A Cubano for National Sandwich Month

Our traditional Christmas Eve meal is roast pork and I always make a baked ham so that we can make Cuban sandwiches with the leftovers. Cuban sandwiches are tasty grilled sandwiches that contain pork, ham, and swiss cheese. They are made on Cuban bread which is a light bread made with lard and similar to Italian bread. The main difference is that Cuban bread is wider and the crust is much lighter, making it perfect for grilling. In both South Beach Love and The Family She Never Met the characters head to Little Havana to have some Cubanos!

Ingredients

3-4 thick slices roast pork
3-4 slices baked ham
2-3 slices Swiss cheese
yellow mustard
thin-sliced dill pickles
6-8″ long piece Cuban bread (or Italian bread/hero roll)

Directions

Slice open the bread and layer it with the roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, and pickles. Spread a thin layer of yellow mustard on the top slice of the bread. Personally, I never ate mine with pickles and mustard since I’m not a pickle fan. Lately, I have been eating my Cubanos with mustard. It does add some pep to the taste!

Close the sandwich and butter the outside of the bread. If you have a panini grill or other kind of sandwich grill, use that to flatten and toast the sandwich. You should let it cook for at least 10 minutes or so to let the meats and cheese heat up.

If you don’t have a panini grill, lay the sandwiches on a greased baking sheet. Cover the sandwiches with aluminum foil and place a heavy cast iron pan on top. Press down and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes or so.

P.S. – Did you know that both Miami and Tampa lay claim to the invention of Cuban bread? You can click here to read more about the origins of Cuban bread in Tampa.
Cubano sandwich

August 14, 2021

Simple and Tasty Heirloom Tomato Salad

For me, Saturdays are meant to be easy days for relaxing and just enjoying life. Of course, when I was working, Saturday was the day for catching up on chores and getting ready for the rest of the week. But hopefully, whether you’re relaxing or running chores, this simple and tasty heirloom tomato salad is one you can enjoy!

I made this tomato salad with some Black Krim tomatoes my brother-in-law grew from seedlings I gave him! So exciting. The recipe comes from Cochon on 2nd, a fantastic restaurant in Williamsburgh, Virginia. We were lucky enough to be able to eat there recently and highly recommend it if you’re in the area.

Ingredients

2 or 3 vine ripe tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh basil
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled Maytag blue cheese

Directions

Thick slice the tomatoes and lay them out on a plate, slightly overlapping them.

Salt and Pepper the tomatoes to taste.

Chop the basil and sprinkle over the tomatoes. If you want to get fancy, you can do what’s known as a chiffonade. Basically, you roll the basil leaves together and then slice them to create ribbons of basil.

Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes.

Sprinkle the blue cheese across the tomatoes.

It’s best to let this sit for about half an hour or so. That will let the salt draw out the juices of the tomatoes and also let the cheese get to room temperature where its taste will be the best.

Serve with a nice sourdough bread so you can mop up all the tasty juices from the tomatoes and olive oil!!

Enjoy! P.S. – Can’t you just see Sara from South Beach Love making something like this at her comfort food restaurant?

July 27, 2021

Tasty and Healthy Bistec Empanizado (Breaded Steak)

There are lots of tasty foods mentioned in South Beach Love, but not one of my favorites (I don’t think! LOL!)

Bistec Empanizado – aka Breaded Steak – is a staple dish in Cuban households, but it’s normally fried so we really didn’t eat it all that often since we were trying to be healthier.

But my daughter recently got an air-fryer and made some croquettes for us that made us believers since they were so crisp and tasty! Since our Cuisinart toaster oven has an air-fry mode, we decided to check it out and boy are we glad we did. It is totally possible to get a crisp coating on the steak or chicken or pork chops.

So today I’m sharing an easy recipe for a healthier and tasty breaded steak!

Ingredients

1 pound sirloin
2 eggs
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Cholula)
1 1/2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Cooking oil spray
Olive oil cooking spray
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Thinly slice the sirloin steak. You can also use a cheaper cut like London broil. To slice the meat thinly, you might want to partially freeze the steak so it’s easier to handle. You should be able to get 3 or 4 slices from the steak.

Once you slice the meat, lay one piece at a time on a cutting board and place some plastic wrap over it. Then pound it with a meat tenderizer, making the slice of steak even thinner. It’s okay if the meat tears a little as you do this, but don’t pound it into burger meat.

Prepare the egg wash by beating the eggs, adding a few tablespoons of water, and the hot sauce. Beat together.

Prepare the bread crumbs. Place the panko into a gallon freezer bag and use a rolling pin to crush them a little as the crumbs are often too big. Add the Italian-style bread crumbs and mix. If you want, you can also add some grated parmesan cheese at this step, but that’s not traditional.

Place the steaks into the wash one by one and then into the bag with the bread crumbs. Coat the steaks and move to another plate. Repeat for all four steaks.

I usually do a second coating by running the steaks through the egg wash and bread crumbs again. Set them aside.

Preheat the air-fryer for at least 5-7 minutes. While you do this, prepare the air-fryer tray by spritzing it with cooking oil spray. Then lay the steaks on the tray and spritz them with the olive oil cooking spray. Flip and spritz the second side.

Once the oven/air-fryer has pre-heated, place the steaks inside and set a timer for 4 minutes. Check at 4 minutes and if golden brown, flip and cook for another 4 minutes.

Once golden brown on the second side, it’s time to eat!

You can use this same recipe to make breaded chicken cutlets or pork chops!

