Aunt Fanny (and her Italian Sandwiches)

Frances Butler Sherer was my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandfather’s brother’s second wife. 

Got that?

She had no children, was widowed in 1946, never remarried, and lived to be 105.  I was in high school when she died. 

When my mother was a girl, growing up as one of five kids (or more, depending on what poor unfortunates her parents had taken in that week), Aunt Fanny spent a lot of time helping my grandmother with the housework and cooking. 

                                                       

She was a family institution and is very much a presence, to this day.  Everyone remembers how she would put a bit of vinegar into an almost-empty catsup bottle to stretch it.  And her sayings – like “use your head to save your heels.”  And her recipes.

Hereabouts we have a tradition of “Italians” – these are small sandwiches of meat and vegetables on a soft white roll, and bear little resemblance to anything actually from Italy, but fifty years ago salami was exotic and we had to call them something. 

This is how Aunt Fanny made Italian sandwiches.  She didn’t have a recipe per se; she said you just had to remember that there are seven ingredients. 

(I can remember that there are seven ingredients, but I can rarely remember what they all are.  It’s like trying to name the Von Trapp kids or the damn dwarves.)

Aunt Fanny’s Italian Sandwiches

Sliced salami

Sliced Provolone cheese

Bell pepper

Red or sweet onion

Tomatoes

Whole dill pickles

Iceberg lettuce

Top-sliced frankfurter rolls

Salad oil

Salt & pepper

Cut the salami and cheese into strips.  Thinly slice the pepper, onion, and tomato; slice the pickles lengthwise.  Tear the lettuce into manageable strips. 

Put a little bit of everything into the frankfurter rolls.  Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.