Okay, so I’ve been wanting to try making some Cuban-inspired appetizers for a while now. I finally decided to give it a shot and document the whole messy, delicious process.
Getting Started
First, I gathered all the ingredients, or at least I thought I did. Turns out, I was missing a few things, but we’ll get to that later. I had:
- Some good quality ham, thinly sliced.
- Swiss cheese – gotta have that!
- Pickles, the dill kind, of course.
- Mustard, the yellow kind, nothing fancy.
- Some sweet Hawaiian rolls. Those seemed like a good base.
The Prep Work
I started by slicing the rolls in half, like you would for little sandwiches. Then, I spread a thin layer of mustard on both sides. This is where I realized I was out of my usual Dijon mustard, which I think would have been better. Oh well, regular yellow it is!
Next, I layered the ham and Swiss cheese on the bottom half of the rolls. I made sure to get a good amount of both, no skimping here. Then I added the pickles. I used those long, thin pickle slices, and put maybe two or three on each roll, depending on how big they were.
The (Slight) Disaster
This is where things got a little… interesting. I realized I was completely out of butter. My plan was to brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter and maybe sprinkle some garlic powder on them. But no butter. So, I improvised and used a little bit of olive oil. It wasn’t quite the same, but it did the trick.
Baking Time
I preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While that was heating up, I arranged the little sandwiches on a baking sheet. Then, I brushed the tops with the olive oil (again, not ideal, but it worked). I popped them in the oven and baked them for about 10-15 minutes. I was aiming for the cheese to be melted and gooey, and the rolls to be slightly toasted.
The Finished Product (Finally!)
I pulled them out of the oven, and they actually looked pretty good! The cheese was all melted, the rolls were golden brown, and they smelled amazing. I let them cool for a few minutes (because I didn’t want to burn my mouth), and then I dug in.
They were really tasty! Even with the olive oil instead of butter, and the plain yellow mustard, they still had that classic Cuban sandwich flavor. They were a hit! Definitely something I’ll make again, but next time, I’ll make sure I have all the ingredients before I start.
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