Week 10: NE Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts- Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

I had never heard of a pork tenderloin sandwich before yesterday, but appearently its a big midwestern favorite. In fact there was even a documentary made, In Search of the Famous Hoosier Breaded Tenderloin, where the filmmakers were on a mission to find the perfect one. It is a sandwich made of either tenderloin or pork loin that has been tenderized by a meat mallet, breaded using either cornmeal or crushed saltines and fried, and dressed as you would a burger- with ketchup, mayo, mustard, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and/or onion.

We rarely eat fried food, so at first I wasn't sure I wanted to make this, but I couldn't find much else that I could make, and honestly, it just sounded good! And it was. I found lots of recipes but decided to go with one from allrecipes. I couldn't decided between using cornmeal or crackers, so I went with both. I also saw some dipped in egg rather than water, but I choose to stay with the water, and as this particular recipe called for, we used the pork loin. Ours two pieces came already butterflied, so we just pounded them out and cut them each in half, before proceeding. As written, this makes much more breading than neccesary and I used way less oil than the orginal called for. These were really yummy, but obviously not something I intend on making often, due to the fact its fried. I did see there is a healthier version that is grilled, so we may give that a try in the future.

slightly adapted from allrecipes.com, makes 4 sandwiches
1 pound boneless pork loin (ours was already cut and butterflied)
1 cup flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (or 1/2 cup of crushed saltines, or a mix of both)
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
oil for cooking
4 large sandwich buns
choice of fixings: mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onion

Cut 4 1-inch slices of pork. Trim any exterior fat from edges and butterfly each slice by cutting horizontally through the middle almost to the edge so that the halves are connected by only a think piece of meat. Put each butterflied slice between pieces of plastic wrap. Using a wooden meat mallet, or the side of a cleaver, pound vigorously until the slice is about 10 inches across. (Since ours was already cut in two pieces and butterflied, we just trimmed it, pounded it, and then cut it so we had four pieces.)

Mix flour, cornmeal and/or crushed crackers, and garlic powder together in a shallow bowl. Add water to another. Dip the pork into the water, then dredge it through the flour mixture. Proceed with all four pieces. (We had a lot of extra breading leftover.)

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in deep, heavy skillet (I only used about 1/4 inch) and fry pork, turning once until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Serve on buns (we toasted ours) with desired condiments and toppings.

Week 9: NE Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins- Cuban Sandwiches

If any one is actually paying attention, you may have noticed that last week I didn't have a Football related meal. It was a bye week for the Patriots, and originally I had planned on making a New England dish. Only, when it came down to it, we were having a lazy Sunday, after being up way too late on Halloween, and I decided I needed a bye week too.

This week was Miami, and we both instantly thought of Cuban Sandwiches. Interesting thing about Cubans- for me, it's rather similar to how people who hate thousand island, corned beef, sauerkraut and rye bread will somehow love a Reuben. I hate ham, am not much a fan of lunchmeats in general, and love a sandwich loaded with veggies. Yet I like Cubans.

Sage absolutely loves them and is the Cuban Sandwich maker in our house. This sandwich is made with Cuban bread, butter, yellow mustard, pickles, roast pork, ham and swiss. Just recently he got one somewhere and it also had salami on it. I have since discovered that only in the Tampa area will you ever find the addition of salami on a Cuban.

I'm going to be lazy and just link to a traditional Cuban-Miami recipe site, Three Guys from Miami, for how to make an authentic Cuban. Our only changes (other than a last minute subbing of spicy brown mustard when we discovered we were out of yellow) were to press ours on a George Foreman grill with a cast iron pan to weigh it down but this site gives direction on how to press it using a griddle pan.

Week 5: NE Patriots vs. Denver Broncos: Western (or Denver) Sandwiches

This Sunday was not a good day for sports in our house. Our beloved Red Sox's post season was ended after being swept in the ALDS. A blown save in the 9th inning of Game 3 wasn't very easy to take. Then the Patriots lost in overtime. That loss was a little easier to stomach, but still, if you know my husband and his love for New England sports teams, you know it was sad day.

It did began very nice, lounging around the house with the family and a late brunch. The Patriots were playing the Broncos, and the food most associated with Denver is the Western Sandwich, which is a Denver Omelette, served on toasted, buttered white bread or a roll, with ketchup. It is believed that the onions were used by westward-bound pioneers to mask the flavor of eggs gone bad. The omelette also contains green peppers, ham and salt and pepper. It was tempting to top this with cheese and omit the ham (I really don't care for ham) but I wanted to make it authentic. Since biting into chunks of cubed ham wasn't something I could handle, we chose to use thin sliced deli meat, chopped. Even with the ham, these were good! I had some French rolls in the freezer, so that's what we used and served them roasted potatoes. I have no idea what they actually ate with their sandwiches; I just like breakfast potatoes!

I don't think its neccesary to give directions on how to make a basic omelette, so I'll just share what we used. This will yield 4 sandwiches: 5 eggs beaten with 1/4 cup of milk, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, 3/4 cup chopped deli ham slices, salt and pepper, 4 toasted rolls (or 8 slices of bread), butter, and ketchup. You can either make individual omelettes or one large one, divided in four pieces.

California Reuben/ Rachel

When I started working at my first flowershop job, we had a wonderful (but overpriced) cafe across the street. Everyday, they would have a sandwich special, and they were always so good. I thought of one of my favorites the other day- the California Something, but it been nearly 15 years and I couldn't remember it that well. I know it had turkey, coleslaw, and Thousand Island and perhaps swiss. While I remember it being Reuben-like, I am pretty sure it was served cold.

I tried looking up this sandwich discovered there are tons of versions of it, usually called a California Reuben- which is either grilled or cold, sometimes with the Thousand Island, sometimes without- or the Rachel, which can vary from having Russian dressing or Thousand Island or even spicy mustard, sauerkraut or slaw, corned beef or turkey or both, and any kind of bread from rye to pumpernickel to sourdough. We tried ours both grilled and cold, with dressing, and grilled, without. The grilled was our favorite and the dressing didn't make enough of a difference to warrent extra calories. The cold wasn't as good, but you could taste each individual component in it more. Regardless, its delicious however you make it.

For each sandwich:
2 slices of bakery rye
2-3 slices of oven roasted turkey breast
2 slices swiss cheese
Homemade Coleslaw (recipe below- or sub store bought)
Cooking spray (we use organic vegetable spray)
Thousand Island (if desired)

1. Spray skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium.
2. Place 2 slices of bread in pan. Top each slice with a slice of swiss, and place turkey on one slice. 3. As cheese is melted, and outsides of bread are becmoing a golden brown, spread a few spoonfuls of coleslaw to turkey side. When bread is desired toastedness, place the slice with just cheese on top on coleslaw side. (If using dressing, add a small amount before putting sandwich together, or serve on the side.)

Simple Homemade Coleslaw
2 1/2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cidar vinegar
1/2 cup lite mayo
1/4 tsp celery seed

1. Put cabbage and carrot in serving bowl.
2. In a small bowl, combine vinegar and sugar. Stir to disolve.
3. Put mayo in another small bowl, and add vinegar mixture, and blend well. Add celery seed.
4. Pour half of dressing on cabbage. If needed, add more, a tbsp at a time. (Keep in mind, on a sandwich, less runny coleslaw is best. Save unused portion of dressing- you can always add more if needed after chilling.) Chill for at least 4 hours.