Annual Reminder: The official sandwich of Labor Day

Pardon me if you’ve heard this before, but as a champion of a good peppers-and-eggs sandwich I feel a need to keep reminding American workers — and retired workers — that it constitutes the official meal of Labor Day. It was so established in 2014 in the void of any official dish being associated with the holiday celebrating the achievements of American workers and the labor movement. This weekend, consider this simple seasonal, shift-workers meal. Where I grew up, it was a real treat, a break from the usual lunch-meat, tuna and PB&J sandwiches packed for workers as they headed into another day of toil. (In my family, peppers-and-eggs on Italian bread was also the eagerly-anticipated lunch for a fishing trip.)

So here goes. Here’s a recipe for a modest but delicious working person’s lunch, made with fresh peppers from the late-summer garden, eggs and good Italian bread.

Get four or five sweet green peppers from your grocer or the farmers’ market — cubanelles, if they’re available, but bell peppers will do.

Remove the stems and seeds. Wash the opened peppers under cold water, then cut them into quarter-inch slices. Do not dry the peppers; if they remain wet from the sink, that’s actually a good thing.

Heat up some olive oil in a cast-iron skillet and add all the pepper slices. You should hear some crackles and pops. (Please make sure you’re wearing a shirt, or at least an apron.)

Reduce the heat and cook the peppers, stirring them every few minutes until they become soft but not mushy. I advise covering the pan for part of the cooking; the steam that results will soften the peppers.

Beat four or five eggs and pour them into the skillet, over the peppers. The olive oil should be hot enough to make the eggs bubble a bit as they cook. Give the whole thing a toss and reduce heat.

Season the peppers and eggs: Add salt and pepper, a tablespoon of grated Parmesan, and a pinch of garlic powder.

From this point, the finish of this dish comes quickly. In fact, I usually shut off the stove and leave the peppers and eggs in the hot cast-iron.

Slice Italian bread or rolls. (If you’re trying to avoid bread, please, avoid it the rest of the year. Peppers-and-eggs need to be eaten as a sandwich.)

Tortillas can be used in place of the bread.

Make three or four sandwiches, then wrap them in aluminum foil, and let them sit for at least an hour because this will soften the bread and infuse it with the warm olive oil and the flavor of the peppers-and-eggs.

Warning: The aromas — indeed, the mere thought of a warm peppers-and-egg sandwich — can be pretty overwhelming. In my experience, this working-class sandwich was prepared early in the morning for consumption during the noon lunch hour. And when a brown bag was used, sometimes spots of oil would appear, making the wait for noon almost unbearable. Happy Labor Day.