Jim’s Italian Subs

           Jim has been making this sub for us for a few years now. There are these days where it just hits the spot! And there are days where it breaks up the monotony of chicken and beef dishes.  He will usually buy a loaf of Italian bread from the store and make this on nights when we don’t want to turn on the oven or if I am busy in the kitchen baking for market. We use our Ninja toaster oven to broil them since we can fit a quarter sheet pan in it and that fits enough to feed our small family. If we are feeding more than our 3-4 people, we will use the broiler setting on our kitchen oven.

 Tonight we used some of my sourdough Ciabatta bread I made for market. They were the perfect size for these sandwiches. It is a hefty size, so I ended up splitting one with our youngest son. I listed the cheese we used tonight, but Jim says he will often use whatever cheese we have on hand or that he can get at the store. Apparently, sometimes they don’t have what he likes best. Same goes for the pepperoni and salami. Sometimes he will use the smaller pizza sized sliced of pepperoni and sometimes he uses the large deli size slices. Jim likes things spicy and always adds the cayenne pepper. I however like a medium heat and only add the crushed red pepper and banana peppers. Be sure to drizzle a little of the juice from the banana peppers even if you don’t add the peppers themselves. The juice adds a tang of vinegar that enhances the other flavors.

Also don’t forget the fresh sliced tomato. It adds a nice cooling affect and balances out the salt from the meat. We love using fresh tomatoes when they are available during the summer. The flavor is just so much better during season.  I love to have a side of fresh sliced tomatoes in addition to what is on my sub to cool the heat of the peppers, but you could also serve with a fresh salad or your favorite chips. Enjoy!