sandwiches for dinner | Itty Bitty City Kitchen

We all have days where we come home and just want to be able to whip something up quickly and with minimal effort. Maybe just boiling some water for pasta or light sauteing veggies to throw over leftover rice.

Light amount of cooking required kind of dishes.

Then, there are those nights when the last thing you want to do is cook. Boiling water, preheating the oven, heck even microwaving something is just too much.

But don’t you go reaching for those takeout menus and cell phone!

No siree.

Not wanting to cook doesn’t mean you can’t make dinner.

And anyway, a recent article in Chatelaine says that cooking at home makes you happy! For real, check it out. http://www.chatelaine.com/health/the-happiness-plan/how-cooking-at-home-makes-you-happier/

So I’m not crazy when I say the kitchen is my happy place.

So what to do though when you don’t actually want to cook but want to make something for dinner? Well, you can reach for the box of cereal – don’t lie! you’ve all done it!- or you can take a page from Jeff Mauro The Sandwich King’s book and have a sandwich night!

Or, more specifically, a sub night.

I’m Italian, so I grew up with salami sandwiches in my lunchbox. Heck, sometimes there was even last night’s salami bread in my lunch box.

And my boyfriend, after many a salami sandwich at my parents’ house, is now an Italian cold cut lover too.

So why not have a make your own sub night?

It’s quick, it’s easy, it lets everyone make their dinner their own way, and it means making a meal without turning on a single appliance.

And there’s pretty much no clean up.

And, it’s kind of a no-brainer.

You’ll just need some good bread- we used a loaf of Calandra’s Italian bread (duh)- cold cuts of your choice – salami, provolone, pepperoni and pr0sciutto for us – and any extra topping you want – mustard, mayo, oil, vinegar, tomato, lettuce.

For a well balanced sub, I suggest some kind of cheese, paired with at least two meats with different textures or flavor profiles. Think turkey paired with capicola or, like we did, the sharp provolone against the spicy salami, salty prosciutto and fatty salami. Roast beef and spicy monterey jack cheese.

The sky really is the limit here.

So, bread, cold cuts, toppings.

Set up an assembly line.

Slice your bread.

Lay out the cold cuts so everyone can see everything there is.

Slice up some juicy Jersey tomatoes. I think tomatoes are necessary on an Italian sub. They cut through all the rich, fatty flavors of the meats and give the sandwich some brightness. I also think you need some crunch factor in the form of lettuce. Romaine or iceberg are always good choices. We used shredded cabbage because we had a bag on hand.

Then, build your sandwich. I went cabbage first, then pepperoni, then provolone, then salami and prosciutto, then some tomato. I finished with a drizzle of balsamic.

He went tomato first, provolone, then salami, pepperoni, prosciutto and cabbage. He drizzled his with some olive oil and balsamic. I think he went mustard and mayo too.

Like I said, this is a great dinner because everyone can have it their way.

Rip open a bag of chips and enjoy.

Let me start off with an apology. The photos in this post are a bit fuzzy.

You see, I was cooking and, hazards of food blogging I guess, burned myself. I pulled my hand away, and, in doing so, knocked my camera off the counter.

Yup. It broke.

There was lot of cursing. And almost some crying. It’s a brand new camera.

But I eventually pulled myself together (there may have been a few milano cookies involved) and got in with the day.

I didn’t hurt myself or break anything irreplaceable.

Perspective. And milanos.

So back to the post.

Yesterday I took my dad out to his favorite place for Father’s Day.

I was torn between my usual order and something else on the menu that caught my eye. For dad, it was a no brainer. It was all about the burger.

I ended up with my usual, but couldn’t help but think about the other menu item. I bet I could make that at home.

What was it that almost had me? A BLT with a fried egg. It sounded so simple, but so intriguing. The simple part was what had me ordering my usual. I knew with a little thought I could easily make my own itty bitty city kitchen version of the BLTE.

For a period of time, I hated bacon. The smell of it made me nauseous and the taste just didn’t do it for me. It was not a health thing. It was purely a taste thing. A few weeks ago when my boyfriend and I went out for burgers, I forgot to tell the waiter no bacon on mine. So when it came with bacon, I shrugged and figured I’d give it a go.

I was surprised that I liked it. But hey, taste buds change. Unfortunately, mine will always crave breads and fried stuff. Why can’t they change to crave only fruits and vegetables and grains? At least until bikini season is over.

So bacon. I like it again. Which is probably why I was eying that BLTE.

It’s Sunday. My boyfriend’s home with his dad. And I’m home alone. I can make a big messy BLT with a gooey fried egg on top and no one will ever know. Well except for you. But you won’t tell, right?

I decided to jazz this up a little bit and switch out the lettuce for some baby kale. Kale’s having a moment. It’s a superfood, packed with vitamins and good stuff. So it will balance out the bacon.

So here’s my BKTE

You will need

1 whole wheat English muffin, toasted
2 thick slices of tomato
a handful of baby kale
2 eggs, fried
3 pieces of bacon, cooked
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon juice (in place of mayo)

Start by cooking the bacon. Instead of making a mess frying it, I put the bacon strips on a foil-lined cookie sheet and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. You can fry it. Or microwave it. Whatever you prefer.

Meanwhile, crack two eggs in a frying pan and cook over medium low heat. You want them cooked but with the yolk still runny.

While the eggs cook, mix the Greek yogurt and lemon juice and apply to each half of the English muffin. You can use mayo, but I like the tang of the yogurt and the lemon, plus it’s a healthy alternative.