When I was first starting to cook, I convinced myself it was for my husband. But truth be told, Adam would happily eat the same thing everyday. And he does, really. On Mondays at work he gets shrimp, on Tuesdays he gets pasta, on Wednesdays he eats tacos, and so on. The variety I’m listing here is actually because his cafeteria doesn’t serve the same thing everyday. He can and has survived on the exact same Subway sandwich and cereal for months (before we were married).

But when he comes home at night, I think he’s started to look forward to the variety of things I come up with in our kitchen. What he doesn’t look forward to is my pestering.

“Well? What do you think?”

“It’s good. I like it,” is almost invariably the answer.

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

“Is it fine, or is it good? Do you like it or not? What do you like about it?”

“I don’t know, it’s all good, everything’s fine.”

Yes, partly fishing for compliments, partly (mostly, I hope) fishing for what he truly likes to eat. Four years into marriage and six and a half years being together, I’m finally pretty confident I can predict what he likes, despite his best efforts at being noncommittal during my fishing conversations. (He wasn’t being noncommittal. He was afraid to hurt my feelings by insulting meals he doesn’t like, so he tries to keep his excitement level steady.)

I was pretty sure he would like this sandwich. I’m even more sure my dear friend Heather would hate it. Swiss cheese and mustard are on her “Hate” list in as bold a font as they’re on Adam’s “Like” list. And swiss cheese and mustard are heavily featured in this sandwich. Heather dear, you would like the pork, I think.

It’s good pork. Better than it looks. We had the roast pork with salad one night, and the sandwiches the next day for lunch.

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Cuban Sandwich 

Ingredients

For the Pork

3.5 Pork Shoulder

2 Oranges, Juiced and Zested, Peels Discarded

2 Limes, Juiced, Peels Discarded

1 Cup of Cilantro

8 Cloves of Garlic, Smashed

1/4 Cup of Fresh Mint

3/4 Cup of Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons of Cumin

2 Teaspoons of Oregano

For the Sandwich

4 6 Inch Sub Buns

8 Slices of Boiled Ham Sandwich Meat

Dill Pickles

Yellow Mustard

Softened Butter

Method

Put the orange juice and zest, lime juice, cilantro, crushed garlic, mint, olive oil, cumin and oregano in a food processor and pulse until blended. If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the cilantro and mint, and mince the garlic, then mix everything together really well.

Dump the mixed or processed marinade into a plastic bag with the pork shoulder and marinate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Put aluminum foil beneath the roasting rack of a roasting pan and put the pork shoulder in the prepared roasting pan. Discard the marinade.

Roast for 30 minutes; the meat will begin to brown.

Lower the oven temperature to 375, and continue roasting for another hour and a half, or until the pork reaches at least 145 degrees as measured by a food thermometer.

Cover with aluminum foil, and let rest for 20 minutes before slicing against the grain. Serve, if desired, or continue making the sandwiches.

Heat the boiled ham in a skillet or grill pan. Set aside.

Butter and toast the sub bread in the pan, two at a time.

Spread mustard on each toasted sub and layer with Swiss, ham, pickles and roasted pork.

Lather the top of the sandwich with the softened butter.

Put the sandwich back into the pan and put another pan on top. I used my dutch oven because it’s heavy, and that’s what we’re going for here: if you don’t have a heavy pan load up a light one with cans from the pantry. Or if you have a George Foreman grill, you should be using that. Anyway, grill the sandwiches until they’re toasty and melty.

Boom. Cubanos, ready for serving.

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This recipe is also from the Food Charlatan. I meal plan from Pinterest, who has been curating pins for me, and apparently the AI has discovered I love dear Karen’s blog. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.

Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, Adam did love the sandwich.