How Football Fever Inspired the Sandwich of Awesomeness

You may ask why I say “cookery” and then proceed to post about a sandwich as my very first recipe. Well, it’s because my best friend Szilvi has been drooling over this sandwich for quite a while now and I thought I’d show her what it actually looks like. But here’s how I came to the idea of making this at home, and how it evolved from a simple idea into the most amazing sandwich I’ve ever eaten. (On a side-note – I generally don’t like sandwiches, and also avoid bakery products. Maybe a bad childhood experience, I don’t know.)

A couple of months ago, the whole of Switzerland was in complete football fever. Yes, football, not soccer. Soccer is what Americans call it, we, the rest of the world refer to the sport as football, because, well… that’s what it is. The country co-hosted the European Championships with Austria, and had truck tons of tourists attending, which also meant that the Swiss service industry, including the restaurants, bars, and even the grocery stores had to come up with new ideas, inspired by football.

My guess is, as the Austrians probably grabbed every single idea that is connected to the Wiener Schnitzel, given it’s one of their national dishes (although, I hate to break this to you Austria, it’s actually of Italian origin, boooo) – the Swiss also had to think of some things that they can use as their football food. Now, I highly doubt that the Berner Rösti can be stuffed into a bun, nor can a Fondue Chinoise so, they thought of other things, and for this, I shall be eternally grateful.

One day, I had some stuff to do around lunch time, so I hopped out to the nearby Migros (more about the Migros later) to grab a sandwich. Of course, it was super crowded, especially around the area where you could get the sandwiches and canapés, but it still beat the canteen in time efficiency. I noticed that they had ”Fussball EM” Specials, which were basically sandwiches created for the occasion. And there it was – I swear it was one of those movie moments where you can see Arthur grabbing the Excalibur, or finding the Holy Grail – I totally picture it with the little sparklies around it, and angels singing in the background. The sandwich.

It was quite simple actually – they took a Tomatenbrot (which is basically a Focaccia with dried tomato pieces in it, and tomato sauce and oregano on top) – cut it in half, put some crème fraîche onto one side and some pimento sauce onto the other, stuffed baked courgette, cheese and dried tomatoes in it, and off you go. I bought two. Because it’s light, right? Well, after having the first, other than the fact that it was a rather intensive experience in taste, I also felt totally full. I gave the second one to Yuri (an avid vegetable hater) and to my greatest surprise, he actually loved it, too. This is when I realised that this sandwich was a keeper, and decided to go back every day to buy some more for lunch. But... the Migros thought otherwise and they took it off their selection after a week and replaced it with some not-so-nice salami/green pesto/rocket salad crap. :( Nonetheless, since I had all the ingredients down, I decided to recreate it. I changed a couple of bits and pieces (I use younger cheese and added ham, and skipped the pimento) – but here it goes, ingredients and everything for 4 sandwiches, which is more than enough for two very hungry people.

• 2 pcs tomato bread (I either buy this, or cheat and make my own focaccia)
• 2 slices of young cheese (I used Fol Épi for it, but I’m pretty sure it works with say Gruyere or Trappista as well, if you’re Hungarian) per sandwich, if you’re a cheese lover, if not, one slice will do perfectly.
• 2-3 slices of Black Forest ham per sandwich (I think my dad will hate me forever for having such easy access to the original Schwarzwaldschinken since I live here, and my God he’s right... the ham is just exquisite!)
• 1 small courgette, sliced thin
• 4-5 sundried tomatoes per sandwich
• 1 tbsp sour cream per sandwich (I use sour cream from the Coop, because it’s pretty much the best you can get around here.) I chose sour cream instead of crème fraîche for the soury taste and simply because crème fraîche is too heavy for me, especially since the tomatoes are oily by default.

Here’s a picture of the ingredients:

So, I split the breads in two and then sliced them through the middle, and meanwhile, started grilling the courgettes on the stove (obviously in a pan :p) – spread sour cream on one side and put the dried tomatoes on the other. I covered the tomatoes with the ham and the cheese, and then just waited till the courgettes were ready. I placed the hot courgettes on the cheese, and closed the sandwich, and voilà, you have your dinner ready!

This is what the sandwich looked like before I closed it:

And this is the end result:

I was quite happy with it – maybe the pictures give at least a slight view of how great it was, despite the fact that I’m not exactly a genius photographer.