Low-Fat Cuban Sammich

Now I know what you’re thinking… if it isn’t all greasy, porky, and crispy how can a Cuban sandwich taste good? Au contraire my friends! Take two slices of sourdough (or farmer’s bread or a nice hoagie roll) and spread lightly with Miracle Whip, horseradish, pickle relish, and I like to add just a drizzle of chipotle BBQ sauce for kick. For cheese use Sargento reduced fat cheese. I prefer provolone to swiss, but it does sweat more and swiss would hold the sandwich together better. As for the meat selection, instead of loading it up with ham, roasted pork, and salami… try Oscar Mayer fat-free turkey bologna. Slather the outside pieces of bread with margarine and Cajun seasoning before pressing the sandwich in a George Foreman grill until crispy and you’re set!

Now personally I believe that warm sandwiches should congeal in the middle. However, when the provolone sweats and the bologna sweats things can get slippery. So I add just a pinch of shredded asiago or parmesan cheese between the layers. This is also nice because it adds a bit of salt to the equation.

Bootlegger’s Roast

So I realized last night that I never followed up about the potroast I made for St. Patricks Day! Actually the reason I remembered was because I had frozen a chunk of it and took it out of the freezer to make for dinner last night.

Bread n’ Cheese:

• Sourdough and potato bread
• Drunken goat, goat cheese
• Stout infused Irish cheddar

Marinade:

• Red wine
• Balsamic vinegar
• Soy sauce (no need for salt now)
• Worcestershire sauce
• Several cloves of garlic … some stuck into slits in the roast and some minced and in the marinade itself
• 1 onion, minced
• Black pepper
• Herbs: thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley, sage … whatever strikes your fancy

Because I’m a sucker for a beautiful peice of meat, I picked up a gorgeous 12 inch tenderloin filet at Whole Foods…. um that wasn’t supposed to sound dirty! Anywho, it should be marinaded overnight in the fridge and patted dry before roasting. Now the cooking part of this went pretty haphazard as I’ve never done a roast before and my parents didn’t really cook many growing up so I didn’t have much to go on. That said, I would look at someone elses recipe for oven temperature and cooking time. That said, I seared it first in a pan to get some nice color and flavor on it before sticking it in the oven with some super-fatty bacon peices draped over top to keep it moist while it roasted.

Whiskey Gravy:

• Reduce whiskey, beef broth, and red wine
• Deglaze roast pan with reduction
• Add flour and butter to make gravy
• Strain into serving dish

Horseradish Roast Potatoes:

• Potatoes (diced and cleaned, not peeled)
• Horseradish
• Garlic (mince half and leave some cloves whole)
• 1 Large white onion, diced
• Herbs: thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley, sage … whatever you like
• Salt & Pepper
• Coat with vegetable oil

Now how one chooses to roast their potatoes is really personal preference. You can boil them and then broil them in the oven, but I don’t really like that. You can cover them with foil so that they don’t brown too quickly and cook on a lower temperature (350) until tender and then broil them until golden brown … or you can just be lazy and put the oven on 400 or 425 and stick the whole thing in and take whatever it dishes out! Which is typically a bit al dente and doesn’t get as crispy golden brown a crust than if you do it “right” … which for me would be the second option. Plus the longer all the flavors cook together, the more delicious everything is!

Irish Coffee:

• Intelligentsia coffee
• Baileys Irish Cream and/or Whiskey
• Brown Sugar
• Whipped cream