There’s something magical about eating food outside. I can’t explain why but taking a meal and eating it on a picnic table makes it seem all that more special. As a kid, when I would babysit my little sister in the summer, we’d make Velveeta, ketchup and sweet pickle sandwiches (don’t judge… they were delicious!) and put them in our lunch bags from the school year along with a thermos full of red Kool-aid. We’d go for a bike ride up and down our rode for a short while before returning to the house to eat our lunch on the deck.
On summer evenings when it was just too hot to be in the house (yes, it gets hot in the summer in northern MN), we’d eat on that same deck as a family. Sometimes Dad grilled, sometimes we just had cold sandwiches with tuna pasta salad and cold baked beans from a can. But as the sun would set and the air would cool off, that weeknight meal seemed like a great event to my sister and me.
In college, my friends and I would sneak sandwiches from the cafeteria and go eat them under a tree somewhere. Or we’d pick up food from someplace cheap then climb to the top of the only hill in the only park in the prairie-land town where my university was. This was especially fun at night when no one could see us up there and we’d make fun of the cars “parked” there for a while.
As an adult, I still love picnics, though they’ve sadly become fewer and far between. For one, we still have no furniture on our slowly decaying deck. And the nearest decent picnic spot to where we are now is a 20 minute drive with a $5 parking fee. A couple of weekends ago, though, we decided it was worth it!
It was raining that afternoon but we didn’t mind. As it happened, we were at the park between showers so it worked out perfectly. The pavilions are pretty nice and a good size for a group so we’re thinking of having a potluck picnic later this summer.
For our first picnic of 2014, I decided to do a play on the Cuban sandwich. I admit I’ve never had a “true” Cuban on Cuban bread but the Americanized versions I’ve had have made my taste buds do the conga. Moist roasted pork, thin slices of salty ham, sweet and spicy mustard, dill pickles, and Swiss cheese pressed and grilled on a crusty roll… what’s not to like!
Other than the ham which usually has migraine-triggering sodium nitrites.
So when I found a nitrite-free roasted ham at the store, I *knew* what I wanted to make for the picnic. And the best part about the ham that I found is that it’s NOT deli style ham that’s pressed together from goodness-knows-what. It’s REAL sliced ham. I wish I could remember what brand it was but I’ve already thrown the package away. (*sigh*)
I took the beloved Cuban up another notch or two and added bacon (mmm… bacon) and garlic mayonnaise.
The ham and bacon are free of sodium-nitrite, of course, and I used low-sodium pickle planks. The garlic mayo is just real mayonnaise mixed with minced garlic and garlic powder. Rather than making a pork roast like I did just so I could make these sandwiches, you could be smarter and make these with leftover pork. 🙂 If we’d been eating these at home, I would have pressed and grilled them, but they were just as good cold.
I wasn’t sure what to call this sandwich since it’s technically not a Cuban. Since it’s got three kinds of pork, I thought Tres Cerditos was funny since it means “Three Little Pigs” in Spanish. I had a story in my head about how the big bad wolf captures and eats the little piglets, but the guys thought my macabre sense of humor was maybe a little too much for this venue.
Check back on Friday for the super easy cole slaw recipe!
- 1/2 c mayonnaise
- 1 heaping Tbsp jarred minced garlic
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 4 hoagie rolls, split
- 1 lb roasted pork loin, sliced into 8-12 slices
- 8 slices Swiss cheese, halved
- 8 oz thinly sliced ham
- 8 slices cooked bacon
- Spicy brown mustard
- Dill pickle slices or planks
- In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, garlic, and garlic powder, Set aside.
- Line up the bottoms of the rolls and spread the cut sides liberally with the garlic mayo. Cover and refrigerate any left over garlic mayo.
- Divide the pork loin between the 4 bottom buns on top of the mayo.
- Top the pork on each with 2 halves of Swiss cheese.
- Divide the ham evenly between the 4 sandwiches and add on top of the cheese.
- Top the ham on each sandwich with 2 halves of the remaining cheese.
- Put 2 slices of bacon on top of each sandwich then top with pickles.
- Spread mustard on the cut side of the tops of the buns then place cut side down on top of the pickle.
- Press each sandwich firmly.
Get Off the Couch and Cook 
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