Showing posts with label cookbooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookbooks. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Cubana Sandwich

This is from Sheila Lukins' All Around The World Cookbook, which was a HUGE favorite of mine when I was in my early 20s. My copy has lost its cover, its spine is broken and many pages are falling out and stained, which is always the sign of a much-loved cookbook.
But the truth is that I haven't cooked out of it for probably a decade and it's hard to say WHY. Looking through it, the recipes are still fresh and interesting and I can see lots of things that I cooked back in 1995 and loved. There's the problem, I guess - the food is too much the food of THAT period in time, when I was so unhappy.

Still a good cookbook, and when my son wanted a grilled Cuban sandwich for lunch, I knew just where to find one.

Vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon orange juice (the recipe calls for "fresh" orange juice, which makes my eyes roll RIGHT into the back of my head.)
1 teaspoon vinegar (again, the recipe calls for red wine vinegar. Use it if you have it - I never do.)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Mix the ingredients together and lightly brush on the inside on two slices of a soft baguette.

For the sandwich:
1 thin slice of Monterey Jack Cheese
thin slices of sweet gherkins
2 thin slices of baked ham
2 or 3 thin slices roast pork
Dijon mustard.

And you know how to make a sandwich, right? Either grill in a frying pan with a heavy lid squishing the sandwich flat, or use a sandwich press. It's a spiffy sandwich.