Crock Pot Italian Hoagies

Total Time: 4 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 oval loaf artisan bread, make sure it fits into your crock pot
• 18 slices provolone cheese
• 18 slices virginia ham
• 18 slices sweet capicola or 18 slices hot capicola
• 18 slices genoa salami
• sweet pepper rings, drained well to prevent sogginess (pickled banana peppers)
• red onion, thin slices
• oregano
• basil
• olive oil

Recipe

• 1 slice bread 13 times, almost all the way through but leaving 1/2 inch space at the bottom.
• 2 on a flat surface, layer three slices of cheese and top with 3 slices each of ham, capicola and salami. top with pepper rings and onions. sprinkle with oregano and basil and repeat 5 times.
• 3 fold each bundle in half and tuck (folded side towards the bottom) down between every other slice of bread to create 6 sandwiches. the sandwich may have "arched" its back, gently push down and wrap tightly in one large piece of foil then a second piece of heavy foil.
• 4 place in crock pot on top of a small aluminum foil pan or balls of foil so it does not touch bottom of insert. cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours.
• 5 remove foil-wrapped sandwich from crock pot. to serve, cut each sandwich apart, drizzle the insides lightly with olive oil. makes six sandwiches with the center two being quite generous in size.
• 6 note: depending on the size of your loaf, you may not need all the meat and cheese as the sandwiches on the ends are a bit smaller and will not hold as much.