Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Pat Greenfield
Wednesday, January 26, 2000 Page: 1C
The holidays aren’t over yet, folks. The Big Day approaches. The day most
awaited by football fans from 3 to 93, Super Bowl 2000, is also party day.
Throughout the country, this has become a day for unparalleled revelry and
rooting. And every Super Bowl party has to have what I call “guy food.”
That’s unsophisticated, easily handled, high-carb items with a heavy amount of
side items such as chips and dips, popcorn and pretzels.
Don’t be fussy; that’s a key to a Super Bowl menu. It must require no time
away from the TV for last-minute silliness like garnish and presentation. Just
put the food out and let it sit for the interminable day it takes to play the
two-hour game of games.
Let me suggest to you a super sandwich for your super day. Most people, I
assume, consider sandwich making quite mundane, and in general, it can be. But
this is Super Sunday so we’re going to make a Super Sandwich, a
larger-than-life production.
My Super Sandwich is constructed on a large, doughnut-shaped loaf of
hard-crusted Italian bread and filled with all sorts of sliced meats, cheeses,
relishes and dressings. Properly put together, it can feed about 25 people. If
you would like to make such a sandwich for this Sunday, put the newspaper down
now, call a local Italian specialty store or any bakery and order the bread
today. This is especially good bread for a large sandwich because it is sturdy
enough to absorb dressings and natural tomato juices and still hold together.
If you cannot find such a loaf, advise your bakery you are constructing a
Super Sandwich and see what they come up with. You can use a long
hoagie-shaped loaf, but everyone does that. (I’m sure you can find something
different.)
Once you have your bread, the fillings are up to you. I use Italian
ingredients because I am most familiar with them and they have interesting,
robust flavors that hold up in combination with other ingredients. Salami,
pepperoni and sopersata all have herbs and spices in the meat itself.
Roasted red peppers and olives lend another level of flavor, and mozzarella
and grated romano or parmesan cheese highlight everything else. You can use
any theme you want, just be sure to highly season your selections so that your
Super Sandwich is a tasty masterpiece, not just a couple of pieces of bread
with something in between.
For example, you could make a ham-and-cheese Super Sandwich, with different
varieties of smoked ham and two or three kinds of sharp cheese, including a
smoked one. Accent this with mustard (I would use a sharp whole-grained
specialty mustard, or combine several types) along with lettuce, tomato,
sprouts and anything else you want to throw in.
Some other ideas: a chicken Super Sandwich with grilled or roasted chicken
and actual dressed salad chopped and added or a vegetarian Super Sandwich
(although I think most football fans are carnivorous) with or without cheese.
You get the idea. Try to assemble an entire meal inside your Super Sandwich.
Then, all you have to serve is some chips and pretzels on the side, maybe some
soup.
Add a case of beer, and life doesn’t get much better than this.
Some construction tips:
I like to make thin-layered sandwiches. That is, a single layer of sliced
meat, followed by a single layer of cheese, followed by a single layer of
lettuce, rather than all the sliced meat put on in a fat layer several slices
deep and all the cheese plunked on top of that. The flavors meld better and
the construction is more solid.
Sturdiness is an issue. As you assemble the layers, try to spread them
evenly over the bread surface, that is, do not put them all in the center of
the bread. The middle of the sandwich will be gigantic, the edges will be
empty, and once sliced, the individual slices will not hold together.
Shred or coarsely chop the lettuce you are adding. The lettuce will then
accept a greater amount of dressing, and it will sit more compactly in your
sandwich.
Secure the sandwich with frilled toothpicks. You could have some fun with
this and use your team’s colors for the picks. I use 6-inch wooden skewers.
The sandwich is very thick, but put about 2 inches of skewer stick out of the
top. To these ends, I add different garnishes, like cherry tomatoes, a whole
olive, peperoncini or a piece of celery.
Food Columnist Pat Greenfield’s column is published every other Wednesday. She
is owner and/or operator of restaurants in Exeter, Kingston and Plains
Township. Write to her in care of the Arts & Leisure Team, The Times Leader,
15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0250.