Mac & Cheese Grilled Sandwich

I have been creating so much hype about Mac & Cheese Grilled Sandwich that I was almost afraid about the fact that "What if it does not turn out right?" This is a very common fear I have whenever I am making something new. Most of the things I make in this blog are my first timers.

Mac & Cheese is very dear to me and probably that is the reason why I have made many variations of it.

Let me tell you a little story about why it's so dear to me. My mom made it for me for the first time and she learned this from a culinary school she was attending for a short course. This was very new for her as she was a simple village girl who has done most of her schooling in Urdu medium. So, she never knew all these fancy things to make till she attended that short course.

I remember when she came home from that class she said "Umar(my real name) I have brought something for you to eat and it is called something which I have forgotten so I would just call it 'noodles with cheese'."

Obviously at the time I even didn't know what this thing was till later on and I used to recall this with her and she used to tell me that she has lost her recipe book which she prepared from that short course.

My mother was really the most simple, beautiful, graceful and the amazing woman of her time.

If I talked about her anymore I would probably start crying so let's just get on with the recipe.

Ingredients:

400 grams boiled elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons of butter (2 for the mac and cheese and 1 for grilling the sandwich)

1/2 cup of milk

250 grams of cheese of your liking

sandwich bread

4-6 sausages sliced (optional)

a can of mushrooms sliced (optional)

salt per taste

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

Cheese slices for sandwich assembly

Boil the the macaroni according to the instruction given on the packet.

Slice up the mushrooms and sausages if you want to add them. If you want to skip them its fine I just don't like my Mac & Cheese without shrooms and sausages.

Crisp fry mushrooms and sausages separately in one tablespoon of olive oil on low heat for 5 minutes.

Now melt the 2 tablespoon of butter in a non stick pan on medium low heat.

Add ginger and garlic paste to it and stir.

Add milk right after that and cook it for a minute.

Add grated cheese right after that. I used cheddar and pepper jack cheese but you can definitely use any cheese of your liking.

Mix it well til the cheese dissolves.

Add salt and pepper alongside the mushrooms and sausages.

Mix them properly and layer the boiled macaroni on the cheese sauce.

Mix the macaroni properly in the cheese sauce and your Mac & Cheese is ready.

Set it aside the stove for 30 minutes to cool off. Because if you top it on the bread at this temperature it will just make the bread soggy. So, it needs to cool down before we start making the sandwich.

You can also take out a separate quantity and place it in the fridge to cool down quickly.

After 30 minutes Mac & Cheese should be cold enough to start the sandwich assembly.

To assemble the sandwich you need to follow the following order:

1. Place a bread slice.

2. Place a cheese slice on that slice.

3.Fill up bread with Mac & Cheese.

4. Place another cheese slice on the Mac & Cheese.

5. Finally, cover it up with a bread slice.

This is how it should look like before covering up with the second bread slice.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over low heat.

Cook the sandwich on both sides for 90 seconds to 2 minutes and your Mac & Cheese Grilled Sandwich is ready to serve.

It is very hard to present sandwiches because I DON'T KNOW WHY but it is freaking hard to present them.

I almost have to be lucky enough to get a nice/presentable picture.

But here it is ladies and the gents. The one and only king of carbs Mac & Cheese Grilled Sandwich.

Listen to that crunch as I shamefully eat this in front of you all. HAHAHAHAHAHA (I should stop writing)

Monte Cristo Sandwich

I'm a man and I make my own sandwich, may it be the Monte Cristo Sandwich.

Monte Cristo Sandwich is a French origin recipe breakfast recipe with is originally made with ham, thick bread and thick egg batter BUT the west has reshaped this sandwich and has made many variations to it by replacing ham with turkey or chicken deli slices.

I'm not sure about the how the 90% of the things that I make will turn out because I',m mostly making these things for the first time. Had to try this and I am glad that I did.

