Soup & Sandwiches

Sometimes comfort food is simple food.  Especially when your schedule is hectic and you want something delicious that you don't have to work very hard for.  Hence soup and sandwiches.

It doesn't take very much to make something that sounds so mundane a delectable masterpiece.  Just a little creativity.  Sometimes boredom helps, too.

The soup is simple; Campbell's Tomato, or in our house 'Mato Soup.  It's one of a handful of things I don't settle on generic brands for.  For every can of soup, half a can of fat free Half & Half and half a can of water (or a whole can of 1% milk, but that's too milky for me), some garlic powder, Italian seasoning, throw it in pan until it's hot.

The other thing I like to do with 'Mato Soup is something I learned working for a soup & sandwich cafe and it's super simple:

Tomato Basil Soup

1-10 3/4 oz can of condensed tomato soup

1-14 oz can of chopped or stewed tomatoes (I prefer S&W Italian Recipe Stewed)

1/4 cup butter

1 handful fresh basil leaves

1/2 handful fresh oregano leaves -or- 1 TBSP dried oregano

Garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste

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  Julienne basil and oregano leaves (it's easy, just stack the on top of each other, roll them up and slice little ribbons).
• 
  
  Melt butter over medium heat in a small pot or sauce pan, whatever you usually cook soup in.
• 
  
  Add garlic powder, basil and oregano and cook until leaves are wilted, being careful not to scorch your garlic powder
• 
  
  Add tomatoes with their juice to butter; if using whole, halved or stewed tomatoes crush them with your hands before you put them in.  (If they're diced don't worry about it).
• 
  
  Cook tomatoes until heated all the way through, stirring occasionally.
• 
  
  Add condensed soup and stir until all is combined.
• 
  
  Bring soup to a simmer, cover and turn heat down to low.
• 
  
  Allow to simmer for 30 minutes before serving.

If the soup is too thick for your liking use a little water, veggie or chicken broth to thin it out.  It's easy to correct the flavor with a little salt or lemon juice.  It's excellent topped with some julienned basil, shredded Parmesan or provolone and some sourdough or focaccia croutons

On to the sandwich!

There is an art to making a good sandwich.  Anyone who has ever made them for a living can tell you this. 

You have to have a good spread on the bread; something that will add but not overpower flavor, that will seal the bread from getting wet from wet ingredients.  You have to have a good balance of wet to dry ingredients; usually meat and cheese to veggies.  But first you have to choose a good bread.

The way I see it, you can take some mediocre fillings, put it on a great bread and make a decent sandwich.  However, the best meat and cheese in the world put on crappy bread will make a pasty, disgusting mess.  

I usually choose either a tasty sandwich roll, like sourdough, dutch crunch or french.  I save the sliced white bread for my PB&J and the occasional old school tuna salad.

This time I made GIGANTO SANDWICH!!!

The bread is an Albertson's French loaf. For the spread I used a mix of mayo, Beaver Sweet Hot Mustard and a touch of honey thinned out with a little pickle juice. Like I said, be creative

As far as meat and cheese goes, we've got some sliced beef, brown sugar ham and honey turkey breast, some cheddar and some Swiss. For veggies some black olives, Mezzetta roasted red bell peppers and chopped peperoncini, some sweet onion and plain ol' shredded lettuce.

I tried sneak in some tomatoes, since I'm the only one that really likes them. I marinated them for about an hour in a blend of balsamic vinegar, dried oregano a little olive oil and some kosher salt. They were yummy but didn't mesh well so I saved them for a salad.

A word of caution to anyone making a sandwich that's going to be eaten by others - TASTE EVERYTHING FIRST. If there is one bad ingredient it's going to spoil the whole thing. And if it's what's for dinner it's going to piss everyone off.

I cut the heels off my loaf for two reasons; because we were hungry and wanted to eat them, and because nobody likes getting the heel end of the sandwich. Some construction tips:

• Apply spread to both sides of the bread. Don't go crazy, but make sure there's enough to cover all the way to the crusts
• Layer meat and cheese on one side and alternate. That way you don't get the gross block-o-cheese bite or the gut busting "oh god, that was all meat" bite.
• Lay your dry veggies on before your wet veggies on the opposite side of the meat. This is your bread protection
• If you're going to add a dressing like vinaigrette or tapenade or even just extra spread or mustard do it on top of your meat/cheese layer. That way it will apply to the veggies on contact but not sink into the bread.

Delicious.  A slice of that and a cup of soup and you've got a pretty simple middle of the week dinner and probably a couple lunches, too :)