On a recent visit back to Chicago a friend of ours was talking about how they love to have a Pepper and Egg Sandwich every Friday during Lent. Pepper and Egg Sandwiches are considered to be a special part of Chicago traditional foods. Created by Italian immigrants, the beloved sandwich is a springtime tradition for
Lent. As children, we remember our great grandmother and mother making them, and we also remember having them with our Dad at one of his favorite restaurants in the city, The Sicily Restaurant. We don’t believe the restaurant is there anymore, but our memory will always be with us.
It had been years since we had one, and all the talk got us to make the sandwich. Our recipe is steeped with our past, along with a couple of updates. Just like the sandwich – a great combination of our Chicago history and our new hometown in SWFL.
This may seem like such a simple sandwich and in many ways it is. But really it’s more about the connection to our family and tradition that makes it so special. It’s really a bit of comfort food for us.
Eggs
Green Pepper – Fresh
Onions
Roasted peppers (Jarred)
Italian 5 grain baguette from Publix (SWFL inspiration)
Olive oil and butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Chicago – Style Giardiniera
A bit of parmesan cheese – shaved or grated
Fresh chopped basil and Italian parsley – easy to grow here in SWFL – to garnish.
- Slice green pepper and onion
- Slice red roaster pepper
- Scramble egg – we used 2 eggs for this sandwich. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste
- Spilt baguette – have it ready for a light toast.
- Have toppings ready – parmesan, Giardiniera, chopped herbs
- Sautee green pepper, onion and red pepper in some olive oil and butter for a few minutes. We like to keep the peppers on the crunchy side.
- Add the scrambled egg and cook the peppers, onions, and eggs together. Brings everything together so that the eggs are fluffy, and the peppers have melded in. We loved our Nonna dearly, but she could cook eggs to a point of no return. That’s why to this day, we are always trying for lighter fluffy eggs.
- Lightly toast the bread. We put just a pinch of olive oil on top before we toast.
- Place the egg and peppers on the bread. Top with parmesan, herbs, and Giardiniera. We recently added Giardiniera to this sandwich. It typically is not made with it. Just our little added nod to our Chicago roots.
A few key points –
- We always remember our Nonna Guiseppina using
jarred peppers. The extra flavor from the oil olive and seasoning that they were packed in just gave the sandwich that little extra flavor. We used Flora brand for our
recipe. - For the Giardiniera we used Divina brand, but of course you can go with your favorite. Again, it’s not always on a Pepper and Egg sandwich, but we love the flavor and crunch it adds.
- Yes this is an egg sandwich, but for Lent this is really meant as lunch or dinner – so enjoy it anytime you want!
- We love the Italian 5 Grain bread from Publix, but if that’s not your thing, change that up. We just suggest some kind of crusty bread to stand up to the ingredients. If it’s too soft, the bread will break down and you’ll have a mess on your hands. No one needs that. 😊
