocers or Asian markets. You'll spread a mixture of miso and vegan butter on the bread—I love Tartine sourdough. Then fry it in a hot pan to get it lightly toasted and warm, then drizzle vegan mayonnaise generously on top, layer your tomato slices, and garnish with flaked salt and fresh ground pepper! In my Instagram video, I dabbed my tomatoes with paper towels and got hell for it! You do you. But for these photos, I'll have you know I didn't dab them!
I also didn't put the crushed sesame seeds on the sandwich for these photos, but I did sprinkle them on the sandwich when I made this up for the video! Oops. They're optional, I guess. But if you're going to do it, I much prefer toasted sesame seeds over raw—more flavor! I grind them in my spice grinder attachment for my coffee grinder. That's how I get the powdery sesame dust!
It all depends on the day, but I eat this opened-faced or stacked like a regular sandwich. And, of course, you could add vegan bacon, lettuce, avocado, or pickles. Whatever! But we're talking about a tomato sandwich here. So yes, it's simple. But it holds its own, so my advice is don't mess with a good thing!
miso butter tomato sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 slices sourdough bread
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
- 1 ripe heirloom tomato
- Flaked sea salt & fresh ground black pepper, as garnish
Instructions
- Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat.
- Spread the miso on one side of each slice of bread and then add butter on top of that. Spread both out evenly over the bread.
- Place the miso butter side down first into the hot pan. Fry the bread for about 3 minutes until browned and then flip and fry the other side for about another 3 minutes or until browned and toasted. There will be residual miso butter in the pan to give the unbuttered sides of the bread a bit of flavor. That will be the outside of the sandwich.
- With the full miso butter side facing up, drizzle vegan mayonnaise on top of both slices. Then add slices of the heirloom tomato and add flaked sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. You can either eat it open face with tomatoes on both sides, or pile the tomatoes as high as you like on one piece of the bread and top with the other piece of bread and slice in half.
Carolyn
We do a version of this with our homegrown tomatoes too! We call it tomato toast, and it's a summer staple! Toasted sourdough rubbed with a garlic clove, vegan mayo, chopped tomato, fresh basil, diced jalapeno, salt & pepper! So simple, so easy, so fresh, so delicious! 🍅🍞🤌🏻 Your grilled miso butter bread sounds divine though, I'll have to try it!
Lauren Toyota
sounds yummy too!
Jennifer
OMG- just used this method to make BLTs with Good Earth’s Benevolent Bacon. Holy cow, was it delicious!
Lauren Toyota
ya I love that one!