Taste of New England (At least that's what my dad tells me...)

I live in Alaska. I have been to Maine twice in my life, once when I was a toddler and again on my 7th birthday.

Everything I know about New England has been from my father (who was born/raised in Scarborough, ME) and I think he may be making some of it up.

The one thing about which I will always trust him (no matter how crazy) is food. That man knows his stuff when it comes to the cooking and the eating. So, when he says this is as close as little Alaskan-raised me will come to a Mainer deli-made Italian sandwich, I BELIEVE IT.

So, without further ado, I present to you a simple recipe, years in the making (and still not quite right, sorry) for Italian Sandwiches, also known as MAGS' FAVORITE HAM SANDWICH EVAH.

Italian Sandwiches

Ingredients:

Thanks again, mom, for the free plates.

Bread/Roll - This is the trickiest ingredient. For years we have been using french sandwich rolls and cutting out most of the middle part. ("The less bread, the better." - Pop) That's what is shown in the photos here. But of course after I took the pictures and drafted this post, my dad informed me that "plain, white, outdoor sandwich rolls are actually pretty close." So use whatever damn bread you want, as long as it's white in color and there's not much of it.

Ham
Cheddar cheese
Chopped white onion
Sliced green pepper
Sliced  tomato*
Sliced dill pickle
Black olives*
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

*Photos do not depict tomatos or olives in the sandwich. This is because it was my actual lunch and I didn't have a tomato/black olives make me gag.

The first thing I usually do is shave out as much of the inside of the roll as I can. If it's pre-sliced, cut from the inner sides, but try to leave the two halves connected. If it's not sliced, cut a big "U" out of the top of it.
Line one side with ham and the other with sliced cheddar cheese.

More ham is usually better, but that's just me.

Sprinkle the chopped onions along the center.

If the onions look kind of sad, it's because I chopped them ahead of time and then stored them with pickles. Which is tasty, but not so much pretty.

Then layer in the pickles, peppers, tomatos and olives.

Use your imagination about the tomato & olives.

Drizzle olive oil over the entire sandwich and sprinkle with salt & pepper.

ACTION SHOT!

ENJOY YOUR AWESOME HAM SANDWICH, BUDDY!

East Coast? Whatever you say. Delicious? Definitely!

By the way, has anyone tried dry soda?



It's a great invention. It's really flavorful without being too sweet. It also makes me feel a lot less guilty about indulging in my annual orange soda craving. (Only 50 calories a bottle, bishes. That's good, right?)

It just so happens to go great with a ham sandwich. Just saying.

I just realized all my recipe posts are about sandos. I have an ex-boyfriend who would be proud of me right now.

MUSIC: As I'm writing this I'm listening to Hot Water Music. They're a manly-sounding punk band with some really great music backing it up. Listen to "Remedy" or "A Flight and a Crash" or "Alright For Now" to get a taste.