Hot Meatloaf Sandwiches with Roasted Peppers

A warm meatloaf sandwich with roasted peppers, cheese, and a smear of pesto served on a fresh ciabatta roll makes a delicious, filling sandwich. Of course, the challenge to creating delicious sandwiches at home is having all the ingredients and condiments on hand, a problem that is easily solved with a little planning.

Take meatloaf, for example. Preparing a meatloaf for baking takes very little time; however, a 2 lb meatloaf takes approximately 50 minutes to bake through. However, when baking in convection, you can also roast a tray of vegetables at the same time for an easy oven meal, and you can have the bonus of some extra meatloaf to make delicious hot sandwiches.

Roasted peppers add a lot of flavor to sandwiches and are easy to prepare. Once roasted and peeled, they can be immersed in olive oil and stored in the refrigerator for a week. Pesto can be purchased in a jar or homemade and frozen in small cubes that can easily be defrosted when needed.

INGREDIENTS

3  peppers, assorted colors

4 slices cooked meatloaf

4 slices Havarti or Provolone cheese

Zesty sandwich spread or mayonnaise

2 tbsp prepared pesto

2 fresh Ciabatta rolls, halved

PREPARATION

Heat the oven in the Convection Roast or Convection Bake mode to 450 F/230 C.

Cut the peppers in half. Remove the stem, seeds, ribs, and rounded top so they will sit flat on the baking pan. Place the prepared peppers on a baking pan lined with foil or parchment.

Bake the pepper for 25 - 30 minutes until the skin has blackened.  Remove the pan from the oven and set on a trivet to cool.  Cover the peppers with paper towels while they cool to help lift the skin.

When cooled, peel the skin off the peppers, cut as desired, and place in a clean glass container.

Add just enough olive oil to cover, seal, and place in the refrigerator until needed. 

To assemble the sandwiches, position an oven rack on the second rack from the top. Heat the oven in the Broil mode in the Low setting or 400 F/204C. The meatloaf slices can be warmed in a steam oven or covered in a convection oven.

Smear the zesty sauce on the rolls, add the warmed meatloaf, peppers, and pesto, and top with the cheese. Place the rolls in a small oven-baking pan and heat in the oven until the cheese has melted and the edges of the bread begin to crisp.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Notes:

The peppers can also be blackened using the Broil Mode set to High or 450 F/230 C.

Always keep the oven door closed when broiling, and be sure to position the rack so that the food does not touch the Broil element.