The Perfect Picnic Sandwich

I don't know if I've shared this before, but I try out a new recipe at least once per week!  That's why I started the rating scale in my house, to determine how much my guys like a new recipe.  The scale is from 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, but my guys say there is always room for improvement, so the best I ever get is a 9.  So, in our house, 9 is the new 10!  Now that I've started a blog, not only do I pay attention to how my guys rate a new dish to determine whether or not I'll ever make it again, but I also have to decide if a recipe is "blog worthy!"  I only want to share with you all what I consider to be the best recipes I use.  This sandwich got 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

With the weather forecast of over 100 degree heat several days this week, I decided to make a couple of sandwiches and chose this new recipe for one evening.  I found this recipe on Pinterest where the original recipe came from applevalleygirl.blogspot.com.  This sandwich appealed to me because of the vegetable mixture that went into it.  It never hurts to try different ways to get veggies into my guys!  This is intended to be a sandwich that is built earlier in the day and eaten at a later time, say at a picnic.   I made it and served it right away.

The original recipe called for 1 cup of either red, yellow, or orange bell pepper.  I thought the blended colors would be nice, so I used 1/3 cup of each.  From the picture above, you can see that it only took one side of each bell pepper diced to equal 1 cup.

It's hard to see in the photo above, but there are seeded and diced tomatoes on the bottom with the peppers, red onion, garlic and fresh basil on top.

All of those ingredients got mixed together.  It was so aromatic it was making my mouth water!  It's happening again as I think about it!  If I was to make this for a picnic, I would put this mixture on paper towels to draw out some of the moisture before putting it in the bread to help avoid the bread getting soggy.

I took my round loaf and hollowed it out leaving a 1-inch thick shell.  In the future, I'll make that only about 3/4 of a inch thick, because there was a little too much bread in the bites we took at the edge of each wedge.

Next I brushed on a little olive oil.  The pink in the photo is because I started to add the veggies before taking the picture and removed them to do so for you.  The oil helps prevent the bread from getting soggy from the veggies if the sandwich is being served later in the day.

The first layer is the vegetable mixture (left), followed by one of the deli meats (right).  I chose to use turkey here.

 This is followed by another deli meat of your choice (left).  I used ham, but next time I think I'll use a dry salami.  That is followed by cheese (right).  With the cheese, I felt I was trying to put a square peg in a round hole!  I used sharp cheddar.

Another layer of cheese is next (left), in this case, I used mozarella.  Then I repeated the meat and cheese layers.  The final layer is the other half of the vegetable mixture (right).

The lid gets put back on and at this point, it's either ready to serve, or you wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap and either refrigerate it or put it in a cooler for your picnic. 

The original recipe called for compressing it by putting soda cans on top of it in your cooler.  I can see why that was suggested because this was a mighty tall sandwich to get my mouth around!  You can use any round loaf of your choice for this recipe.  I don't remember what kind of bread I used, but the next time I would make a point of using a Sheepherders bread, because it is a softer bread which I think would work best for a sandwich.  I don't know how it would hold up to be eaten later at a picnic!  I'll have to give it a try.  Enjoy!

The Perfect Picnic Sandwich

1 round loaf of bread

5 seeded, chopped Roma tomatoes

1/3 cup each red, yellow and orange bell peppers (or 1 cup of one color)

1/4 cup red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tsp. balsamic or red wine vinegar

Olive oil

2 types of deli meats of your choice

2 types of sliced cheese of your choice

In a medium bowl, mix together the tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic, basil and vinegar.  Cut off top of loaf and scoop out inside of loaf leaving 3/4-inch shell.  Discard removed bread or save for another use.  Brush inside of bread shell with olive oil.  Spoon in 1/2 of the vegetable mixture into the bottom, spreading evenly.  Add one layer of each of the meats followed by one layer of each of the cheeses. Repeat the layers of meats and cheeses.  Top with the remaining 1/2 of the vegetable mixture.  Replace the lid.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Compress while refrigerating or while in cooler using heavy objects on top.