Summer is in full swing and that means the temperature has risen! It’s a great time to make a sandwich for dinner and head outside or to the water to find a cool breeze. 

This sandwich starts with our focaccia bread recipe. You need about 1/2 a loaf of focaccia to make this, though you could easily scale this recipe up or down depending on how many people you want to share it with. 

Slice the focaccia bread in half, creating two flat pieces of bread.

Spread pesto on one half, and on the other, top with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle some white or red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and some herbs de province. 

Then start layering! Whatever combination you’ve got is okay, but here I’ve got some leftover roasted chicken, fresh mozzarella, sliced red onion, sliced tomatoes, and spinach leaves. Roasted red peppers, or chopped olives would be great in this sandwich too. 

Top with the second half of bread and wrap up in plastic wrap. Now, place in a cooler and put a casserole dish or baking sheet on the top. Then put something heavy on top of it, like the wine to go with the picnic, perhaps? 

Let it press for at least 24 hours. If doing this in the cooler, put an ice pack in there too (or a bag of ice) so that everything stays nice and chilled. Or this can be done in the fridge as well. 

The next day, remove the sandwich: 

Slice it up: 

I’m ready to picnic! Just add some wine, a couple napkins and some fresh fruit.