Meatless Monday: Beet Reubens

You really can't beet a reuben!

This may surprise my readers, but I have not always been a vegetarian. When I did eat meat, I wasn't a huge fan but I did have a couple exceptions - one being corned beef. I wanted to create a corned beef substitute and from there I came up with the Beet Reuben for this week's Meatless Monday!

Two pieces of rye bread hold together thinly sliced savory-sweet seasoned beets, creamy coleslaw, melted swiss cheese and a thousand island inspired spread made from tahini. It's quite possibly the furthest thing from a classic reuben, but it's so delicious and lovable in it's non-traditional form. In my book, that's all that matters!

Please don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. A lot of spices go into making those beets just right. The coleslaw and tahini sauce are easy to whip up but you can always use pre-made coleslaw and thousand island dressing. Find more great dinner and dessert recipes on my blog!

Beet Reuben
Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 pound raw beets, peeled and sliced into 1/16 slices (mandoline recommend)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard, divided
• 1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon ground garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 4 cups shredded cabbage and carrots
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons + 4 teaspoons rice vinegar (or white vinegar), divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1/4 teaspoon ground onion powder
• 2 tablespoons water
• 8 slices bread (rye or marble rye, preferred)
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• Butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Combine the brown sugar, spices and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, making sure there are no lumps of brown sugar remaining

Add the sliced beets to a large bowl

Pour the olive oil and spice mixture over the beets and stir until all the slices are evenly coated

Spread the slices on the two baking sheets and bake for approximately 15 minutes. The beets are done when the moisture level has reduced and they are tender with a slight bite. If they get brown and crispy they have been baked too long (but you will have delicious beet chips)

Remove the beets from the oven and set aside

To make the coleslaw, add the shredded cabbage/carrots to a large bowl

In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

Add the mayonnaise mixture to the shredded cabbage/carrots and stir to combine. Set aside

To make the tahini sauce, whisk together the tahini, ketchup, 4 teaspoons rice vinegar, relish, onion powder and water

Assemble each sandwich by spreading butter on one side of one piece of bread. Place it butter side down on a large skillet - not over heat. Spread 1 tablespoon of tahini spread on the non-buttered side and top with 1/2 cup coleslaw. Add two slices of Swiss cheese and 1/4 of the beets. Spread 1 tablespoon of the tahini spread on one side of the remaining slice of bread and place it face down on the sandwich. Butter the remaining side of the bread

Heat the skillet to medium and cook each side, gently pressing down on the sandwich, until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted