Daily Favorites: Hot Carnitas Hoagie

 

This is one of the best things I've ever made. One of the best things I've ever eaten. This sandwich blows the Cubano out of the water. 

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Two days ago, I made a spicy Cubano and it tasted flat. So in the post I brainstormed a new sandwich to address my issues. 

This sandwich starts with Trader Joe's carnitas. Got them hot in the microwave, shredded, generously seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic+. Put down a light layer of sour cream on the bottom bun, topped with my carnitas, and two slices of pepper jack off a block. Put it on a wire rack to broil on low until the cheese melted. 

The top bun which had nothing on it got browned pretty quickly, so I removed that part and left the bottom in there for a few more minutes. 

Meanwhile I topped the top bun with lime crema (light sour cream + lime juice), cilantro, red onions with squeeze of lime juice, and jarred jalapenos. 

By the time I did that, my cheese was perfectly browned. 

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The taste for this was out of this world. The seasoned carnitas were drastically improved, there was spice from the pepper jack and the jalapenos, good crunch from the onions, herbiness from cilantro, and plenty of acid from the lime crema and extra lime juice. 

I'm very pleased that I was able to take a popular sandwich, identify ways to improve it for my palate, and actually have it turn out so well. 

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But let's check our calories:

Hoagie roll: 210

Carnitas: 200ish

Pepper Jack: 110

Light Sour Cream: 35

I might have used slightly more than one 200-cal serving of carnitas, so let's say this whole thing is 600 cals. 

So an incredible tasting sandwich, that's also quick and easy to make, and perfectly fits my calorie goals to be an every day part of a healthy lifestyle. This is a hall of famer.

Daily Favorites: Meatball Hoagie

Sometimes it's right in front of your face and you still can't see it. 

The Trader Joe's turkey meatballs are one of the best options for tasty but super filling and low-calorie. I've made them as their own meal before. 

I've even made them a few months back in the style of my quick chicken parm. 

And a few weeks ago, I showed how I could make delicious hoagies for 600 calories.

I've even made this exact dish in 2010 and documented it here. 

But it wasn't until Niraj pointed out a meatball sub could fit this series, that I pieced it altogether. 

So here we are. 

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This series is putting a point on what I mean when I say that I like to cook. What I like is preparing delicious food so I can eat it. I like doing that at every meal. What I don't like is recipes that require buying 10-20 ingredients just for one dish or things that take an hour to make. I want to have good food twice a day and move on to other things, not spend all my day in the kitchen. Most meals aren't special occasions. 

Today, I was even lazier than I was in 2010. Nothing in this dish is from scratch. Fine by me. 

Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs: 200 cals

Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce: 70 cals

Sargento Provolone: 140 for 2 slices

Hoagie roll: 210 cals

Meatball Hoagie with 4 big meatballs and two slices of provolone for 620 cals. I was prepared to only use one slice of cheese but it was only 70 a slice. 

I plussed up the sauce with herbs and seasoning and also gave some garlic+ to the meatballs. Tossed them in a bowl to coat the meatballs before assembling and broiling on low for about 5 minutes, until the cheese starting browning.

The hot cherry peppers were a last second addition, but were a great flavor booster. I can't get enough of these and they're only 5 calories a serving.

Only change I would make for next time: I would cut the meatballs in half, then toss in sauce, then assemble. That way there would be some sauce in the middle, just to make sure no bites are on the dry side.

Thanks Niraj!

Daily Favorites: Toasted Italian Hoagie

So same recipe as the cold hoagie, but baked in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Yes, this is baked and not toasted, but toasted sounds more appetizing. I assembled and baked in the style of the Italian grinder shop I worked at in high school. (Yes, I specifically worked there because they had great sandwiches.) This method means mayo and cheese on one side, meats on the other. This way both the cheese and the meats get direct heat and none of the bread gets crusty on the inside. I used my wire rack and both sides of the bread do get crusty on the outside, which is what we want.

