RECIPE: Get your Cuban sandwich pronto

Prior to the pandemic, there was a period when I ate a Cuban sandwich from Havana Sandwich Shop every Sunday for lunch. The Buford Highway restaurant is on the way home from the climbing gym, and its porky, cheesy sandwich, sharp with mustard and pickles, was the perfect post-exercise, belly-filling meal. These days, I’m more likely to make the sandwich at home. It’s not the same, of course, but it still satisfies when I’m not looking to leave the house.

To make the sandwiches quick, easy and 5:30 Challenge-appropriate, I skip the roast pork portion of the sandwich, opting instead for extra ham. (If you’ve got leftover roast pork in the fridge from another meal, go ahead and add it.) Swiss cheese and dill pickles are requirements; choose deli-sliced cheese and sandwich-sliced pickles for ease. For the bread, I use ciabatta rolls, but any 6- to 8-inch roll will work. On both sides of the bread, I slather Heinz “Mayomust,” which is essentially a mixture of equal parts mayonnaise and yellow mustard (a homemade blend will, of course, work).

I find it is easier to cook multiple sandwiches at once using the broiler. Assemble and toast open-face until the cheese is melty, then close the sandwiches. Use a sheet pan and your body weight to press the sandwiches together and give the bread a bit of a smoosh. With that, you’ve got Cuban sandwiches in less time than it takes to load up the car.