Keep Hoping Sandwich

I love the book Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer.

I just reread it for the second time. The main character in the book is Hope, a teenage girl who is a waitress.  She talks about a sandwich she invented that they put on the menu at the diner where she worked.  She called it the Keep Hoping Sandwich ( word play on her name.)  Here's what she said about it in the book: "I'd invented a sandwich here when I was fifteen- the Keep Hoping.  It had layers of smoked turkey, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and chopped salad greens with red wine vinaigrette on a sourdough roll.  People ordered it like mad, too, because hope is something that everyone needs.  It was a sandwich for our time."
I wondered if the author had ever actually made the sandwich, or if it was just something she thought of in her head.  But it sounded good to me, so I gave it a try.  I couldn't find smoked turkey, so I used Roasted turkey slices from Costco.  I also substituted a sourdough roll with a pretzel roll because that's what I had.  You could use a bottle red wine vinaigrette or I've included a recipe for one here.  I googled "red wine vinaigrette," then combined recipes that came up to make one that was just delicious.

Keep Hoping Sandwich
Sourdough roll
Smoked Turkey
Sun-dried Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella
Chopped Salad Greens
Red Wine Vinaigrette (recipe below)


My Suggestions:
Maybe I didn't put on enough vinaigrette, but I thought it was too dry.  I added mayonnaise, but other ideas would be softened cream cheese, butter, or you could add more dressing or even avocado to make it more moist.
The sun-dried tomatoes were good, but I was wishing they were dried cranberries to add a bit of sweetness.  The fresh mozzarella was wonderful, and something I probably wouldn't have thought of.


Red Wine Vinaigrette
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups olive oil
1/3-1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon honey ( I put a bit more)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional, but this helps it stay emulsified)
Crushed black pepper

Put all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid.  Shake vigorously.  If you prefer, you can put everything but the oil in a blender.  Turn on the blender and stream in the oil and blend until emulsified.

There are other sort of recipes in this book that I just may try, too.