Bookish Recipes: Philadelphia Italian Hoagies

Welcome to Bookish Recipes, a new feature on the blog where I cook or bake a recipe from a book I have loved and share the result with you. For my second Bookish Recipe, I have chosen Philadelphia Italian Hoagies from The Stall of Second Chances by Dana Bate. It is a fantastic story about starting again and fighting for your dreams. And it's full of descriptions of delish food.

Plus, at the end of the book there are some extra recipes to some food key to the story, like muffins or bread, and one of them is the recipe for these Italian hoagies. Here is my own version of the recipe:

1) Cut the onion on thin slices and soak them in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes.

2) Stir together the vinegar and half the oregano and then whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.

3) Split the rolls lengthwise and brush the bottom part with some of the vinaigrette.

4) Layer the meat and cheese. If you are wondering what capocollo is, like me, according to the Internet, the capocollo, also known as cappicola, is a type of pork cold cut similar to the proscuitto. If you can't find it, just use another kind of pork cold cut.

5) Drain the onion, pat dry and layer on top of the meat, followed by the lettuce and the tomatoes, thinly sliced. Add some more vinaigrette, oregano and salt and pepper and then try to close the roll.

This recipe is quite simple but the result is fantastic. It has this lovely Italian taste and I will be repeating it for sure.

About the book:

Title: The Stall of Second Chances
Author: Dana Bate
Published: November 20th 2014 by Corsair
Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: Sydney Strauss is obsessed with food.

Not just with eating it - though she loves that too - but with writing about it as an aspiring cookery reporter. But food journalism jobs are more coveted than cupcakes, and so Sydney is stuck working for one of TV's biggest egomaniacs - until she's left scrambling for shifts at the local farmers' market.

Selling muffins at the Wild Yeast Bakery is hardly going to make her the next Nigella. But soon Sydney is writing the market's weekly newsletter, and her quirky stories gain attention from a prominent food columnist. After years of being left on the shelf, she's even dating again. And then Sydney gets a shot at the story, one that could either make her career or burn it to a cinder - along with her relationship and her reputation.