Mid-winter. I should be braising lamb shanks. I should be stewing a pot of greens. I should be wallowing in warm, wet comfort food.But Anita made Cuban sandwiches, and I suddenly needed one.
You know how these blog viruses just grab you by the throat? I was a goner.
Plus, I happened to be the lucky recipient of some of the insanely delicious roast pig that Anita procured for her husband's 40th birthday. All I needed was some bread and ham. I had homemade dill pickles in the fridge already, and there's always some Gruyere cheese on hand. Mustard. Butter.
My recipe differed from Anita's in just two ways. One, Anita used mayonnaise instead of butter. Two, she cooked her sandwiches in a skillet on the stove. I cooked mine in the oven. (Actually, three, Anita used pulled pork and we used sliced.)
Let me explain. You assemble the sandwich. Wrap it in aluminum foil. Heat the oven to 400º. Choose a cast-iron skillet large enough for the sandwiches, and that will allow a slightly smaller cast-iron vessel to fit over the top of them. We have an antique square skillet, and our Dutch oven fit perfectly atop it.
About 25 minutes in the oven, and the bread acquires a lovely toastiness. It does not get steamy! And the sandwiches flatten out, like they're supposed to. The pickles, which do not show up in the photo, were subsumed by the cheese. Ooh!
This is not a recipe blog, as you know. Read Anita's post; it's perfection in detail and imagery. And then try the foil-wrapped oven version if you prefer. Either way, you'll get a sandwich you want again tomorrow.
Darn, I'm out of pig.
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22 comments:
Cheese-subsumed pickles really are the best kind, aren't they?
A couple of food-language wonks are we. Yes.
Fidelicious - haw haw! You always amaze and amuse my bouche and the rest of me, too.
Where your Olives from Marin mushy?
Round our way we call that a toastie, yummy, yum, yum.
O, also, I've seen (but not bought due to lack of room) a lovely big square cast iron pan with a hugely heavy matching lid, for doing just this!
CC,
Cubanos are one of my favorite sandwiches!
Squished cheesy goodness OH MY!
Zoomie: Muchas gracias! La boca está muy divertida.
ChileBrown: They were very salty, and a little soft, but no complaints. The ones from Sonoma are killer! Huge and crunchy.
Morgan: A toastie? I want to learn Oz slang.
Mm, square cast-iron lid? Covet, covet. Wow.
Kevin: Of course -- pork in two incarnations in a single nosh.
Greg: Oh, my! The flattening trick is also so fine.
And multilingual, too! Oh, Cookie, is there anything you can't do??
Zoomie: Mais non!
Ok, this is it . Le Creuset do one too, but it’s all ridged.
Morgan: It's gwudgeous. A little pricey. Batali -- pah.
Mine is an antique, made before they started debasing the iron in cast iron vessels. It's serious. We got it in a junk store for about $10.
Che bella.
Kudzu: ¡Que bonita!
Che guevara!
Che guevara!
Kudzu: Cheetos!
The closest I've come to having really good Cuban food was in Miami and I loved it. Especially their yummy sandwiches.
This sounds really tasty so I want to try for sure.
Destroy R&R: The first Cuban food I had was in Florida. This sandwich is so easily created north of the border with our ingredients (I used a baguette for the bread). I hope you try it.
Best post-title ever!
So glad the leftovers are going to as good a use at your house as they are at ours :)
Anita: Aw, thanks.
The pig was so insanely tasty! Thanks, again. And your Cubanos were prettier than mine. (But in Florida, mine are what they look like.)
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