Hollowed-Out Italian Sandwiches

Book: Hungry For More

Category: Other

Aldi Test*: No - Fire-Roasted Peppers, Mortadella, Artichoke Hearts

As an Italian-American (and Hungarian, and Irish, and Native, and others - I got layers, guys) I have had many an Italian Sandwich.

In fact, growing up, my mom would make a big to-do on “special” sandwich nights. We would go to the local market deli counter (I’m looking at you, Eurofresh) - and it was always PACKED. We’d grab our ticket number and wait for what seemed like HOURS (it was probably like 10 minutes) to get the most magical items to a child apart from sugary cereals: salami, mortadella, provolone, and, my favorite, capicola (or what my mother would lovingly call coppa).

It was one of the best nights next to spaghetti & taco night, and as an adult, my tastes have not changed much. So, I was pretty excited when this Italian Sandwich came up on this culinary journey - and planned a picnic in order to have an appropriate setting to try it out.

Mortadella, salami, fire-roasted peppers, pepperoncini, marinated artichoke hearts, basil, (not sour dough) bread

Now, disclaimer, I did not use a sourdough loaf as the recipe called for. But, I have a good excuse: Aldi usually has them (I SPECIFICALLY checked the week before), but when I went shopping, Aldi was OUT. I, then, went to my local market, and they only had pre-sliced sour dough bread, which, obviously, would not have worked. So, I had to settle on the thickest french loaf I could find.

As many of you know, I also follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) so, I was automatically put off by all of these ingredients. The classic Italian Sandwich consists of (as previously stated) capicolla, mortadella, salami, & provolone and topped off with lettuce, tomato, olive oil, & some oregano. (with some slight variations that are also acceptable).

Not typically found on an Italian Sandwiches but included in Chrissy Teigen’s recipe: artichoke hearts? Pepperoncini? Basil? Fire-roasted peppers? Also, NO CAPICOLLA?

Whatever.

I’m still not over it.

Hollowing out the bread was both enjoyable and heartbreaking. This was a fresh-from-the-bakery, still-hot-and-giving-off-that-bready-smell loaf. So, tossing bits of it away? Torture. But I ate the remnants as I prepped, so… that made it a bit better.

Cooking Tip #1: Allot time for the roasted garlic mayo

The roasted garlic mayo was actually pretty time consuming to prepare, as an fyi. In fact, I was ready to assemble the sandwich and realized I had forgotten to prepare the mayo. It took about an hour. So, plan accordingly.

The assembly of the sandwich, thankfully, was quick.

I stuffed. I topped. I wrapped.

The instructions say to let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Our planned picnic was the next night so I let it sit in the fridge overnight. I’m not typically a meal prepper, so I felt very prepared.

What a concept.

Comparison Time

HOW DID IT TASTE?

So….

I’m sorry….

I appreciate the risks taken but….

No.

This was not the best thing I’ve made in Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings: Hungry For More. It might be my least favorite actually.

It was just too…. much. Very rich, a bit of a flavor overload. I honestly could not finish it.

The fire-roasted peppers, pepperoncini, & marinated artichoke hearts combined were too strong a flavor profile and completely overpowered the meats - which I think should be the star of the show. (They are the most expensive bit, after all). Even the garlic mayo was a little much - though a brilliant concept in theory.

The beauty of the Italian Sandwich is balance: an equilibrium of flavor and texture. Each ingredient specifically chosen to counterbalance the other. (I may be paraphrasing the Wikipedia page)

And this particular sandwich just does not have that.

(Before you blame the imbalance on me not using sour dough - I don’t see how adding a more flavorful bread will help with the “too much flavor” issue with this sandwich.)

I am not an angry Italian raging against the social-media-driven-italian-recipe machine, either - I do not think you need to be Italian to make great Italian food, and I think you can deviate from the norm. In fact, Chrissy’s Perfect Tomato Sauce is my go to tomato sauce for spaghetti & meatballs, now. (Seriously, it’s so good. We will cover it eventually).

I also do not think this sandwich is different enough for it to be in it’s own category. I’m from Chicago, I definitely get that some things can be the same, but DIFFERENT. Everyone here knows that you can’t compare a deep dish pizza to a thin crust pizza. They are both still PIZZA, they are just in 2 different categories of pizza.

So, I say this with the utmost respect for Chrissy Teigen, skip this recipe. Stick with the original.

Est. Cook Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
Actual Cook Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Ease of Recipe: 3/5

Recipe Rating: 2/5

Would I make it again?

Nope.

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Hollowed-Out Italian Sandwich