Penn Station has nothing on my Artichoke and Mushroom Sub!

So, the hubs and I fell in love……with artichoke and mushroom subs at Penn Station a couple of years ago 🙂 . It’s one of those things that should be illegal—it seems somewhat healthy for you—full of artichokes and mushrooms with a little cheese on some yummy bread.  So, what’s the problem?!  The problem is that it’s HORRIBLE for you….in addition to TONS of cheese, they slather their bread with mayonnaise (not the light stuff either, ladies!)).   After realizing the amount of calories and fat hidden in that sandwich, we were PEEVED!  I made it my own personal challenge to figure out how to get the same taste, to fill that craving, but in a better way  than a greasy French Bread sandwich 🙂 About a year ago, I came up with my own recipe, and we haven’t looked back!!!  It fills the craving and has a heck of a lot less fat and calories!

Ingredients:

2 cans of artichoke hearts

2 jars mushrooms stems and pieces (you can definitely use fresh here, BUT you would want to start cooking the fresh mushrooms before adding the artichokes instead of the other way around as stated in this recipe!)

Cooking Spray

1/4 tsp granulated garlic (or garlic powder)

1/2 tsp granulated onion (or onion powder)

freshly ground pepper

3 tsp spray butter (pour from the bottle) OR 1 Tb light butter

1 Tb grated Parmesan

1 Tb 2% shredded mozzarella

4 Tb marscapone cheese

2 oz fresh mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat your broiler.

Drain the artichoke hearts, and lay them on a paper towel.  The artichokes have a lot of hidden water inside that will make it difficult to cook the way we want, so I take another paper towel and push down on the artichokes to “squeeze out” the extra water.  It’s amazing the water hanging out in the smallest spaces of those little vegetables!  Then, cut in 4 or 6 pieces (depending on the size of your hearts).

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Spray generously with cooking spray.

Add artichokes and cook while prepping the mushrooms and bread.

Drain the mushrooms and then put into a paper towel.  Wring out the mushrooms to get out any extra moisture they have….moisture makes it difficult for browning the vegetables, which is what we are looking for in this recipe.  Dice the mushrooms and add to the artichokes.

Cook approximately 10 minutes to cook the mixture down and start to see a little carmelization.  Be sure to stir often, though!

For your four rolls–use a knife to cleanly cut the rolls almost all the way through, but not completely (they should open like a book).  Lay the opened rolls onto a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Toast under the broiler for approximately 3-4 minutes (watch carefully—you don’t want them to burn, just a light toast)  Once they are toasted, pull out of the broiler and allow to cool so you can handle them.

Add spices to the artichoke/mushrooms, mix well.

Add the butter, and use a wooden spoon to be sure it reaches all of the mixture.

Mix in the grated parmesan and shredded mozzarella.

Turn the heat down to low.

Now, time to assemble.

Spread 1 Tb of marscapone cheese on each roll (be sure to put it on both halves…to have cheesiness all over!).

Add 1/2 c of the artichoke/mushroom mixture to each sandwich.

Then add 1/2 oz of fresh mozzarella on top of the artichoke mixture (I cut the mozzarella into thin strips, and then into somewhat even cubes–then, used a scale to determine how many cubes I needed to get 1/2 oz.).

Now, return the cookie sheet with the finished sandwiches back to the oven to get the cheese melted.  Broil for another 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese.

As soon as the sandwiches come out, I try to close them up (while the cheese is melted and hot) as the cheese acts as “glue”.

And there you go!  Eat away……fast food, at home!  And ssooooooo much better for you!

Here’s the deal–I HATE my local grocery, as they never seem to have the same items two weeks in a row.  So, since the buns/rolls I use seem to vary per week, I’ve left the calorie info for the buns out of the nutritional information.  So, for each serving, based on the buns you are able to find (I like low calorie/low fat/high fiber hoagie style buns), you will need to add the calories/fat/fiber to the information below.  The nutritional information includes everything (the artichoke mixture PLUS the marscapone PLUS the mozzarella..just not the bread!)…..and it’s not THAT bad 😉  Heck of a lot better than the calorie bomb Penn Station serves!

Nutritional Information:

Servings: 4

Per serving (1 sandwich WITHOUT the bun):

Calories:  210

Fat:  9.8 g

Fiber: 5 g

WW pt:  4