So this isn't really an appetizer for your holiday party. This is more of a late night snack that you'd serve to the stragglers who are too drunk to realize they need to go home. I'm not judging. I'm one of those people.
This COULD be a fancier appetizer, you would just need to find either a) smaller bread or b) use a cookie/biscuit cutter, which I forgot to do because I was too busy shoving these in my face. These were about 3-4 bites per mini sandwich.
Anyway, collect your cast:
Mini Rolls/Sliders
Dill Pickles
Mustard
Swiss Cheese
Ham
Pork
Butter
The pork and ham you choose is really up to you. I've made these with pulled pork, breakfast ham, left over spiraled ham, the list goes on. You just need to have pork, ham, Swiss and pickles for it to be considered a Cuban sandwich (in my book). I just grabbed sliced Swiss, pork and ham from the deli counter and had them all sliced thin.
Get your pickle slices ready.
And then spread a healthy dose of mustard.
Place a slice of cheese on each side of the bread to help glue everything together. I love how I am giving a culinary reason for why I put on extra cheese. I JUST LOVE CHEESE. That is all.
You could very easily serve them like this and just call them little deli sliders of LURVE, but they are sooo ho ho much better grilled.
Heat up a skillet over medium and melt some butter and throw in the sandwiches.
Grab another pan around the same size or a tad smaller and put a sheet of foil in between. OR, if you have a panini press you can use that too. That would be better. You basically just want to press the sandwiches down as they are cooking so the bread gets SUPER crispy on the outside and the cheese gets nice and melted.
Yum.
Cut these in half diagonally and serve as is or with a little extra mustard on the side.
Stay hungry!
Mini Cuban Sandwich Recipe
6 Dinner Rolls
12 Slices Ham
6 Slices of Pork
6 Slices of Swiss Cheese
12-18 Pickle Slices
2 Tablespoons Mustard
2 Tbs Butter
Cut the slider or dinner rolls in half. Spread one side with mustard. Add a couple slices of ham, a slice of pork, swiss, and pickles. Grill over medium heat with butter and press down with another pan until brown and cripsy - about 4-5 minutes per side. Cut diagonally or with biscuit/cookie cutter to make smaller bites. Serve with extra mustard or as is. Delicious!
I know it's early to be drooling over Cuban sandwiches, but I am...
ReplyDeleteOooo. Looks so good. Love a grilled sandwich.
ReplyDeleteI grew up eating these! I'm half Cuban and my grandma used to make them all the time for me. She used a loaf of French bread and would slice the pickles so they were longer but otherwise, it's almost an identical recipe. This is the only sandwich that makes me sad to be a vegetarian!
ReplyDeleteI ate 98% of the sandwiches made for this blog. I wanted more. So good
ReplyDelete@Kristen - you could make something similar with thinly sliced roasted veggies. I never thought I'd say this, but there might be a way to make a traditional Cuban sandwich vegetarian :) That would actually be really good! Maybe I'll give it a try when I'm detoxing after the holidays :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jaisa,
ReplyDeleteI work with Charlie, my name is Sudhir. How can I make this with Chicken breast?
Thank you,
Sudhir
Hi Sudhir! You can make this a couple of different ways. The key to a good cuban is different types/textures of meat. You could get a rotisserie style chicken at the super market and then shred the breast meat (and dark meat if you like that as well). From there, you can layer the shredded chicken and then get sliced chicken from the deli counter to use as well. That way you have two different types of chicken to work with :) Good luck!
Delete