One of my favorite things in life is a good deli sandwich. I’m not talking about something found at Subway (no offense), but a sandwich with at least an inch of meat between two slices of freshly baked bread topped with cheese and a big pickle on the side (dill, of course).
I think I got my love obsession for these “gourmet” sandwiches as a kid. When I was in school, my Mom used to make incredible lunches packed with an assortment of snacks and treats. But the show-stopper was a hoagie roll loaded with all the good stuff. I’m talking Boar’s Head meat, sandwich sliced pickles, bean sprouts, deli mustard and when I sat down to eat this culinary masterpiece, I was the most envied kid at the lunch table. Hands down.
While I can’t get her homemade sandwiches here in DC, insert frowny face emoji here, this comes pretty close. The key is to start with a great bread.
I used pumpernickel, but you can use whatever looks the most fresh/delicious. Then a layer of mustard aioli, a few slices of slow roasted corned beef, a generous helping of pastrami, butter lettuce, havarti cheese and a cabbage and apple coleslaw. This baby is loaded.
Oh, and the pickle is NOT optional. I’m serious. Don’t leave it out!
- I. Corned Beef/Pastrami
- 1 loaf of pumpernickel bread
- Havarti Cheese
- 2 packages pastrami deli meat (I bought mine at Trader Joe's)
- 2 Lbs. corned beef (raw)
- 5 sprigs of thyme
- II. Slaw
- 1 small head of green cabbage (shredded)
- 1 red onion (sliced thinly)
- 2 green apples (sliced thinly)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 TBS. olive oil
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 clove of garlic (I minced mine using a micro-plane zester)
- 1 tsp. horseradish
- Preheat oven to 325. In a roasting dish, place the corned beef fat side up and season generously with salt and pepper. Cover with an inch or so of water and add the thyme sprigs. Allow to cook for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until tender. Allow to rest for 20 minutes before slicing (against the grain).
- To make the slaw simply add the cabbage, red onion, and green apple into a medium sized bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, paprika, garlic and horseradish.
- Simply combine ingredients as you see fit!
- Note: the mustard aioli I mentioned in the post is a product I found at Trader Joe's!
