Latinize Your Sandwich

I don’t generally spend too much time writing about sandwiches but I take every opportunity to share Warren Zevon’s words of wisdom: “Enjoy every sandwich.” March Madness is a good excuse for tailgating menus and sandwich porn. 

Why bother? A sandwich is just a piece of bread, some meat and possibly cheese, perhaps a spread to bind it and veggies to make it healthier, or crisper… No, I am not talking a deli ham and cheese! If you want ham and cheese, what I am suggesting is that you Latinize it and make it Serrano ham and Manchego cheese on a crusty roll lightly toasted, on which you’ll scrape a piece of garlic and then spread a dash of olive oil on the bread.

Try a gourmet grilled ham and cheese with fried eggs, recipe here

Sexy, no? ¡Si!

Latin America offers a variety of sandwiches that will make your taste buds to screams in ecstasy. You may be familiar with some of these. I suggest trying them all.

Torta Ahogada, Mexico

Patacón Maracucho, Venezuela (gluten-free)

Chivito al Pan, Uruguay

Cuban Sandwich, Cuba

Cemita, Mexico

Choripán, Argentina

Milanesa, Argentina

Chacarero, Chile

Arepas Rellenas, Colombia (gluten-free)

Four tips to Latinize your sandwiches just a touch:

·         Chipotle in adobo – smoky, a little sweet, and spicy (but not too hot). These are sold in stores and can be found in markets with international foods. Otherwise, they can be bought online. We use La Morena.

Escabeche – red onions love the treatment. Jalapeños and carrots also work and give your sandwich an earthy and vibrant dimension (check recipes here).

Black beans – blended or puréed, it makes for an earthy and sophisticated spread (check recipes here).

Avocado – mash up and add a little lemon juice, salt and pepper, and it makes for a creamy spread.

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For those who'd like to explore other tailgating menus, I share these resources (which I offer in no particular order) for you to check out and bookmark to plan out your weekend parties:

Pocket Change Gourmet

Come Home for Comfort

Sporting Parties

Southern Living

Feed Blitz

Cupcake Diaries

You’ve Been Waffled

My uncle bought my grandmother a waffle iron for mother’s day. I’m not sure she thought it was the coolness he thought it was. I was mystified by the four-clover leaf design and could not wait until we made these Belgian waffles that were all the rage!

I loved it. I was hooked the moment the batter hit the iron and the sweet aroma filled my nostrils.

“Get away from there,” Mami warned me. “And don’t touch it, it’s hot!”

As I remember, my grandmother had two waffle recipes. One was pretty much a pancake batter. The other contained corn flour and those waffles were really crispy.

In the past year or so, I have seen waffles used in sandwiches (instead of bread), and a host of recipes for non-waffle stuff you can make in a waffle iron – none originating in Belgium.

Mami’s little waffle maker, with the green top, drowned a horrible death after a hurricane hit Puerto Rico and the river overflowed. In the same manner the river stole one of my dolls decades before, it absconded with Mami’s waffle iron.

In my own kitchen, my George Foreman grill includes waffle plates and I highly recommend it.

We recently replaced the unit, and these recipes seem like great ways to use the little grill (which remains one of my favorite gadgets for its ease of use and removable/interchangeable plates that help keep it clean).

There are at least a handful of non-waffle things I want to try:

Bacon

Hash browns

Churros

Brownies

Falafels

There are plenty of waffle variants to make for breakfast, brunch, snacks or desserts. Breakfast for dinner is a fun possibility: making eggs in the waffle iron or a breakfast quesadilla (there are a few different recipes in the Pinterest board I create for your reference)…

Queso frito. Crab cakes. Soft pretzels. Philly Cheesesteak. Ramen. Oh yes, ramen. Mash potato waffles with cheddar cheese and chives. Pizza!

There’s even a book called Will It Waffle?: 53 Irresistible and Unexpected Recipes to Make in a Waffle Iron. I do not own a copy yet, but it is on my wishlist as it includes a recipe for calamari salad.

My vegan and gluten-free folks get at least one recipe they can play with.

Of course, if I find other recipes that look palatable, I will add them to the Pinterest board, FoodGoddess: Waffled.

The beauty of the recipes I have collected is that most are relatively easy and novice cooks can look like geniuses. If a cook gains experience and confidence in the kitchen, I love it!