Pesto and Roast Beef are meant to be together

Or at least Little Angie seems to think so. Our latest Sandwich Night creation was inspired by a sandwich Beth used to order at a place in St. Paul called Francesca's. Francesca's was in a few locations in or near downtown St. Paul through the 1990's and early 2000's. They had awesome sandwiches, salads and soups, plus killer desserts. My favorite thing on their menu was an African chicken peanut stew. And the brownies with giant blackberries on them. Beth was a fan of the pesto roast beef sandwich. It was on focaccia with a pesto spread and sliced roast beef. I'm pretty sure there was lettuce, tomato and red onion on it as well.
To recreate it, and give it a good Sandwich Night twist, I started by making my own roast beef. Here's a good trick to make a garlicky roast beef. Get 4-5 cloves of garlic, slice them in half, make cuts all over the roast and shove the garlic into the meat. Then I pat the whole roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder and herbs. I roast it dry, until it's rare. I made this a couple days before Sandwich Night and Beth and I ate so much of it that I picked up some sliced roast beef at Cossetta's for backup. Whoops! Their roast beef is not as delicious as mine. Hah! It's still pretty awesome, of course.
Onto the sandwich!
I decided to offer two bread choices: ciabatta rolls and rosemary focaccia. I mixed the pesto with a little mayonnaise to make it spread nicely. Plus I offered lettuce, sliced red onion, romaine, spinach and sliced provolone cheese. I made two different sandwiches to try out the bread options. Both were delicious, but I think I liked the one on focaccia better. That Francesca always knew best!We had a feast of side dishes with the sandwiches. Jenny brought appetizers--little toasts with blue cheese and squash or Italian sausage, white beans, tomatoes and parmesan. Laura brought this lovely veggie soup. Karen brought apple crisp. I think there was another dessert, too. All I know is that I was stuffed by the end of the night!
We watched our Minnesota girl Rae get sent home from ANTM. It was the dreadful interviewing skills week. It is my second least favorite show in each cycle. The worst is the acting challenge. So cringy! I don't they are going to do it this time. I guess the CW shows didn't want an ANTMer walk on role this year?