Step aside Reuben!

We taking sandwiches seriously around here. To me a nice deli style sandwich is a gourmet meal up there with anything made by Julia Child. In Salem, VA (near Roanoke) there is a restaurant with nearly 100 different types of sandwiches on the menu. It takes me forever to figure out what to order.

Where am I going with all this? Well, one night back in January when we were reading the book of Genesis together as family we can across the list of Jacob's sons; the twelve tribes of Israel. Suddenly I wondered out loud why only Reuben had a sandwich named after him? I mean imagine what a Zebulun or a Naphtali sandwich could be like? We explored the ideas that night and decided to make it happen. But when? Creating a new sandwich to honor one of the sons of Jacob is not something to be taken lightly. When it was decided that Kathleen was going to Italy to visit Diann I saw an opportunity. With full control over the kitchen I would oversee the design, construction and implementation of the "Naphtali". Last night was THE night.

Via something that only be called inspiration (or maybe an empty stomach) we came up with the ingredient list below.

- 3 slices rye bread with seeds (you can lightly toast or not)

- Salsalito roasted turkey breast (Boar's Head)

- Genoa salami (sliced thin)

- Corned beef (sliced thin from the deli)

- Alpine Swiss cheese

- Fresh Lettuce

- Thinly sliced tomato

- Hellman's real mayonnaise

- Pitted, sliced kalamata olives (or sigonella if you are Ben)

- Delicatesin sour kraut (not the stuff in a can)

- Banana peppers rings

Why these ingredients you ask? The rye bread, corned beef, sour kraut and swiss cheese honor the 1st sandwich of the 12 tribes - Reuben. The inspiration for the other ingredients came from various sources. The Salsalito turkey breast with it's Italian name is in honor of my dear wife who is away from us in Italy at the moment. The Genoa Salami is just so good it should be on every sandwich. The kalamata olives were a last minute thought. We owe that to Ben Rickert. His sin of throwing away all those olives from my wife's great cooking just needed redeeming! See Art's Chili previous post.

Here's how you stack it all up:

Spread mayo on one side of all three slice of bread. Place a piece of lettuce on one slice. Add 2 thick slices of Swiss cheese. Roll up four slices of turkey and place on top the Swiss cheese. Next roll three slices of Genoa salami and continue to build. Just to get some nutrition we then add a few tomato slices. Top the bottom half of the sandwich with the sliced olives the mild banana pepper rings. Insert the second slice of bread mayonnaise side down. The top section is like a Reuben so stack up the corned beef bread and sour kraut. Last comes the lid. You need to pin down the four corners with sandwich tooth picks. Cut into quarters and enjoy!

We tried some with toasted bread and some untoasted bread just to see which way we liked better. On our test run the toast was a little burnt (yes, we burn water too with our head chef away) so it was a little too crispy for some. We were split as too which way was the best but all agreed it was a fabulous sandwich.

Her are some pictures from our first go at last night.

The building process

The masterpiece!

Don't be scared of it Aedan!

Taste Test

Ciao.

Chili's Art