Football season is upon us! I love fall for so many reasons, but having football playing in the background, even if I’m not able to watch for some reason, is one of them. Today is the draft for Fantasy Football.

We are playing in our family fantasy football league, where my team name is Julia Child’s Thumbs up (my brother-in-law, Dave … who is the League Commissioner for us, picked that name for me. I think it’s quite appropriate.) The guys in the family play in the family league and they also have a serious league. I must say, I take the league I’m in quite seriously as well. I’ve never won … in fact, I usually lose each week, but that’s Ok. I’m in it for the fun and family togetherness, even though we are miles apart.

Tonight, Dennis is really multi-tasking. Our family league is drawing teams at 6:00 p.m. and the family serious league, as well as The Fast & Furious, are both drawing teams at 7:00 p.m.  Dennis is quite busy this evening!

Dennis set the league up last year for his softball team and this is the second year they’ll be playing. Originally, the guys from the team were going to come over for the picking of teams, and I was going to cook for them all. It worked out better for everyone, however, if they just picked remotely. I was trying to come up with some good football food ideas for The Fast & Furious tonight, but with just Dennis, Kylie and me here, I had to pare down the menu.

I have wanted to make a sandwich starting with the ciabatta rosemary garlic bread that I make for many occasions. I thought I would make a few different versions of it for Dennis’ team mates, along with other things. For tonight, I made this sandwich by adding, turkey, light havarti, and olive tapenade to the original recipe.

I started with a loaf of ciabatta bread from Trader Joe’s that I cut in half lengthwise. I lay the bread open on a bread board and brush melted butter over the inside of each half. To the butter, I add minced garlic (4 cloves) and minced fresh rosemary (5 sprigs) and sprinkle each half with kosher salt. For this sandwich, I also added ground pepper, turkey, light havarti and olive tapenade (6 tablespoons).

 

I wrapped the bread in foil and baked it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. I then removed the foil and continued to bake my sandwich for an additional 10 minutes.

This was quite a satisfying sandwich, Dennis, Kylie and I all loved it.

I had a lot left over, so I wrapped some up for Dennis to take with him on a flight to the East Coast tomorrow. (I know he’ll get hungry on the plane!) I also wrapped some up for Kylie for lunch for the next couple days.

I invite The Fast & Furious over for a fun football Sunday soon … probably when the Green Bay Packers are playing. I will make several versions of this sandwich (different meats, different cheeses, and different condiments … as well as tonight’s version), along with lots of other goodies. If the Packers go to the Super Bowl, I invite The Fast & Furious all over for a fun day with all the football game food we can think of.

Happy Football season everyone! Fall is coming and I can’t wait.

Ingredients

• 1 ciabatta loaf

• 5 sprigs fresh rosemary, minced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch

• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper, plus a pinch

• 6 tablespoons olive tapenade

• 8-12 ounces sliced turkey

• 4-6 slices light havarti cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut ciabatta bread in half lengthwise.
3. Melt butter and brush on insides of both halves of ciabatta bread.
4. Place minced garlic and minced rosemary on each half of bread.
5. Sprinkle both sides of bread with kosher salt and pepper.
6. Place turkey on bottom half of bread, sprinkling with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.
7. Spoon olive tapenade over turkey.
8. Cover tapenade with slices of havarti.
9. Place top half of bread over bottom half of bread and wrap in foil.
10. Bake for 45 minutes.
11. Remove foil and bake and additional 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris