Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich Smothered with Hot Melted Cheese on a Crusty Roll

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Here is a simple, mouth watering vegetarian sandwich I first made 15 years ago, while working in an Italian Restaurant and Pizza place down at the Jersey Shore.  

While back in the kitchen prepping for dinner service, my boss Jason asked me to make him a sandwich.

"What kind?" I asked.

Jason replied, "make me anything,  just no meat and not one that appears on our menu...."



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Pressed for time (as most restaurant kitchens are), I grabbed some of the toppings we used for the pizzas and threw them onto the grill with just a bit of oil...

First onions for about 6 minutes until softened...

then I added mushrooms, green peppers, red peppers and (not shown here) some spicy pickled jalapenos. 

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Once all the veggies were grilled, softened and fragrant, I added cheese right to the top (here I used American but that day I used a combo of sharp provolone and fresh mozzarella)

...with a spatula fold the cheese right into the vegetables.


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Now...place your sliced crusty roll right on top of those cheesy grilled vegetables sitting in the pan, then slide your spatula underneath the entire thing...flip it over and place on a sandwich board to cut or take it straight to a plate! 

(Ketchup, marinara sauce and hot sauce all make acceptable accompaniments ~ though the sandwich is completely perfect just on its own!)

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich Smothered with Hot Melted Cheese on a Crusty Roll, secured the top spot on the, "Sandwich Special Board" that night...and remained on the menu the rest of the summer. :)

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6 comments:

Holly said...

This looks absolutely deLISH!! I hope I convince my meat-lovin' family to try it out. YUM! Sounds Like 5-Guys Burger's veggie burger.

Unknown said...

Thanks Holly - I know it's not culinary rocket science - but it IS SUPER delicious!

Nuts about food said...

Ok, so you did work in the business... that makes me feel better. You are so talented!

Clint said...

This is not about a sandwich---this is about love and passion. What you have done here is a work of art. I can picture myself making love to this thing, slowly extracting every ounce of delightfulnee from each bite, slowly detecting the flavors of each ingredient and ecstasizing in the crunch of the bread. Ummmm.

Karen said...

I don't think I've ever thought that a non-meat sandwich looked this delicious. The cheese doesn't hurt my feelings any. Yum!

Unknown said...

You had me at smothered with hot melted cheese!!!!