The Sandwich

I’m here to tell you about The Sandwich.  I’m pretty sure it’s my purpose in life.  You see, my family has been making this sandwich, and referring to it as “The Sandwich”, for years.  I know it must have come from a magazine or something originally, but it was so long ago and we’ve probably tweaked it beyond recognizability anyway.  We generally make this whenever we are going to be traveling during a mealtime or if we’re going to need a picnic lunch/dinner.  It just gets better the longer it sits (up to a point, of course) and it travels really well, so it’s easy to make ahead of time, wrap up real tight, then throw it in a purse or carry on when you need it.

Also, it’s really really yummy.

I made this to take with us when I went wine tasting with a girl friend last weekend, but we somehow left it in her fridge (it could have been due to leaving at 7 am).  We had it for dinner on the day we got back though, and it had just had more time to sit and let the flavors meld.

Here’s what you need:

A baguette, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers, green or black olive tapenade, chevre, sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, provolone, and salami.  This recipe is very customizable though, so you can use whatever meats or cheeses you like or happen to have on hand.

First, slice your (big!) baguette in half horizontally (parallel to the cutting board) and open it up.  Then just use your (clean!) fingertips to pull out some of the bread from inside to make room for all the other goodies.

But don’t throw that inside-bread away!  Toast it up and throw it in a food processor to make your own much-more-delicious-than-store-bought breadcrumbs.  Or, if you don’t need any breadcrumbs at the moment, put them in a zip-top bag and freeze them, like I did.

Then take your goat cheese and smear it all around, into your trench and all the way to the edges.  Katie and I like goat cheese more than most, I think, so I used quite a bit.  Feel free to not go as overboard as I did if you don’t want to.

Then comes the meat and cheese.  I used Provolone and salami, mostly because they came conveniently in the same package, already sliced, but feel free to use whatever you like.  Just fold them to fit on the baguette and line them all up, either stacking them on top of each other or alternating.

Then comes the roasted red peppers,

and some quartered artichoke hearts.

Then comes the pepperoncinis (be as liberal as you dare!), and julienned sun-dried tomatoes.

Then heap and pile a bunch of arugula on top.  Be generous here, the arugula adds really great flavor.

Then take your top half of the baguette and fill the little trough you made with some tapenade.  Again, use however much tapenade as you like olives.

Then carefully put the top on your sandwich.  You’ll probably have a bunch of escapees to tuck in, but it’s totally doable.

Then just slice the whole thing in half with a serrated knife.

And there you have it!  The Sandwich.  Then I like to wrap each half tightly with plastic wrap, and then again with foil to keep everything together.  And please please please make this a couple days ahead of time!  I’d say a good 36 hours ahead of when you want to eat it is good.  All the flavors just get much happier with each other when they get to know each other for a while.

Then throw it in a purse or pic-a-nic basket or carry on and go!

The Sandwich

adapted from somewhere, long long ago

makes 2 foot-long sandwiches, interpret serving size for yourself

1 24-inch French baguette

2-3 oz chevre or cream cheese

3 oz salami or other cured, sliced meat

3 oz provolone, or other sliced cheese

1 whole roasted red pepper, sliced

3-4 whole artichoke hearts, quartered

2-3 whole sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

1-2 whole pepperoncinis, sliced, or to taste

2 c. arugula, packed

2-3 Tbsp green or black olive tapenade

Slice the baguette horizontally and pull out some of the bread from inside each half and discard (or save for breadcrumbs!).  Spread goat cheese or cream cheese on the bottom half of bread.  Arrange meats and cheeses on top of that.  Top with red peppers, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and pepperoncinis.  Top with arugula, piled up to keep it in place.  Smear top half of bread with tapenade and place on top of arugula, catching any stuff that fell out and stuffing it back in.  Slice the whole thing in half with a serrated knife.  Wrap each half in plastic wrap, then in foil.  Refrigerate until needed, preferably 24-36 hours.  Enjoy!

 Printable Recipe