Our favorite sick-day sandwich combo

Today, we’re celebrating the curative powers of a good soup and a grilled cheese

Hey team, welcome back to Cool Beans! We’re in the thick of spring, and all the seasonal produce is going off. Know what else is going off? Pollen. My sinuses. The dreaded springtime cold.

Everyone around me seems to be sick, and I’ve temporarily paused my life to lie in bed, whine like a baby, and crave all the comfort foods. If you’re also trying to kick the wrong kind of spring fever to the curb, I’ve got a soup and sandwich duo to help you feel like a functioning human again. First up, a soothing soup to clear your head and fill your belly. Then, an ooey-gooey childhood favorite that may not have actual healing properties but tastes like a big, warm hug. 

The review: A meatless noodle soup for the soul

Soup’s on! Credit: Gabriella Vigoreaux

I was recently flipping through one of my newer vegetarian cookbooks—One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones—dreaming of the days when my taste buds would be back in action, when I came across a soup I suspected would cure all my ailments. It’s a totally plant-based take on ash reshteh, a Persian dish traditionally eaten for the New Year that’s full of greens, beans, and noodles. Think of it as an aromatic alternative to your classic chicken noodle, with a one-two protein punch of lentils and cannellini beans. It’s also loaded with spinach, herbs, and turmeric and topped with a crunchy mix of toasted pine nuts, green chile, and lemon zest. 

I could feel my sinuses open as soon as the spices (turmeric and cumin) and aromatics (onion, garlic, and green chile) hit the pan. Canned white beans and lentils then hop into that fragrant mix and simmer in veggie stock, joined about 15 minutes later by spinach and noodles. Just before serving, a splash of lemon juice and heaping handfuls of chopped cilantro, parsley, and dill brighten things up. 

Check out Anna’s complete ash reshteh recipe.

Jones’ take offers a couple notable swaps and shortcuts from classic ash reshteh. First, she uses broken-up pieces of linguine or spaghetti instead of reshteh, a ribbony Persian noodle that’s saltier and starchier than Italian pastas. This is great news for people like me who seem to always have half-full boxes of noodles in the pantry: Not enough for a spaghetti dinner, but just the right amount for this soup. Traditional ash reshteh also calls for Persian yogurt or whey, which gets slowly ladled into the soup and drizzled on top, but Jones gets her tang from lemon juice. The pine nut topping is also a stray from the caramelized onions that usually adorn the dish, but it adds excellent texture. 

The soup’s beautifully balanced. It’s got plenty of heft from the legumes but still tastes zingy and fresh. The broth is deeply nourishing and complex from the mix of warming spices, garlic, and chile. While I absolutely appreciate the sinus-clearing powers of a good soup, it’s far from the only sick-in-bed necessity. Sometimes being laid up calls for simple comforts. Sometimes you just need a sandwich, and for me, there’s only one that does the trick.

The recipe: A sick-day sando (for the kid in all of us)

A good grilled cheese gives me all the feels I had as a kid home sick from school. Back then, I would have piled three to five Kraft singles onto some white bread, but these days I prefer sourdough—and you won’t catch me eating ultra-processed cheese if I can avoid it. For this faux cheese, I’m using cashews to give the sauce heft, tapioca starch for some gooeyness, and nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavor. I even hid some carrots in there for color (and also, sure, for my immune system). This recipe makes more sauce than you would need for a couple sammies, but it stores really well and you can add it to so many things: enchiladas, macaroni, baked potatoes, a spoon… 

Cheese aside, there are a couple keys to a perfectly golden and crispy grilled sando. First is to spread mayo on the outsides of your bread; it has a higher smoke point than butter so you won’t risk burning the toast, and it also adds a nice tang. You also want to start the sandwich in a cold skillet. Slowly bringing it up to heat helps things get evenly brown and crisp without burning before the cheese has time to melt. You can zhuzh up your sammie with some baby spinach, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, kimchi, chutney, or pesto. 

We’ll truly never grow out of this. Credit: Gabriella Vigoreaux

Grilled ‘Cheese’

Yield: 2 sandwiches (with extra sauce)