Italian Hoagie with Attitude
Long before Subway and all the sandwich places, we ate Panini stuffed with our delicious homemade goodies. My Italian Hoagie with Attitude uses our homemade meatballs, which we have on hand everyday and is wrapped in bacon for extra crunch.
The Laugh behind the bacon story
Growing up in an Italian house, I never had a bacon and tomato sandwich. In 1976 I was dating my husband John and watching the summer olympics. I decided to make a sandwich and asked him if he wanted one. Now Italians eat prosciutto raw and our bacon is cured and we eat it raw. He asked for a bacon and tomato sandwich; and so, I took raw bacon and put it with tomatoes on untoasted bread. We still laugh at this today.
The process behind this Hoagie
According to the Urban Dictionary the word hoagie originated on Hog Island on the Delaware River in Philadelphia where there were many Italian and Irish immigrants; they began to call each other Hoggans. At lunch time they ate large loaves of Philadelphia bread filled with meat and some how the word evolved to the modern-day Hoagie. I just like the sound of it better than a sub and it isn’t a panini because I don’t grill it.
My Italian Hoagie with Attitude has the meatballs with tomato sauce and cheese on the inside and the attitude comes from the bacon on the outside. It is cooked in the oven and finished under the broiler.
For the meatball recipe go to: https://recipesatmytable.com/italian-meatballs/
Italian Hoagie with Attitude
A small sub with big attitude!!
Ingredients
The Hoagie
- 1 batch of ready made-meatballs https://recipesatmytable.com/italian-meatballs/ 3 per sub
- 2 small submarine rolls
- 1/2 cup grated 4 Italian cheese blend use 1/4 cup per sub
- 2 - 3 slices of bacon for each hoagie
- extra sauce for meatballs or serving
- toothpicks to secure bacon
Instructions
The Assembly
-
Cut the bread in half, but not all the way through.
Pull out the crumb.
Place your meatballs on one side and cheese on the other.
Add any other condiments here. Some hot sauce or jalapeños give more depth to this sandwich.
Wrap each hoagie with two to three slices of bacon and secure with toothpicks.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place a rack on it.
Place the hoagies on the rack. The bacon drippings will be a breeze to clean-up this way.
Put in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes.
Leave in oven and turn broiler on low for 3 minutes.
Remove and let sit for 5 minutes.
Cut in half and remove toothpicks.
They are easy to handle and not greasy.
You could wrap them in wax paper and set on a platter.
Recipe Notes
You can make as many as you want. Just double or triple the ingredients.
My meatballs were already in sauce, but you can use plain meatballs and add peppers, eggplants or anything that you want to the middle of this hoagie. Onions are good too.
You can buy prepared four cheese Italian blend at any supermarket or grate it yourself. Choose any four Italian cheeses that you like; ensure to include a provolone for a sharp taste. If you like other cheese, experiment.
For a good book on Italian Panini go to:https://www.amazon.ca/Best-Panini-Recipes-Tiffany-Collins/dp/0778802019/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517488758&sr=1-1