1 ½ pounds cured Italian meats, thinly sliced - mortadella, capoccollo, Calabrese salami
¾ pound cheese, sliced - provolone, mozzarella
1 cup roasted red peppers
1 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
Takes ,
serves 8-12.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray or pizza pan with parchment paper.
Cut bread in half, widthwise. Open bread on work surface. Stir butter and pesto together in a small bowl. Divide it between the top and bottom on the bread, smoothing it out evenly across the surfaces.
Layer the sandwich on the bottom half of the focaccia placed onto the parchment lined baking tray. Then layer the fillings starting with one layer of cheese. Then, add a third of the cold cuts, followed by the red peppers, more cold cuts, red onion, cheese, cold cuts, and top with chopped artichokes. Place the top of the focaccia onto the toppings.
Transfer to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bread is crispy and cheese has melted.
Cool for 5 minutes, then slice into wedges and serve with a favourite salad or soup.
Toasted Focaccia Sandwich
Ingredients
1 large focaccia loaf - round or square
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons pesto
1 ½ pounds cured Italian meats, thinly sliced - mortadella, capoccollo, Calabrese salami
¾ pound cheese, sliced - provolone, mozzarella
1 cup roasted red peppers
1 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray or pizza pan with parchment paper.
Cut bread in half, widthwise. Open bread on work surface. Stir butter and pesto together in a small bowl. Divide it between the top and bottom on the bread, smoothing it out evenly across the surfaces.
Layer the sandwich on the bottom half of the focaccia placed onto the parchment lined baking tray. Then layer the fillings starting with one layer of cheese. Then, add a third of the cold cuts, followed by the red peppers, more cold cuts, red onion, cheese, cold cuts, and top with chopped artichokes. Place the top of the focaccia onto the toppings.
Transfer to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bread is crispy and cheese has melted.
Cool for 5 minutes, then slice into wedges and serve with a favourite salad or soup.
Toasted Focaccia Sandwich
1.2 / 5. 73
Oven-baked Italian bread filled with layers of thinly sliced cured meats, grilled red peppers, artichokes, cheese and a buttery pesto…
This TOASTED FOCACCIA SANDWICH is a perfect quick and easy weeknight meal idea.
This story was inspired by a recent trip to favorite Italian sandwich shop in the city. Known for their extensive hot table featuring classic dishes like veal parmigiana, chicken cacciatore, and lasagne, this place is also known for freshly made sandwiches. One taste and I instantly knew we needed to craft something similar. Say hello to our easy homemade TOASTED FOCACCIA SANDWICH.
Before listing a few tips on making it, here’s a lead on ways to enjoy it. This tasty sandwich treat makes a pleasing family meal, so feel free to add it to weekly dinner plans. It’s also excellent served during game night, movie night, or anytime when friends gather: yes, it serves a crowd. Finally, it travels well. You can make the sandwich, wrap wedges up individually, and then take them to work or school for lunch. Road trip!
Here’s how to make this delicious TOASTED FOCACCIA SANDWICH.
INGREDIENTS
I know frequent visitors to WATC are going to look at the above ingredient pic and think, “What is Nik up to, now!”. I wanted to snap this pic to show you what you can expect once you gather everything needed to make this sandwich recipe. There aren’t a ton of ingredients but it’s important you buy good quality stuff, k? This is what I returned home with after a quick visit to my favorite bakery, deli, and cheese shop.
FOCACCIA BREAD
FOCACCIA BREAD is a type of Italian sandwich bread that is sold in a variety of styles and shapes. Head HERE to learn about the subtle variations that have evolved in different regions of Italy. When looking for focaccia, don’t be surprised to see this delicious bread baked square, rectangular, or round, which is what we used for our story. We suggest looking for focaccia crafted with savoury toppings like sea salt, chopped rosemary, grated cheese, or sautéed sweet onions. Using flavoured varieties such as these will add another layer of flavor to the finished sammie. In a pinch, if you can’t find focaccia, you can get the right texture in a good ciabatta bread.
ITALIAN MEATS
One of the hallmarks of this recipe is the layers (and layers, and layers) of flavour. In selecting the meat component, we went with three different types of smoked and cured Italian meats. The first is a Calabrese salami made with heritage pork and spicy seasoning, followed by capocollo, a dry-cured ham, and mortadella, a ground meat loaf flavoured with black peppercorns. Of course, there’s such a wide range of deli meats you could use, including cotechino, pancetta, soppressata, and speck. Assemble your faves and make this recipe your own.
BUTTERY PESTO
Although we considered adding a swipe of mayonnaise and mustard to the focaccia before assembling the sandwich, we instead opted for a classic Italian condiment, pesto. This creamy spread is made from fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, olive oil, and garlic. We gave it an upgrade by blending it with butter before spreading it across both the top and bottom of the bread. This also helped the pesto melt into the layers of filling as the sandwich baked. Want to make your own pesto? Head HERE to watch our 1-minute video about making pesto using walnuts.
LAYERS
Assembling this TOASTED FOCACCIA SANDWICH is both easy and a joy. Between the layers of meat, we introduced vegetables and cheese. Veggies included grilled red peppers, finely shaved red onions, and artichokes, but you can also add zucchini, eggplant, fresh basil leaves, and tomatoes. For the cheese element, we went with provolone cheese for both its flavour and the way it melts, giving this sandwich a soft, creamy texture. Other types of cheese that work include Parmesan, asiago, ricotta, mozzarella cheese, and fontina.
BAKE
During the testing of this recipe, we determined that 375°F is the perfect temperature to both warm and toast the bread and to melt the cheese and pesto butter within. For those using rectangular or square piece of focaccia, feel free to cut the large sandwich into smaller rectangles and squares and use a panini maker or sandwich griddle set on medium-high heat to toast individual sammies to order. Fancy!
SERVE!
Because making these sandwiches is so easy, we figure serving it should be too. We suggest cutting the sandwich using a serrated knife and serving it with olives, hot peppers, and pickled vegetables on the side. After that, you’ll need little more than a stellar salad to go with it, like our CLASSIC CAESAR SALAD, this CRISPY MUSHROOM SALAD with arugula or rocket, or a large bowl of this EVERYDAY SALAD with GREEN GODDESS DRESSING.
Because this recipe is so tasty and perfect for easy entertaining, we suggest you PIN it to a favourite lunch or sandwich board on PINTEREST or BOOKMARK this tab for easy access. SHARE it with friends so they can make it too. We’d also appreciate seeing pics of all the scrumptious stuff you’re making these days. Use #weekendatthecottage when you post those pics on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks!
Quick, easy, and yes, mighty tasty! This TOASTED FOCACCIA SANDWICH is great anytime.
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Ingredients
1 large focaccia loaf - round or square
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons pesto
1 ½ pounds cured Italian meats, thinly sliced - mortadella, capoccollo, Calabrese salami
¾ pound cheese, sliced - provolone, mozzarella
1 cup roasted red peppers
1 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray or pizza pan with parchment paper.
Cut bread in half, widthwise. Open bread on work surface. Stir butter and pesto together in a small bowl. Divide it between the top and bottom on the bread, smoothing it out evenly across the surfaces.
Layer the sandwich on the bottom half of the focaccia placed onto the parchment lined baking tray. Then layer the fillings starting with one layer of cheese. Then, add a third of the cold cuts, followed by the red peppers, more cold cuts, red onion, cheese, cold cuts, and top with chopped artichokes. Place the top of the focaccia onto the toppings.
Transfer to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bread is crispy and cheese has melted.
Cool for 5 minutes, then slice into wedges and serve with a favourite salad or soup.
