The GIANT Hero!!!

There it is! Here's how we made it: I bought two loaves of Vienna bread from Cossetta's to start with. Then the meats: Porketta, Italian Roast Beef, Prosciutto, Hot Soprasetta and Pepperoni. The cheeses: Provolone, Mozzarella and Parmesan. The veggies: roasted red peppers, tomatoes (I seeded them, then salted them to draw out moisture so the sandwich wouldn't get soggy), red onion, roasted portobello mushrooms, sliced peperocini, marinated artichokes and Italian seasoning. I layered everything up and squished together. Then I wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. Then it went into the fridge to rest overnight.

Oh, it was lovely!

And, yes, I did make a veggie version for Mandy, with no meats.


Here's the pretty potato salad Amy made. See the flowers made of eggs and red peppers?

All in all, it was great night! I'm looking forward to some irregularly scheduled Sandwich Nights soon!

Best. Sandwich Night. EVER.

(I'm crazy busy hosting a conference at work this week so this will be short. Look for more details and photos in a few days!)
It was the best Sandwich Night yet. We assembled the giant hero from essentially the same ingredients as the original hero. Only this time, I made it the night before and let it sit in the fridge all day to let the flavors meld into new deliciousness.
We had a houseful of people including sandwich night regulars Angie(of course, no excuses this week!), Mandy(who ate a sandwich!), Kris and Doug, Karen, and Beth and me. My friend Amy finally came to a sandwich night and brought her three kids. (Kate couldn't make it--she's in Israel digging up dirt, hoping to discover the next big thing in Roman archeology.) Everyone brought treats. Amy-Potato Salad. Kris-Rhubarb Cake. Karen-Cupcakes. Angie-Beer!
Everyone loved the sandwich. Angie kept guessing ingredients which weren't even in it, like sun dried tomatoes. Even the kids ate it!
And, the Heroes finale was pretty spectacular.
All in all, a great night!
So-Sandwich Night as a regularly scheduled event is going on summer break. The blog isn't. We'll have Sandwich Nights as the inspiration hits. And, we may even have Sandwich Lunches at work....interested anyone?

I am the cheese

I learned three things tonight:
1.) Don't microwave baked beans. Especially without something covering them.
2.) Smoked Gouda doesn't really melt, although it is delicious.
3.) Sometimes Little Angie needs the night off.
I've been officially stood up twice this week by our former squatter. I forgive her. She's suffering from end of the season rugby fatigue, with which I'm very familiar.
I was also ditched by Beth tonight since she had a hockey game.
Yes, I am the cheese and the cheese stands alone. Or, in my case, sits on the couch stuffing her face with an even better barbecue chicken sandwich while enjoying the season finale of America's Next Top Model alone. I had my fantastic Summit ESB for company (they made it part of the permanent line! Yippee!) I had Mickey Mouse as well (he has a sandwich too!)

So here's what I did to make the sandwich even better: I got onion hamburger buns and I put the chicken on the bottom bun, topped with a piece of smoked Gouda. Then I put that in the oven for the cheese to melt (which it didn't, but the chicken soaked into the bottom bun nicely). I toasted the top bun, put yellow mustard on it and then I sliced hot dill pickles onto the sandwich. Delicious.
A quiet night, but all in all a good one!
And I totally called a Jaslene win for ANTM, just in case anyone's keeping score!

Two part Sandwich Night?

Yup.

Angie couldn't make it tonight. (She had to go to a funeral.) But Sandwich Night was already in motion so Beth and I carried on. Angie's coming over Wednesday night to watch the ANTM season finale and eat the barbecue chicken sandwiches instead.

Aaah, barbecue chicken. So delicious. I don't have a smoker or a barbecue pit so I decided to keep it simple. I poached boneless chicken breasts, then shredded them and let them simmer in the barbecue sauce for a while. I did, however, make my own sauce from a recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It turned out pretty well. And it was surprisingly easy. I whipped it up while I was waiting on the coffee to brew this morning!

