The Cuban sandwich. So simple, yet so elegant. Now, sans pork and dairy!

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and we can talk about how badass grill lines look on sandwiches.

The Vegan Cuban Sandwich. Cubano Vegano.

THE VEGAN CUBANO

prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 15 minutes

Do you even panini press?

This recipe requires you marinate some very thinly sliced tempeh. You’ll also have to toast some buns and put a modest amount of stuff on them.

To start, you’re going to whip up that tempeh.

What you’ll need:

tempeh
olive oil
orange juice
lime
garlic
salt
pepper
smoked paprika
brown sugar
liquid smoke
oregano

Slice your tempeh thinner than you’ve ever sliced it before. Half a brick of tempeh yields one sandwich. Toss your tempeh shreds into a bowl. Add two tablespoons of brown sugar to the bowl as well. Now add salt, pepper, smoked paprika, a dash of oregano, the juice of half a lime and a quarter cup of orange juice. The same amount of fresh orange is fine too. Stir all of that up so the sugar dissolves and everything is evenly coated. Add some liquid smoke. There’s room for an OJ Da Juiceman reference in here somewhere.

Heat up some oil in a pan to a medium flame. Toss your garlic in there and when it starts cooking, add your bowl of tempeh and stuff into the pan. Cook all of the tempeh thoroughly and evenly. Once everything looks cooked appropriately, take it out of the pan and set it aside. This is about all the legwork this recipe requires.

After everything browns up and chars a little bit, pop them outta there. Also season your cast iron.

Next, you’re going to get your bread ready and build the sandwich. Bonus points if you have a panini press or a cast iron griddle pan.

What you’ll need:

french bread
vegan butter
dijon mustard
dill pickles (the sandwich kind)
vegan deli ham slice things (I used tofurky)
vegan cheese slices

Scoop some vegan butter into a microwave-safe container. Not a whole lot. Microwave it for like ten seconds. Cut your french bread and hollow out the innards so it’s not mostly bread on your sandwich. This will also help when you inevitably flatten the sandwich. Brush the outside pieces of the bread with vegan butter. Spread dijon on the inside. Take a couple of those vegan ham slices and plop them right on top of the mustard. Then add your dill pickles. And then your shredded tempeh. And then your slices of cheese on top of that. Throw the other bun on top and press the sandwich down.

Most of the mustard is on bottom. Also cheese goes on top of the tempeh. Also my counter has oil on it.

Now if you have a panini press, throw the sandwich in there and you’re done. If you have a cool griddle pan with the lines, use that. A regular pan works just fine but the griddle pan is my preferred method.

Turn the flame up to medium heat on your pan. If you’re using a griddle pan, don’t use any oil. It will just seep through the cracks. If you’re using a regular pan or a regular cast iron, add a little bit of oil.

Place the whole sandwich into the pan upside down and leave it there for two minutes. Then flip the sandwich and put a lid on your pan to help melt the cheese down. After your sandwich is cooked, let it sit for a second and then cut it and get a nice picture of your cross section. And then post it on instagram and tag me. Please help me.

This picture isn’t as good as the other one!