Broccoli Melts
There's one of those spots by my house that seems like it has a lot of potential, but ever since first opening it's had a rotating cast of restaurants that never fully delivered. That changed towards the end of the pandemic when it reopened as Lakewood Social, which is a beer and sandwich joint that finally gels with the neighborhood while also having quality food and great people. It's become a standard for me, and I've gone so often that I've eaten my way through most of the menu. One of many standouts is their broccoli melt that pairs the green veg and cheese blend with both caramelized and pickled red onions. It's a winning combo, but every time I order it I can't help feeling like it would be totally complete with a bit of red pepper to help balance out the sweetness of the onions. I wasn't sure I could make the sandwich quite as good as they do, but I decided to give it a try at home and see if my one modification would indeed be a good fit.
While not the reason I made this recipe, I always look for an excuse to make a batch of caramelized onions because I love them so much. I use the long process of heating the onions until they cook down dramatically and leave a fond on the bottom of the pan, then deglazing and repeating until they're a deep brown. Depending on how many onions I'm making, this could take 30 minutes to over an hour, but no shortcut I've tried to cut down that time has led to better, or even equal, caramelized onions.
Caramelized onions are very prominent in the final sandwich, but the pickled red onions are just as important. These add a tang and crunch that contrasts against the cheese and sweet onions and keeps both from tasting too rich or too sugary. Luckily, these are much faster and easier to make with just a quick boil in water first, then a quick boil in vinegar before being transferred to a jar and cooled in the fridge.
Broccoli has always been a favorite vegetable of mine, but grilling it has made me love it even more. It's actually my favorite way to cook it because I find the high heat of charcoal will char and crisp the edges without over cooking the entire floret. Roasting in a high heat oven is my second choice, but by the time good browning action happens there, the broccoli sometimes feels a little too soft throughout when compared to grilled.
To grill this broccoli, I cut the crown into large florets that wouldn't fall through the grates. Then I coated the broccoli with oil and seasoned with salt and pepper before placing the florets on the cool side of a two-zone fire. I covered and let it roast until it had those ideal characteristics I was after, which took about 20 minutes total. Once done, I placed all the florets on a cutting board and roughly chopped them.
Next, to prep the sandwiches, I buttered one side of pieces of sourdough and then topped them with broccoli, both onion types, a sprinkling of crushed red pepper, and cheese. I'll note that Lakewood Social uses a cheese blend, but I decided to stick with white cheddar only to keep it simple.
The fully assembled sandwiches then went back on the grill, over indirect heat, and cooked until the bread started to feel crusty on the outside, but not dried out all the way through. The five minutes or so this took was long enough for the cheese to melt. Most of the sandwiches were browned enough to my liking too, but ones that were a little pale were simply slid over to the hot side of the grill to get extra color—be careful though, the bread will char very quickly as this point and I did blacken one of my sandwiches on this day from not paying close enough attention.
I already knew from experience that I would love this sandwich. Mine wasn't quite as good as Lakewood Social's, but it wasn't too far off, and that made me happy. I was even happier though with little pockets of heat from the peppers that helped provide some extra balance and contrast to the very sweet onions. I wouldn't say it made the sandwich overall, but it worked out how I was hoping it would. Beyond just tasting great, this sandwich is also plenty filling thanks to the hearty amount of broccoli and cheese in each one. It seems like Lakewood Social is here to stay, which means I'll always have a reliable source for the sandwich whenever a craving hits, but hopefully all of you might give this broccoli melt variation a try at home because it's a top in the game.
