Italian hoagie for the win!

I rarely eat cold cuts, but when I think about the hall of fame of sandwiches, some form of cold meat sub, hoagie, muffluetta, or hero sandwich comes to mind.

And since Superbowl is around the corner, I’m thinking a made-in-advance cold cut sandwich on an Italian bun makes eminent sense.

So you know what this means: a special trip to Eataly, a food emporium devoted to all things Italian, which just opened up in Toronto’s Manulife Centre. It’s a mashup of pizza, pasta, and seafood restaurants nestled around a gigantic grocery store that wows with walls of parmesan wheels, cheeses, mushrooms, fresh pasta, and Italian meats.

I decide on my cold cuts, sliced paper thin: fennel salami, Tuscan ham, and something I’ve never eaten before, mortadella (the Italian queen of bolognas).

I’m going to need a good quality cheese to go on my Italian hoagie and so I go for Scamorza, a cousin to mozzarella. The one sold at Eataly is made in Canada and has this slogan on the packaging: anything mozza can do, Scamorza can do better. We shall see.

It goes onto the cheese slicer.

Giardiniera, which is pickled veggies like cauliflower, carrot, and cucumber, is typically incorporated into Italian cold cut sandwiches to add a tart contrast. I love to make Giardiniera but I don’t have anything on hand and, besides, Eataly inspired me in a different direction.

Look at these gorgeous mixed olives and sundried cherry tomatoes packed in olive oil. I decide to riff off of the muffuletta sandwich. I make a relish of olives (1 cup), sundried tomatoes (1/4 cup), and minced preserved lemon peel (1 tbsp).

I press my double-handed, rounded mincing knife into service because I have many talents, but fine knife skills aren’t among them. This knife is the reason I still have fingers.

Relish, coarsely chopped, is ready.

Most Italian hoagies include thinly sliced onions that are soaked in cold water to take the sting out of them. I like a brash onion but decide to give this method a try.

I break out my trusty mandoline for this job. It creates perfectly thin onion slices in a matter of seconds. And in they go to the water bath.

Now, what to put on the hoagie buns? Butter isn’t traditional here, nor is mayo. When I think cold cuts, I think mustard. Well, it is my favourite condiment. But that’s not traditional either. Buns are typically dressed with a homemade vinaigrette of olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic. Oregano also has a place on this sandwich, so I combine equal parts olive oil and red wine vinegar then about a 1 tsp of dried oregano that I also got from Eataly.

Now that my vinaigrette and all the fixings are in place, it’s time to build my sandwich. I slice open the hoagie bun and hollow out the bread in the upper bun. This will snuggle the olive relish. Then I slather my vinaigrette onto the insides of both buns.

My buns are brushed with vinaigrette and that lovely olive relish has found its new home. Time to start layering the stars of the show. On the bottom bun I place two slices of cheese, add a thin layer of salami (three slices), nestle the mortadella in twists so it’s kind of pillowy, then top it with the ham.

I’m not into cold cuts at all but this is looking good. Can’t forget the onions as the crowning glory.

I cap that pile of decadence with the relish-filled upper bun, cut it in half like I’m the boss of it, spear three olives onto a skewer and pierce my very first Italian hoagie with the bamboo skewer for show, more than anything.

Time to eat. The hoagie holds many surprises. The meat and cheese balance each other out; the relish doesn’t overpower but cuts through the richness in a good way; the onions kind of get lost (not sure I’d soak them next time); and the vinaigrette make me (mostly) forget about the only reason I ever eat a meat sandwich—for the mustard. A good dijon would be perfectly fine with this.

It’s a very filling sandwich. Half a bun will do. You can make these ahead of time, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, refrigerate, and pull them out during the game as if it was all oh so effortless. It wasn’t. Prep time took me an hour and I’m pretty efficient in the kitchen. But the effort was worth it.

Now if only my favourite team could be as winning as this sandwich.

Trish Hennessy