Sandwich post #1

As promised in my dedication I'll probably be writing about sandwiches as they are my favorite food. My friends always joke that I will only eat sandwiches (or Hoagies, wraps, gyros) -its really pretty close to the truth - and nothing goes better with a good beer - which is another favorite thing.

Sandwiches are a wide and exhaustive subject, but today I'm going to concentrate on a particular classic that is really only just right about this time of year. The key here is the tomatoes that you can get in late summer around Philadelphia. The Jersey tomatoes are one of the only truly great things about having them as our neighbor. I usually don't eat tomatoes in a salad or bother with fresh tomatoes in a homemade sauce- you can do just as well with canned - I promise. But for a brief while you can eat a nice jersey tomato with red onion and good balsamic vinegar and be very content. So after rhapsodizing about a New Jersey tomato, I'm going to admit that I ended up getting a Pennsylvania tomato for my sandwich. Of course it was a "farm raised" Lancaster County Amish tomato from Reading Terminal. I only got one and it cost about $1.50. These tomatoes actually have a taste - they aren't just red and pulpy like what you can buy during the rest of the year. The other ingredients, also from the terminal, a ball of good fresh mozzerella a bunch of basil and a few mini baguettes with just enough crust.

Of course it's incredibly easy to put together after you hunt down the ingredients - just layer every thing onto the roll with some very good olive oil. This is one sandwich that doesn't need to be overstuffed. Don't overdo the basil because it can be overwhelming. The bread, as any sandwich afficianado knows, is very important. It can't be squishy here - this sandwich on a hot dog roll would be blasphemous. When everything comes together you can't believe that you made something so good. But the real truth is that you just went shopping at the right time of year.