Wonderful things happen to this sandwich in the oven. The cheese gets melted. The pepperoni crisps and cups and drips down on to the ham. And as I mentioned, the bread is nicely toasted on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. 

I debated about if I should omit the lettuce and onion and if I should bake the cherry peppers or apply later. I decided to do the first version as the same recipe as cold as I didn't want to be missing the vinegar bite that makes the cold one so good. 

So even though I described all the good things that happen to this hoagie in the oven, I actually prefer the cold version. The toppings really bring that to life and the cold lettuce and peppers plays nicer with the cold bread and cold meat. It just feels super fresh and lively in each bite. In the hot version, the cold and hot ingredients don't play as nice. So I think next time, I should just go with the peppers in the oven, and skip the onions and lettuce. (Maybe peppers between the ham and pepperoni so the pepperoni can still get the direct heat and drip onto the peppers too. I mean, I could bake the onions too, but it just seems like it might be better without.) That way, I don't have to add anything after it comes out, and just enjoy a hot hoagie all the way through. 

Still, at this point I'm just nitpicking and fine-tuning. This sandwich was super delicious. Hard to believe I can eat something this good for 600 calories.

Daily Favorites: Classic Italian Hoagie

It might sound strange, but this is my favorite meal of the series so far. It's up there with the best Italian sandwiches I've ever had at L'Appetito in Chicago and L'Antico Noè in Florence.

I think it's easily the best hoagie I've ever made for myself. Much better than my 2015 effort. I feel like you can see my progress as a home cook, even though this isn't cooking anything.

This is a ham, pepperoni and pepper jack hoagie with lettuce, red onion, cherry peppers and mayo. I'm going to be boosting the flavor of the mayo and the lettuce. 

First the mayo. I start with Hellman's light mayo. (2 tbsp of Hellman's is 180 cals. 2 tbsp of light Hellman's is 70 cals. Easy swap.) I add in some Montreal Chicken Seasoning which is my #1 go-to seasoning.  I use it daily on chicken but also in sauces, veggies, whatever. It's mostly garlic powder but it has some other flavors. I think of it like garlic+. Then I add in some dried basil. In ten seconds, I've got a delicious basil, garlicky mayo. 

For the shredded lettuce, I tossed it with red wine vinegar and juice from the jarred cherry peppers, plus oregano and pepper. Traditionally Italian hoagies would use a mix of vinegar and olive oil, but I don't want the cals from the oil. 

Then it's time to assemble. This is going to be a classic cold hoagie. An oven-toasted one with melted cheese will be coming later. 

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Hold on, can hoagies be part of a healthy lifestyle? 

Let's add up the calories:

Hoagie roll: 210

Light basil mayo: 50

Ham: 110

Pepperoni: 140

Pepper Jack: 80

Cherry peppers: 0

Lettuce, onion: 10

That's a 600 calorie hoagie. 

Just didn't use any olive oil, and used light Hellman's mayo. And hold the chips. 

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Really sad that I haven't been making hoagies all this time. Also, wild that making it with calorie counts in mind I was able to make the best one I've ever made. Honestly, didn't miss the olive oil even 1%. Using the juice from the jarred cherry peppers was another masterstroke. 

Ham and pepperoni is a great combo. Ham gets you a nice base of meat, good caloric value. Pepperoni brings a ton of flavor, more than salami (which has long been on of my favorite ingredients of all time) and this thick cut pepperoni is very satisfying to bite into. Impossible to miss. I love pepper jack and was surprised that the Sargento pepper jack is only 80 cals/slice instead of the usual 110. Mayo isn't traditional, but I love it and it acts a good moisture barrier so the bread doesn't get waterlogged with the dressed lettuce. 

In case you couldn't tell, I loved this. Will definitely be making over and over. I feel like I've finally brought honor to the Hoagie Central name.

Hoagie Post!

This brought me back to the origin of Hoagie Central. It was August 2004. We had just moved in to Bash Court. I was shopping at Sam's--must have gone with someone that had a Sam's Card.

