The Healthy My Ass Cookbook

The Italian North Village Sub Sandwich

A fresh baked toasted Italian sub roll filled with Italian favorites.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

Remove the Pillsbury® Country Italian Bread from its package and cut it in half, lengthwise, along the seam.  Place cut side down on a greased cookie sheet and cut a slit in the top of each as directed on the package except only 1/4 inch deep.  Underbake for 16 to 20 minutes until it just begins to brown.  Let each sub roll cool completely then refrigerate for at least an hour to facilitate easier slicing.  Slice the sub rolls lengthwise to separate the tops from the bottoms.  Return to the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the sandwiches.

When you are ready to make the sandwiches, preheat an oven to 450°F.

Cover the top of a broiler pan big enough to hold both halves of both sub rolls cut side up, with aluminum foil, non-stick if you have it with the non-stick side up.  This is not just to make clean up easy, but to quickly remove the sandwich halves from the hot pan after you remove it from the oven to prevent the pan from over baking the bread crust.  So leave the extra aluminum foil loose over the edges rather than tucked under.  You can also use the foil to ensure that the halves lie flat and level by crimping it under the roll to support any unevenness.  The broiler pan puts air between the metal exposed to the bottom heating element and the metal the bread is touching.  If you do not have one, shield the bottom of any pan from the heating elements with a cookie sheet placed on a different rack just under the pan.

Thinly slice the Green Bell Pepper and Onion and set aside.  Cut each Smoked Cured Italian Style Sausage link in half lengthwise from one end to the other then cut those halves again into quarters and set aside.  If necessary, very thinly slice the Pepperoni and slice the Mozzarella Cheese into 6 to 8 slices.  Leave or return the cheese to the refrigerator and if the oven has reached 450°F, remove the sub rolls or wait until the oven is up to 450°F.

Spread a thin layer of Pizza Sauce over the cut side of both tops and bottoms of the sub rolls and place cut side up on the foil covered pan.  Place a layer of thinly sliced green pepper atop the sauce of the tops of the rolls.  Place a layer of thinly sliced onions atop the peppers.  On the bottoms of the rolls, layer the thinly sliced pepperoni and cover that with sausage quarters skin sides against the pepperoni.

Remove the cheese from the refrigerator and cover the onions on the top halves of the sub roll with the slices of cheese, leaving the meat on the bottoms exposed.  Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, until the cheese melts but before it starts to brown.  Remove the pan from the oven and using the quickly cooled aluminum foil, remove the sandwiches from the pan and let rest on a heat resistant surface.  When cool enough to touch, invert tops onto bottoms, slice in half and serve.

Notes:

* This is not the typical raw Italian Sausage that comes either in links or bulk.  This is fully cooked pork and beef quarter pound links in natural casing shaped like frankfurters or large hot dogs.  The meat is similar to that which you find in Smoked Sausage or Polish Kielbasa but a little Italian spicy hot.

While in college in the late 70's in Columbia, MO. these toasted subs from The North Village Sub Shop were a favorite late night meal when we were toasted and famished.  They've expanded now to 3 or 4 locations and they are just called The Sub Shop.  Whenever I am in town, I get either the Italian or the Vegetarian, or halves of each.  I finally asked for one to go to be cooked the next day and they sold it to me with the ingredients separated from the bread, told me how to assemble it and toast it.  Hence, once I found a close equivalent of the Italian sausage at Schnucks in Saint Louis, I was able to recreate these and share my recipe with you.

Part of what made these so great was the fresh baked sub rolls, in either white or wheat with wheat being my favorite, especially for The Vegetarian, but I couldn't resist the Pillsbury® refrigerated dough for both its convenience and yielding a fresh baked product.

See Also:

The Vegetarian North Village Sub Sandwich - A fresh baked toasted sub roll filled with cheese and vegetables.