Meatball Subs

Meatball Subs, Marinara for Dipping

Ann and I kicked around a few ideas about dinner early Sunday morning and very quickly, Ann decided she wanted meatball subs. Although we just had them recently, why not again? Meatballs make a great sandwich. Eating them is something of a mess what with all the marinara dripping out of the sandwich, so I made these a little drier and served a bowl of marinara on the side for dipping. Win!

These meatballs are ground pork shoulder with a bit of Salvadoran chorizo left from breakfast, mixed with olive oil, panko, basil, oregano, garlic, and salt. The meatballs go raw into a baking dish and I pour over a quick marinara made in the blender. They bake covered at 350F until they're done or we're ready to take them out, whichever comes first.

To assemble the sandwiches, split the bread and open it up. Brush the cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until the cut side of the bread is brown; alternatively, grill the bread or cook on a griddle, whatever works to get the bread toasted. Lay in the meatballs, top with marinara and then with provolone and then run back under the broiler until the cheese melts. Try not to burn yourself on the first bite!

Writing this made me think of something I hadn't thought of in decades. I used to live on meatball subs in college at UVa, back in the day, at the now demolished university-run snack bar called the Glass Hat. I loved these subs then and I love them now.