Sandwiches aren't just for lunch, making wonderful suppers

Think "sandwich" and you think lunchbox, lunchroom and picnic lunch. The operative word being, of course, "lunch." But sandwiches can make wonderful suppers, and they tend to have the added benefit of involving a minimum of cooking and cleanup.

Cold sandwiches - like a turkey sub or PB&J - require only the assembly of ingredients. Hot sandwiches - from the humble grilled cheese to the fancified panini - require a tad more cooking. But it is these hefty beauties that you can bring to the dinner table with pride.

A great sandwich begins with great bread. Make your own or seek out the best in your area. Consider unusual breads - brown bread, or challah, for example. At O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown, Conn., I recently had an Irish BLT served on soda bread.

Because ingredients are relatively few, quality counts. Even if the only addition to your sandwich is lettuce and tomato, make sure that the lettuce is crisp and the tomato ripe. If you need a dressing - such as the Thousand Island dressing for the Turkey Reuben, at right - do consider making your own.

There are precious few cookbooks with great sandwich recipes, but "The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook" by Carlyn Berghoff (2009 Andrews McMeel) fits the bill. The cookbook comes from a storied eatery in Chicago and the chapter on sandwiches is aptly titled "Something of Substance."

So bring "something of substance" to the table: a sandwich. It's not just for lunch anymore.

• Marialisa Calta is the author of "Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family" (Perigee, 2005). More at marialisacalta.com.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>Recipes</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> </div> <div class="recipeLink"> <ul class="moreLinks"> <li><a href="/story/?id=323045" class="mediaItem">Fried-Egg Sandwich</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=323044" class="mediaItem">Turkey Reuben</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>