I bought a huge bag of hoagie rolls, at least 12, possibly 20. And enough ham and salami to fill them up. Since I had to eat them up before the bread went bad, I was eating a hoagie every day. I photoshopped a Hoagie Central graphic onto my class schedule. It was born.

This week we had been talking about sandwiches a lot at work, so I went to the store and got the stuff to do it right. Solid stuff.

HOW TO: make a spicy-sweet chicken panini

I've alluded to this before, but love this sandwich recipe I've created so much, that I thought it deserved this post.

This sandwich was inspired by cuban sandwiches, that are made with pork, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard, and then pressed flat.

I've kicked it up a notch. (Incidentally, this was the first bread that I had in three weeks. I discovered that Pepperridge Farm makes a whole wheat bread without any non-earth ingredients.)

1. Lay two pieces of bread open. Spread one side with garlic mayo (easily made by stirring a significant amount of garlic powder in with mayonnaise) and "bread & butter sweet pickles."

2. Spread the other side with your favorite mustard (I like French's Honey) and sliced jalepenos.

3. Pile a layer of heated, roasted chicken (or roasted pork would work just as well) in the middle and assemble your two sides.

4. Time to press! You can go straight on to a panini press/George Foreman. But I know that my Foreman is "seasoned" with bits of crusted meat, salt, and pepper. Which is fine for grilling the chicken, but if I were to put this sandwich on my grill, the bread would absorb some blackened bits and not be good eats. So, in a flash of brilliance, I covered the sandwich in aluminum foil and grilled it for a few minutes.


If you don't have a machine and want to cook it in a skillet, you could, using some cooking spray. But you really need to press it down to get the full "cuban" effect of melding the ingredients into one cohesive taste.

The result is a sandwich that got the outside of the bread crispy, the inside soft (something a toaster couldn't do) and all the flavors combine into a delicious mix of sweet and spicy.


Plus, it's from the earth.

turkey talk

I suppose this could be a regular feature called "meat zone" or something, but whatever. I have a lot of thoughts on turkey right now. I think it gets a bad wrap. I say that because when someone says "turkey" I think bland, weak, no flavor crap.

But it shouldn't be like that. I love thanksgiving turkey when done right. I've had plenty a bland, dry turkey while watching the Lions lose. But I've also had it moist, seasoned, delicious. What's even better is the post-Thanksgiving sandwich leftovers. Usually I just go with turkey on mayo with cracked black pepper, a little mustard. You could add pickles or a cheese like provolone (cheddar goes better with chicken or roast beef) and toast the bread if you want. But that's a damn good sandwich.

So why then, is the sliced turkey sandwich, what people order year round, the worst goddamn thing in the world? You got to Subway, you try and make it yourself with Hillshire Farm Deli Select sliced turkey, and it tastes like shitty nothing. It's TERRIBLE. I told someone how good Bellacino's sandwiches were. They went and got the turkey sandwich and said it was just okay. Well of course it's not great, you ordered the wrong fucking hoagie.

To correct this injustice to turkey, I recently bought a pre-roasted 1/2 turkey breast for 9.99 at Trader Joe's. I've looked at roasting my own turkey breast before (as I've done with a whole chicken) but it seems that even just the breast usually costs around $15. I suppose it's a fine value for the meat, but that's a mental price barrier that's a little steep for me. But at Trader Joe's I was looking at 25oz of roast turkey for $10. Since I usually pay around $4 for 9oz of sliced ham, I went ahead and got the turkey.

It's delicious. I've had 3 sandwiches so far and should be able to get about 6 more out of it. So how does slicing turkey turn a delicious meat into a slimy, flavorless, soft mush? I don't know. Ham tastes better sliced thin and piled high. But turkey? Eesh.

That was all I was going to say about turkey, but then I was doing some research to find anyone else that agrees with me that sliced turkey sucks. I came across a recipe for thanksgiving turkey jamabalaya which caught me eye. Except if you have to roast the turkey first which is a laborious process it seems to be adding a lot of work. Perhaps it would make a nice Thanksgiving side dish if you used pre-roasted breast to cut down on prep time.