To assemble the sandwiches, we toasted hamburger buns, then piled on smoked gouda, the chicken, sliced bread and butter pickles and yellow mustard. It turned out very nicely. But I think next time I will leave the cheese off the bottom. I'd rather let the sauce soak into the bun. I'll try that Wednesday!

Beth and I decided we needed good sides for the sandwiches as well. I cooked up some collard greens and we got a can of baked beans. They were fantastic with the barbecue! And the iron! My mother would be proud.

Remember, next Monday with be both the Heroes season finale and the Sandwich Night season finale. Come over!

And have no fear, I'll still be blogging about sandwiches and be open for suggestions for new uncharted sandwich territory. Oh, the freedom!

Veggies + charcoal = yum!

Vegetables are so delicious when you brush them with olive oil and grill them. Which is exactly how we started making the grilled vegetable sandwich. I grilled up eggplant, zucchini, yellow bell peppers, portobella mushrooms, red onion, and jalapeno peppers.
We had an avocado, so we had to put that on. Same with fresh basil and lettuce.
I wanted to get foccacia as the bread but they didn't have any at the store and I was in a hurry, so I opted for a loaf of ciabatta and some bolillo rolls. Bolillo rolls are those Mexican sandwich rolls that are pretty soft and dusted with flour.
Cheese was a no-brainer for me. Chevre, all the way. Angie, however, is not such a fan of the goat cheese so I got some Meunster as well. To that I added fancy garlic herb mayonnaise and we were set!

The blending of the warm grilled veggies and the goat cheese and the fancy mayo was awesome. I had to do a little happy sandwich dance! The bolillo roll was great. I had another grilled vegetable sandwich for lunch today (post Sandwich Night perk!) on ciabatta and I'd have to say that the ciabatta was even better. More nooks and crannies to hold big chunks of chevre!

We were very excited to host our youngest Sandwich Night guest yet. Beth's co-worker Eric (he suggested Grilled Vegetable for the hat) came over with his son Lyndon. Lyndon had squash, bananas, and teething biscuits but he really wanted a piece of his dad's sandwich!


Two more weeks of Heroes means two more weeks of Sandwich Night! Eric graciously drew the next sandwich from the hat: BBQ! We're thinking chicken, with mustard, pickles and smoked cheddar.
The week after next, in honor of the Heroes season finale, we are going to reprise the original hero sandwich, but make it bigger and better. Yup. You heard it here! Come on over--it's going to be a party! A big conspiracy theory to blow up the world party? Nah, a sandwich party!

Cheesarific!

How can you pick just one kind of grilled cheese sandwich? We couldn't, so we made a bunch and shared them! We used sourdough bread as a base for all the sandwiches. The five kinds of sandwiches my co-worker Karen and I made were: 1.)mozzarella, tomato, basil; 2.)monterey jack, avocado, bacon; 3.)brie, green apple; 4.)sharp cheddar, hot mango chutney; and 5.)sharp cheddar, Swiss, bacon, red onion, avocado. We shared these with Beth who was late to Sandwich Night due to a hockey game. Since we were eating so many fancy sandwiches, I decided to make a fancy green salad with grapefruit and avocados. Yum! Angie made some crazy sandwiches, too. But I was too busy with my own to see what she put in them--let's say lots of sauteed mushrooms, Swiss, bacon, and tomato in one and tomato, basil, red onions, and a couple cheeses in the other.
I'd say my favorite varieties were the apple and brie, cheddar and chutney, and the Swiss, cheddar, bacon, avocado, bacon combo. My favorite part of the evening was listening to all of the crunching while we eating our sandwiches!

What do you make for dessert after you've gorged on a smorgasbord of grilled cheese? Thanks to Karen, you dine on a smorgasbord of grilled CHOCOLATE sandwiches! Using thinly sliced white bread we tried caramel filled dark chocolate(the winner!); raspberry filled dark chocolate(good, but not raspberry enough); dark chocolate and strawberry jam(a close second place); and peanut butter cups(good, but the peanut butter didn't melt). Yeah, I'm not going to think about the calories.


Sandwich Night will be returning to Monday next week. Only three episodes of Heroes left! Next week we will eat Grilled Vegetable sandwiches. Lefty--I know you are blurking out there--are you coming over?