After a long day of work or play, even the thought of cooking can be exhausting. Especially when you’re starving and the meal you planned on preparing takes two hours and twenty ingredients. Bleh. If you’re like me and don’t eat fast food and can’t stomach eating out more than once every two weeks, your options for a quick and easy meal are limited. If you’re further like me, and don’t eat meat more than once or twice a week, you’re limited even further. No microwave hot dogs here. Nuh uh. Not even in a pinch. This, I find, is where a hearty sandwich comes in.

This veggie Italian sandwich is perfect for a quick, delicious meal anytime, but especially after a workout or a hot day in the sun. The sea salt on the roll, combined with the tapenade, provide a nice briny tang which will quickly replenish your sodium loss. The field greens are refreshing, and the fresh mozzarella is chewy and delicate in flavor. The roasted red peppers give the sandwich a warm, hearty taste. And if you buy the tapenade and the roasted red peppers instead of making them, you’ll be eating this sandwich in no time.

Note: Tapenade is a mixture made principally with olives, garlic, and vinegar.

Ingredients:

sourdough or French bread sandwich rolls
balsamic vinegar based salad dressing
olive oil
sea salt
rosemary
fresh mozzarella
roasted red peppers
mixed baby field greens
tapenade

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the sandwich roll in half. Brush the top of the sandwich roll with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary.

Slice the fresh mozzarella and lay several slices on the bottom of the roll. Lay strips of roasted red pepper on top of the mozzarella.

Place both halves of the sandwich roll on a small cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake until the cheese is melted and the top of the roll is toasty.

Remove from oven. Let cool briefly. While cooling, toss the field greens with a balsamic vinegar based salad dressing. Place a handful or two of the dressed greens on top of the mozzarella and roasted red peppers. Top the greens with several spoonfuls of tapenade. Put the top on and eat up!

In the July 2007 issue of Food and Wine there’s a great recipe for Grilled Vegetable Bruschetta. I read through the ingredients and literally drooled. And then I read the directions and thought: well doesn’t that sound like work. Homemade pesto. Deskinning grilled vegetables. Making dressing. And who wants to work on a summer evening? Or after a long day? Not I. And then there was something called ricotta salata, and just to reinforce the fact that I’m not a chef, I have no idea what this is. So I came up with this dumbed down version, which is still, in my opinion, exceptionally good. I’m sure the original is better, but if you’re short on time or attention, give this simpler one a try. My husband declared it “Impressive. Extremely impressive for a vegetarian entrée. The flavors, the textures. It all rules. MmmHmm.” This one goes on our make over and over again list. And it made enough to feed us comfortably for two nights.