Yes, you read correctly…Who puts that in a sandwich?!

I went to Epicurious to look for some fancy sandwich ideas. I found a couple of interesting ideas. One was Pressed Coppa Sandwiches with Broccoli Rabe Pesto. Obviously, that’s the one I got the most inspiration from. The other was Broccoli Rabe and Provolone Grinders of which I didn’t use any of the recipe but got the idea for the hummus. I’d cooked chickpeas the night before for chickpea and zucchini pasta and only used half of the chickpeas I’d cooked for that dish.

My mom makes excellent hummus. The secret is to make it in the mixer instead of the food processor so it’s chunky and not pasty-smooth.

2 c. cooked (or 1 can) garbanzo beans
3T tahini
juice of one lemon
2-3T olive oil
dash of cayenne
salt to taste
handful of chopped parsley

For the broccoli rabe pesto, I followed the epicurious instructions but at the end, pureed it in the food processor.

I took some crusty whole grain sourdough (something along the lines of Pain Tobin), sliced it up, smeared one half with hummus, one half with pesto, filled that with a few slices of coppa, brushed the outside with olive oil, put it in a heavy cast iron pan, put another cast iron pan on top and grilled it over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes per side until it was a crispy golden brown.

I had NO idea what this would be like. This was a whim, shot in the dark, use up stuff in the fridge recipe. IT ROCKED!

I had to quickly get this recipe up so I didn’t forget what I did! The broccoli rabe added some tangy green-ness, the hummus added creaminess that helped mellow out the coppa’s salt and sometimes overpowering flavor. My husband said it was like a really good grilled cheese without the cheese grease and funk. I wouldn’t know since I hate cheese but this was really awesome.

I had some fingerling potatoes to get rid of too so I thinly sliced them, tossed them with olive oil and put them in the oven at 400° for way too long until they were crispy and nearly burnt. We like crispy potatoes in this house. The other side dish was simply cucumbers and tomatoes from the farmers market with just a little salt.