toasted vegetable subs

I wouldn’t say that I get tired of pizza, but with nothing to break our Friday night pizza routine lately, I thought a break might be in order. I considered some of my other favorite take-out options that I could make at home and decided, mm, big cheesy toasted sandwiches.

As much as I love a bunch of different spicy meats (my god, I cannot avoid the innuendos around here lately) on a sandwich, Dave and I had a lot of meat plans (ack) for the weekend already. Plus, I was pretty sure I could make a vegetarian sandwich every bit as good as my favorite carnivorous version.

Maybe you don’t need a recipe for a veggie sandwich – just put your favorite vegetables on bread, right – but I looked around for one anyway and found several. Most were based on eggplant and zucchini, which…eh. I don’t know. Maybe that’s a little too earnest for a Friday night. I wanted a meatier vegetarian sandwich.

So mushrooms were in, of course, as well as caramelized shallots and roasted red peppers. I added the out-of-season mealy tomatoes simply because it seems traditional on a toasted sub, but I think chopped sun-dried tomatoes mixed with the other vegetables would be more flavorful.

Bread topped with melted cheese, tomatoes, and vegetables is the perfect way to take a break from pizza, isn’t it? But with a sandwich this good, I didn’t miss my normal Friday night pizza at all.

One year ago: Crispy Bagel Sushi Roll
Two years ago: Queso, Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

Printer Friendly Recipe
Toasted Vegetable Subs

Serves 4

2 red bell peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 large shallots, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick
salt
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 1/8-inch thick
ground black pepper
4 large sub/hoagie rolls, halved lengthwise
mayonnaise
mustard
1 roma tomato, sliced then or 8 sun-dried tomatoes, diced small
4 ounces sliced provolone

1. Adjust a rack to the upper-middle position and heat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil. Cut a ½-inch slice from the top and bottom of the red peppers. Remove the seeds; cut the middle section of the pepper in half from top to bottom; cut out the veins. Place the pepper skin-side up on the prepared baking sheet and broil until the skin is blistered and black, about 15 minutes. Remove the peppers from the oven and place them in a medium bowl. Cover the bowl and let the peppers steam for at least 10 minutes to loosen the skin. Leave the broiler on.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and ½ teaspoon salt; sauté, stirring constantly, until the shallots just start to brown. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are golden to dark brown, about 15 minutes. Scrape them from the skillet to a medium bowl.

3. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the same skillet (there’s no need to wash it) over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and ½ teaspoon salt and sauté, stirring constantly, until browned, about 3 minutes. Scrape them into the bowl with the shallots. Season the mixture with ground black pepper.

4. Peel the skin from the red pepper’s flesh and cut the flesh into 1/8-inch slices. Add it to the bowl with the mushrooms and shallots. If you’re using sun-dried tomatoes, add those to the bowl as well.

5. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise, then mustard, over both sides of the rolls. Divide the vegetable mixture evenly between the bottom pieces of the rolls; top with the cheese. Arrange the slices of fresh tomato, if using, on the top piece of the sandwich bread. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet, with the tomato and cheese facing up.

6. Broil until the cheese is melted and the bread is slightly toasted, 3-5 minutes. Let the sandwiches cool for a few minutes before serving.

Comments

  1. The sandwiches look great but I’m craving a recipe for that whole wheat roll you served them on!

  2. bridget says:

    Branny – It’s based on this Pain Ordinaire. I mixed up 8 ounces of whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 7 ounces water, as per Peter Reinhart’s whole wheat bread trick, and let that sit overnight, before adding the rest of the ingredients (using white flour for the rest) and mixing, kneading, rising, shaping, and baking as normal. I made eight rolls from the recipe.

  3. vivian says:

    Pizza or these, you are kidding. right? These subs would win ANY competition between the two. Awesome post, pictures and ingredients. Thanks for sharing! YUM. YUM. YUM.

  4. They look so good, I’m sure I’d never even miss the meat!

  5. Not only would I not miss it, I’m pretty sure I would prefer this! 🙂

  6. This is delicious with lot’s of mushroom. Great picture.

  7. I LOVE roasted veggie sandwiches, but this sub looks even better! I love how it’s reminiscent of a cheesesteak, but with better flavors. And that roll you have it on looks divine! 🙂

  8. this looks awesome! good veggie sandwiches are hard to come by, so i’m excited to make this!

  9. Looks awesome. I love roasted red peppers!

    I have to admit I wanted to throw a couple “That’s what she said”s in there while I was reading.

  10. I love pizza but that sandwich looks too amazing to pass up!

  11. What pizza? This looks way better. And I’ll definitely try it with the sun dried tomatoes because I love them, and because fresh tomatoes always slip out of my sandwich.