cubano sandwich

Man, one the best sandwiches I've ever tasted was a Cuban Sandwich at the Floridian on our recent trip to Treasure Island, Florida. I still talk about it all these months later. Well, I was flipping through some back issues of Everyday Food and they had their own version of a Cubano Sandwich (from November 2009). I was just dying to give it a go!

To make a cubano you start with a seasoned pork roast, which I made from Everyday Food's Roasted Pork with Onions & Citrus. We had a side of Cuban Red Beans and Rice. Both these dishes use fresh oregano and loads of garlic. I guess these, along with citrus, are key flavour components to Cuban cuisine. I made a Cuba Libre to have with mine. Hey, I'm no longer pregnant or nursing so I'm livin' it up!

Anyhow, this dinner was beyond delicious! We kept commenting on how much we enjoyed it the rest of the evening. Owen was shoveling in the rice dish as if it was no ones business and particularly enjoyed picking out the kidney beans and eating them on their own.
 

The rest of the pork roast was used the next day to make our Cuban Sandwiches. The recipe originally asked for it to be made on a Portuguese bun, which we were hoping to get in Brampton over the weekend, but since our plan fell through we opted to use a baguette. The Floridian uses this type of bread on their award winning Cuban sandwich so it was A-OK by me.

This sandwich is pretty basic when you get down to it. Layer both sides of the baguette with yellow mustard, a layer of thinly sliced cuban pork, deli ham to taste, layer of swiss cheese and a layer of pickles. We then lightly oiled our frying pan and pressed the sandwiches.

The Floridian's Cubanos also include Genoa salami, which is a regional thing. Next time I might give that a try. I really can't wait to make the whole dinner again and I think we all agreed that we want this dinner as a regular staple around here.