And then I came across this page of layered Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches. As I said before I'm usually a simple leftover sandwich guy. But if I were to think about such things, I wouldn't be a fan of cranberries or mashed potatoes on mine. Instead I would go with turkey, dressing (aka stuffing, but we don't stuff ours) and a little bit of brown sugar sweet potatoes. Mmmm.

The Panini of a Lifetime

That really is the caption of our 12-day trip to Italy. It almost makes me want to change this site to Panini Central. Almost.

We woke up around noon on Saturday, March 7 in Firenze. We strolled through the street markets buying scarves and ties and necklaces. And then we were ready for lunch. In my internet research I saw that one person said they the best sandwich of their life was in Florence. So of course, I wrote it down and mapped it out.

We walked past the Duomo in the center of town and turned down an alley that isn't marked on any map of Florence. And there it was. L'Antico Noè. (Which I just translated to "the ancient Noah")


When we arrived the line was a bit longer than it is in this picture. On the right wall there is a menu posted of 22 pre-made sandwiches but it seems that people in the know just custom order their own.

So I ordered sausage, spicy salami and provolone in Italian (salsiccia, salame piccante e provolone). Brit got the caprese (tomatoes and mozzeralla) but added spinach.

The first thing he does is slices off some pieces of sausage and puts it on the panini press. Then he grabs this huge chunk of salami and provolone and puts in a slicer, fresh made to order. He then slices a crusty piece of bread down the middle, assembles the sandwich, and put in the press for a good couple minutes. Here's what 2/3 of it looks like.

It was amazing! I've never tasted anything this fresh, this bursting with flavor. Just big, bold taste. It was obvious that the ingredients were local, and so fresh that you just can't get anything like it in the States.

It was so good we went back on Sunday. Only to find shut doors. It seems that a lot of stuff is closed in Italy on Sundays. I guess between football and Church who has time to work?

So Monday was our 4th and last day in Florence, and we had to make it count. Last chance. This time I added peperoni (red peppers) to my previous order, which took it to another level. Also, this day they had round bread. This truly was THE PANINO OF A LIFETIME.


So now you know where to go to get the best sandwich in the world.

L'Antico Noè
Volta di San Piero 6r
Firenze
Tel. 055 234 0838
Closed Sun (and for several weeks in August)

How To Get There

Start at the SE corner of the Duomo and walk east down Oriuolo. San Piero isn't on any maps, so I've placed it in green on this custom map.

My Subway Sandwich

At the end of the B.S. Report with the The Soup guy, (not to be confused with today's The USA Today) Simmons read an email about how now that he has a Subway sponsorship, he should try and get a sandwich named after him.

So that leads to the obvious question: If I could get a Subway sandwich named after me, what would I want on it?

This is not as simple as listing all the ingredients I like. It needs to be a cohesive unit that is not overpowering. Also, it needs to be substantially different from all current menu options, otherwise what's the point. Plus, it has to use only standard ingredients.

This is the Dave Fymbo:

It starts with a foot-long Italian Herb & Cheese. But I'm not just going to put a thick layer of meat on the bottom and top it with cheese. I'm alternating a thin layer of meat with it's cheese pairing to form layers of deliciousness.

The base layer is Black Forest Ham. It lays a foundation for the sandwich, both structurally and with flavor. The ham is paired with pepper jack cheese because the ham can handle the spice.

The middle layer is Salami. It goes so well with the ham and builds upon the character with Italian goodness. The cheese pairing here is provolone, so as not to mask the richness of the salami.

The top layer is Bacon paired with cheddar. It is the crescendo on this piece of art. The cheddar and the bacon doing a little dance of love on top of this 12-inch sub.

Now that is a sandwich. Of course how you top it is up to the individual. Personally, I'd take it with lettuce, onions, and mayo and some chipotle southwest sauce if I'm in the mood. And I wouldn't allow tomatoes. If you want tomatoes, I'd tell you to order a different sandwich.