Italian Hero
Updated: Dec 1, 2021
THE BRONX BOMBER
A friend of mine used to bring these Italian Heros home everytime he worked in the South Bronx. No, not DiMaggio & Torre, Italian hero subs...sandwiches. He used to get them somewhere around 147th Street, not too far from the Stadium. It was the best Italian Hero EVER! I don't remember the name of the place & it's closed now, but I actually stopped there a couple of times on the way to the games & I've been trying to duplicate this masterpiece ever since. And finally, I think I actually not only duplicated it, but added a couple of new ingredients and, no disrespect to the original, but I think it's even better!
So, here you go! The Italian Hero, BKA the Bronx Bomber!
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
-Semolina or a good quality bakery Italian bread for hero sandwiches
-1 lb soppressata
-1 lb genoa salami
-1 lb imported sweet capicola
-1 lb fresh mozzerella ball sliced into 1/4" slices
-1/2 lb sliced provolone
-5 or 6 cubanelli Italian frying peppers
-10 eggs
-2 eggplants
-1 red onion
-1 red bell pepper
-1 yellow bell pepper
-1 clove of garlic
-1/2 cup of basil infused olive oil
-1/2 cup of canola oil (wesson)
-1 cup fresh basil (small leaves)
-1/4 cup tomato paste
-1 tsp red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup chopped italian parsley
-1 1/2 cup of grating cheese
-2 cups of milk
-4 cups flour
The Spread
1-Cube one of the eggplants, the red onion & the bell peppers (remove the seeds) into 1 1/2 inch pieces & then drizzle with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, sprinkle with S&P & red pepper flakes & toss well in a bowl with the garlic clove.
2-Place in a baking pan and roast at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until all veggies are soft.
3- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the vegetables to cool.
4-Once they have cooled to room temp, place the vegetables in a food processor or blender & add in the basil, tomato paste & parsley & blend into a spread.
The Eggplant
1-Peel & slice the other eggplant into thin slices vertically.
2-In a bowl combine the flour, 3/4 cups of grating cheese 1/2 tsp each of salt & pepper & mix together.
3-In a seperate bowl add in 5 eggs & the milk and wisk together to make an milk/eggwash.
4-Dip each piece of eggplant into the wash and then pat down on both sides in the flour.
5-Fry the eggplant over med heat in the canola oil until lightly browned on both sides.
6-Set the fried pieces aside on paper towel.
The Peppers & Eggs
1-In a bowl wisk the remaining 5 eggs with the remaining 3/4 cups of grating cheese & S&P
2- In the remaining olive oil, over med/high heat & after removing the seeds and slicing in half vertically, fry the cubanelli peppers until soft (usually takes about 20 minutes)
3-Once the peppers are cooked, place them on a bed of paper towel & drain any excess oil from the pan.
4-Next, add the peppers back into the pan, pour the egg mixture over the peppers & cook over med heat until the mixture forms an omelette.
5-Slice the omelette into strips almost as wide as the bread
The Italian Hero Sandwich
1-Slice the bread open vertically & spread the roasted vegetable spread on both sides.
2-On the bottom half, layer the salami, the soppressata & the capicola.
3-Then, layer the slices of eggplant & the slices of the pepper omelette on top of the meats.
4-Then layer the provolone and the mozzerella on top of the omlette.
5-(Optional) Lightly drizzle with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.
Pair with Smoke Eater "First Due Red" Pinotage.
Enjoy!