This might be the first sandwich recipe on the blog. When Dan returned from a daytrip to New Jersey, he admitted that he’d had a sultry and unforgivable lunchtime affair with a Garden State native who “had more meat than I could get in my mouth”. Some asshole named Vesuvio.
Turns out Vesuvio is a sandwich. Our family has never been big on sandwiches, and it’s a bit odd to think of a ‘recipe’ for one, but this is a fantastic combination of ingredients that deserves posting. The key is to use fresh, high quality bread. I recommend something like a mini ciabatta roll, which has a springy, airy texture, but without the mouth-shredding crust of some other European-style breads.
Assemble:
deli slices of smoked turkey
roasted red peppers from a jar
provolone cheese
a fresh ciabatta roll
Try to have a ratio of cheese:meat of about 1:5. No need to add any other kind of condiment, especially if your bread is fresh. Enjoy!
PS: When I posted this I checked to see if there’s anything else known as a “Vesuvio sandwich”. Turns out the signature sandwich of the Vesuvio restaurant in Philadelphia won accolades as the ‘best sandwich in America’, a cheese-steak BLT sandwich. Very different from Dan’s version with the same name, but probably sinfully good.
Why, that reminds me of back in the day, when we would have lunch up at the Lake. I would bring a big loaf of french bread and about 6 different kinds of lunch meat and cheese, pile is high, and slice it into small portions. It was a complete success! I guess we really didn’t do much sandwich making other than that. Never thought about it, though.
I tried this sandwich on a whole grain bread with kalamata olives. Delicious! Thanks for the suggestion.
Glad you liked it! I bet the kalamata olives were a great addition š