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To see more recipes, please visit my Cook’s Treat section.

July 13, 2021July 6, 2021

July is National Blueberry Month!

Bet you didn’t know that New Jersey grows over 64 million pounds of blueberries! Nom nom. What is your favorite way to enjoy delicious blueberries? I love having mine in overnight oats!

P.S. – Making overnight oats is easy! Just mix together 1 1/2 cups milk/almond milk, 1 cup rolled oats, and 1 tbsp of honey in a bowl. Cover and store overnight in the fridge. Add the blueberries, strawberries, or other berries in the morning for a healthy breakfast.

June 22, 2021June 22, 2021

Caridad’s Cuban-style Porchetta #TuesdayTip

Porchetta is a traditional Italian dish of spice-infused boneless pork roast that is slow-roasted and usually sliced and served in a sandwich. The typical Italian spices for this recipe would be fennel, lemon, rosemary, sage, garlic, and oregano.

In SOUTH BEACH LOVE, Chef Tony gives Italian porchetta a twist by using typical Cuban spices and I’m sharing that recipe with you today!

Ingredients:

Directions:

Juice all the above citrus into a large pot.

The citrus mix should be sour, but with a strong hit of sweet (the navel oranges and grapefruit really help with that). You should have enough citrus juice to fully cover your pieces of pork loin and pork belly. Once you’ve tasted the sweet/sour mix, then add 3 to 4 bay leaves, about a half cup of garlic and about 1/4 cup of cumin. Mix this all up.

Place the pork belly skin-side up on a clean work surface and carefully cut slits in a diamond pattern on the skin side.

Place the pork loin on a clean work surface and with your knife, cut along the length of the pork loin and butterfly it. It should almost be like you are opening a book once you butterfly it.

Place the pork loin and belly in the citrus marinade you made earlier and let it marinate for at least 2 to 3 hours. You can even let it marinate overnight so the flavors really work in.

Right before you remove the pork from the marinade, mix up the chopped parsley, olive oil, and remaining 1/2 cup garlic into a paste.

Remove the pork loin and belly from the marinade and pat dry. Reserve about 2 cups of the marinade for basting.

Spread the pork loin on a clean work surface and spread 1/2 of the parsley/garlic paste on the inside of the pork loin. Roll up the pork loin.

Spread the pork belly, skin side down, on a clean work surface. Since you need to tie it, I put the lengths of butcher’s twine down on the work surface and place the pork belly on it. Spread the remaining parsley/garlic paste on the inside of the pork belly.

Place the pork loin at one end of the pork belly. Roll the pork belly around the pork loin and tie the twine around the roll to hold it together. Snip off any excess twine. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 450.

Place the roll on a greased baking dish and place into the hot oven. Cook for about 20 minutes until pork skin is getting crackly.

Lower heat to 325 and baste. Only baste once or twice in the first hour of cooking, but not for the last hour of cooking since you want the pork skin to be crackly. Check internal temperature of pork loin. It should be 135 degrees. Remove from oven and tent with foil. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes.

Place cooked porchetta on a clean cutting board and thinly slice. Serve on crusty Italian bread.

June 1, 2021May 30, 2021

Easy Mock Tres Leches Cake

This is a quick recipe for a mock Tres Leches cake. Just condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, vanilla, and a store-bought pound cake. Simple, but don’t miss out on the free original Hallmark recipe for Tres Leches with banana and coconut in South Beach Love. #hallmarkchannel #beachread #miami

You can see the video with this easy peasy recipe at https://www.tiktok.com/@caridadpineiroauthor/video/6965996043850861830.

If you’re on TikTok, take a moment to follow me at https://www.tiktok.com/@caridadpineiroauthor.

March 10, 2021

Breaded Pork Cutlets #WellnessWednesday

Eating well during this pandemic has been a little rough for me. Too many carbs and comfort food, but we’ve been trying to get back on track. We’ve also been trying to find healthier ways to cook some favorite foods, like breaded pork cutlets (or any cutlet for that matter). When we moved, we had to get a new toaster oven and after some research bought the new Cuisinart toaster oven with the air-frying option. We love how well the air frying works and here’s a recipe on how to make breaded pork cutlets with that option.

Breaded Pork Cutlets

2 Pork cutlets (about half-inch thick)
1 egg
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 grated parmesan cheese (the real kind)
Pepper to taste
Cooking spray

Directions:

Mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, pepper, and garlic powder and place in a shallow dish. Beat egg in another shallow dish and place cutlets in beaten egg. Make sure cutlets are coated well with egg, but let excess egg run off. Dredge cutlets in bread crumb mixture until coated and then place them back in beaten egg. Cover both sides with remaining beaten egg and then go back into the bread crumbs for a nice thick coating.

Place breaded cutlets on a shallow dish. Spray both sides with cooking spray. I scored some free Pompeian Olive Oil Cooking Spray and I love it!

Set the pork cutlets aside and let them rest. This will help the bread crumbs adhere better.

Set the toaster oven to air fry at 400 degrees and pre-heat for five minutes.

Using the baking tray and mesh cooking tray provided with the toaster oven, line baking tray with aluminum foil and spray the wire mesh tray with cooking spray.

After five minutes, place bread crumbs on wire mesh tray and place in toaster oven. Cook for five minutes and then flip the cutlets. Cook for another five minutes until golden brown. Then remove from oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes.

Serve with your fave sides and applesauce!

Hope you enjoy!
breaded pork cutlets