Simple supper: Grilled cheese with a Cuban twist

May 7, 3:41 PMMinneapolis Homemade Living ExaminerJen Madsen

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The gorgeous weather we’ve been having puts me in the mood for quick and easy dinner ideas. During our long Minnesota winters, I don’t mind spending hours in the kitchen preparing a meal- but when it’s nice outside I’d rather spend my time strolling around the lakes.

Today’s post is a favorite quick and easy dinner solution at the HLE household. Cuban style sandwiches or cubanos are popping up on menus all around the Twin Cities. With crusty bread, pickles and gooey melted cheese they’re super satisfying and quite easy to make.

A traditional cubano would have roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles pressed inside sliced loaves of Cuban bread. I take a lot of liberty and use mostly turkey breast lunchmeat from the deli counter, whatever cheese I have on hand and sliced whole wheat bread. I don’t even press mine when I cook them. In my opinion, it’s the mustard and pickles that make this style of sandwich so pleasantly distinctive.

Cuban-esque Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (Makes 1 sandwich)

Ingredients:
-2 slices of your favorite sandwich bread
-6 small round pickle slices (dill is traditional, but I prefer sweet)
-2 slices of your favorite cheese
-2 tsp of your favorite mustard or to taste
-2 ounces thinly sliced turkey breast, ham, pork or any combination of the three
-Non-stick cooking spray or butter for cooking

Preheat a small or medium-sized skillet with deep sides and a matching cover over medium-low heat. The temperature is the most important part of this recipe- you need it hot enough to melt the cheese and warm the meat but not so hot it burns the bread. My stove runs on a scale of 0-10 and I religiously set it to 3 for this recipe.

Spread mustard on one side of each slice of bread. On top of the mustard on one slice, layer one slice of cheese and then the pickles. On top of the mustard on the other slice, layer remaining slice of cheese and then the meat.

Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray or add a small pat of butter if you prefer. Surprisingly, I like it best with non-stick cooking spray. The sandwich is plenty juicy from the pickles and mustard.

Put the two sides of the sandwich together, place inside preheated skillet and cover. Let cook undisturbed for 3- 4 minutes. You should see the cheese just starting to melt at this point and the skillet touching side of the sandwich will be a nice toasted brown.

Flip sandwich, cover and let cook undisturbed for an additional 3-4 minutes. The cheese should now be completely melted and both sides of the sandwich should be equally browned.