What Baba Cooked

I’ll never forget the first time I stood in a Manhattan deli in Chelsea Markets, watching on in awe as the man behind the counter prepared the sandwiches we had ordered. The amount of sliced meats seemed insane, thinly shaved and gently laid on as he sliced. Then the cheeses went on, and the pesto, and the red peppers, and I honestly think our eyes were agog. And when we bit in it was even better than we could have imagined, and we instantly knew that we would never look at sandwiches the same way ever again.

From that point on we have often opted for NY deli style sandwiches for dinner, and the photo above shows one of my favourites. And of course you can’t beat a classic Rueben on rye bread with layers of thinly shaved stacked pastrami.

And yes, I know that there is nowhere near enough sliced meat on the sandwich pictured above. The ones shown below are more like it! 😉

What you need to know:

• Good quality bread, anything from rye to foccacia depending on your fillings and mood
• Something to spread: mustard, pesto, tapenade are all great
• The meats: salami, ham, mortadella, pastrami, beef, turkey: whatever your appetite demands. Make sure there’s plenty of it though. Crispy thin chicken schnitzels would be amazing too, as would some leftover roast meat.
• Cheese: provolone and gruyere are my top picks, but Swiss and Cheddar would also be delicious. Again, this would depend on your other fillings.
• Something veggie: roasted red peppers with their sharp vinegar tang go great, but pickles or even grilled veggies like eggplant or zucchini would work too.
• Something green: rocket is probably my only pick here, but make sure it has a tiny bit of Balsamic vinagerette dressing on it.