I have been craving this sandwich for 2 years, 4 months, 7 days, and around 12 hours.
Unfortunately, the original is over 6,000 miles away. It’s been a long haul, but I’ve reached my tipping point. Suffice to it say, I broke down and made the perfect sandwich at home. This may sound a bit dramatic, but I think by now you’ve come to expect a certain amount of embellishment from me, so who am I too disappoint.
I understand it’s a pretty tall order to call one sandwich “perfect” over all others. It’s not a meatball sub with rich marinara and gooey cheese, or the infamous Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, or even a pastrami on rye from Katz’s. It’s vegetarian….and it blew my mind.
It is made by the brilliant minds over at Small World Catering (no relation to the mind-numbing Disney ride) located on small side street in the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam. Their delectable sandwich inspired me to make my ultimate knock off.
There is no one star in this sandwich’s show. First, I drizzle a couple slices of Black Pepper Bread with olive oil…
then I toast it under the broiler until golden…
then it gets a schmear of pesto…
and a hefty swipe of fresh ricotta…
and I’d be crazy to leave out garlicky roasted red peppers…
Oh man, this is getting good. But we still need some grilled eggplant…
and red onion marmalade…
Now that’s a sandwich I feel comfortable voting for in 2012.
Forgive me, but I’m outta here for now as I have a date with a sandwich.