Cuban Sandwich

So I have been pretty busy lately with organizing the end of year events for Sweets school and haven't had a lot of time to get creative, but we still have to eat so I still have to cook. Which leads me to the Cuban bread, if you have ever had the joy of a good Cuban sandwich then you probably need no explanation about how freakin' good the bread is and if you are like me and could live solely off of bread alone than you will appreciate this recipe. My husband and I had the good fortune to live for a while near a grocery store that sold Cuban bread by the loaf and had been voted best Cuban sandwich in the city. We no longer live there but still get to enjoy Cuban food occasionally at a local restaurant. So I decided I could surely make it myself if I just tried and sure enough it is really easy to do, my recipe for the sandwich may vary some from some of the others I have seen, but then again they all seem a little different. I have to also add that after making my sandwich I went with my mom to a restaurant we shall refer to as O'Crappy's and ordered their new Cuban sandwich, I got two slices of hard as rock bread, dried out pork and ham that was so hard I couldn't even bite into it, dried up pickles (gross) and some bizarre tasting sauce that was pretty inedible. I think from now on I'll make it myself or go to the authentic Cuban restaurant. So with that warning out of the way I highly recommend you make this bread even if you don't intend to make a Cuban sandwich, we had it one night with some soup and it's good regardless. You can find the recipe for the bread here. I did change it ever so slightly by adding 3 tbs of vegetable shortening to the recipe, traditional Cuban bread calls for lard, which is not in this recipe, I can't bring myself to use lard so I substituted the shotening.

Cuban Sandwich

1 loaf Cuban loaf
1/2 lb thick sliced ham
1/2 lb thin sliced deli turkey
1/2 sliced red onion
yellow mustard
sliced pickled banana peppers
sliced pickled jalapenos
sliced dill pickles
swiss or provolone cheese slices (I used both)

Slice the bread open evenly spread out the ham and then top with the turkey slices and the cheese slices. Place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. On the inside of the top of the bread spread yellow mustard, place onion, peppers and pickles on top of meat and cheese, top with bread top. Slice and serve.