Add Avocado (SEE NEW ADDRESS: addavocado.wordpress.com): Sándwiches Cubanos (Cuban Sammies!!)

So my kitchen looks like this as we get new tile on the floor & backsplash:

And due to this, blog posts have been on hold for a while. In the meantime, we had some kalua pork to use and I was NOT letting this delicious meat candy goodness go to waste. This is where our good pals Rebecca & Joel come in. You'll remember their smiling faces from the gnocci class post I did in January. We took our pork and other sandwich fixins and headed over to their house for use of their kitchen and our first group blog event! We realized upon our arrival, that our husbands had on the same outfit, and both wearing sweat pants which they deem 'nice sweat pants' for when company is over. Yikes.

I had my first cuban in Miami, and it was so yummy. The savory salty pork with the tangy mustard and tart pickles with ham and creamy cheese, hands down it gets my vote for best sandwich. 'Sandwiches' may not seem like much of a culinary challenge...but layering flavors correctly isn't always easy. With the cuban, luckily someone's done the work for us.

I served the sandwiches with my creamy pineapple/avocado slaw. And here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups kalua pork (or any shredded pork will do)
4 individual french baguettes or long subway rolls
8 tbsp mustard
12 sliced dill pickles (not spears)
8 slices berkshire ham
8 slices baby swiss cheese
Special equipment: panini press, sandwich press, a heavy object that can go into the oven

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice rolls lengthwise and on both sides of the roll, remove a little bit of bread to make little troughs.
Toast in oven for 2- minutes, just to get the inside warm and slightly crunchy. Ensure the bread is still soft, do not over toast.
Remove bread from oven and allow to cool just enough so you can start working with it - don't burn those fingers!
Spread 1 tbsp on bottom half of roll & 1 tbsp of mustard on top half of rolls (it seems like a lot, but its just right). The bread soaks up a lot, you may even need to add more.
Ensure the pork is hot. If it needs to be heated up, place in microwave and ensure it is very hot for assembling sandwiches.
In the bottom trough of each roll, place 1/4 of the pork.
Top with two slices of berkshire ham so the pork is covered.
Top with two slices of swiss cheese so the ham is covered.
Top with 3 pickles to cover the swiss cheese.
Place the top half of the bread onto the bottom half (that is holding all the goodies).
Place all sandwiches onto a baking sheet.
Place another baking sheet on top of the sandwiches and press down. Place a weight or sandwich press on top - or use your panini maker to press and toast sandwiches.
Place in oven for approximately 5 -8 minutes, until cheese melts and bread is hot again.
Remove from oven, slice diagonally and serve immediately.