Susan introduced me to hoagies in 1979 when we were in our last year of medical school. I had had submarine sandwiches in the past, but the hoagie was new to me. In Austin, we have a chain of sub shops called Thundercloud. Our favorite is the avocado sandwich on sourdough with all the veges, cheddar and provolone cheeses, spicy mustard, and thunder sauce. Yum.
I was thinking of these things a couple of days ago, and I thought that I would go to the Central Market and get a couple of bolillos (Mexican bread rolls) to use to make hoagies. We already had some beef Kielbasa sausages in the fridge. I got guacamole and Pico de Gallo, but when I arrived in the bakery department, there were no bolillos. I decided on a French baguette. We home cook types are forever improvising, it seems.
Today, Susan thawed out a bag of my Borracho beans and a couple of sausages. The baguette was cut into pieces of appropriate length and then sliced lengthwise. We were talking about the anticipated meal – something new that we had not previously prepared. “I think they are tortas,” said Susan. I looked them up online. Well damn! The torta has its culinary roots in the French baguette. How’s that for serendipity?
Our tortas looked like this, and they were quite tasty.