Very simple to make just like any other french toast recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

K & N's Mortadella Slices

6 slices of white sandwich bread with crust

10 cheese slices

3 eggs

2 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

splash of milk

pinch of salt, black pepper and paprika

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of oil

The first thing we'll do is to make the spread by mixing the mayo and mustard together.

Now we break three eggs into a bowel. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and paprika in it, add a splash of milk and mix to prepare the batter.

Time to assemble the sandwich which is easier than assembling the avengers.

Let's do it in steps.

1. Place the slices.

2. Put the spread on the middle and the bottom slice.

3. Top the bottom slice with cheese first and then the mortadella slices.

4. Top the middle slice with mortadella slices and then the cheese.

5. Put the sandwich together.

Heat a tablespoon of butter and oil in a non stick pan.

Dip the sandwich in the egg batter on both sides. Don't leave it for more than a second because it will become too soggy.

Fry the sandwiches on low heat for 2-3 minutes each side.

The sandwich is cooked now.

Put it on a paper towel and pat it to take off the excess fat.

Cut it from the middle and it's ready to be devoured.

FYI: IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS BURNT THEN PLEASE GO AND BURN YOURSELF AS WELL YOU LAZY PIECE OF SOULLESS BEING.

This can be your Sunday pleasure breakfast or a meal for anytime you feel down. This is like a girl you have a crush on but that girl is edible. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Monte Cristo Sandwich.

Halal Cuban Sandwich

Not every day is your day. Not every day is my day but me and you both can try our best to make it our day.

Right before I started this blog (all thanks to Syed Shumail's suggestion) I watched a movie that really inspired me to make everything I cook more presentable. That movie was Chef and it had two recipes that caught my eye. Pasta Aglio e Olio which I have made previously and the Cuban Sandwich which I could not make due to pork meat and Cuban bread.

Many times people (most recently Myla Babar did) have asked me to try and make it's halal version but I just did not bother to be honest but the idea of a Halal Cuban Sandwich has been itching me since quite some time now.

So, I sat down one day watched a couple of recipes and thought HEY! I could replace the pork with beef and add chicken or turkey deli slices like Mortadella Slices to assemble a Halal Cuban Sandwich.

Finally planned everything, started using my vivid imagination and formed everything in my head.

Now the Cuban Sandwich has 3 steps.

Marinating the beef.

Cooking the beef.

Assembling the sandwich, which is a task in itself. I thought it was easy but when I was done with it I could not believe that I did it without breaking the whole thing.

The result as follows

But before all of this started, even before I marinated the beef I bought cucumbers, vinegar. Added these both things in a jar with a little bit of salt and sugar to make pickles for the Cuban Sandwich.

Now, let me tell you how to make this beautiful and scrumptious treat.

Ingredients for Beef Marinade:

3  pound boneless beef (shoulder or thigh preferably)

6 large garlic cloves

1 cup fresh orange juice

3/4 cup of fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoon dried oregano (if you have fresh oregano then its even better)

2 teaspoon cumin powder

3-4 tablespoon oil

3 tablespoon red grapes vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Add the garlic, cumin powder, oregano, oil, salt and pepper in a blender. Blend it till everything is chopped finely.

Mix the orange juice, lemon juice and red grapes vinegar together.

Now put the beef in a container and make slits in it using a knife.

Apply the oily garlic mixture to it properly.

Add the juices.

Close the container and let it marinate overnight in the fridge.

I had the cucumbers pickled on Monday and by today which is Thursday they are all done. I've sliced them to fit into the sandwiches.

Time to cook the beef.

Put the beef in a non stick pan, with all the marinade and the juices. Add a cup of water and cover it.

Turn the heat on low.

Cook it for 3 hours minimum. I cooked it for about 3 hours 15 minutes. Keep a check on it and if you think it needs more liquid then please add another cup or half of water.

Now the beef is cooked, it will be a little dark and charred no need to worry it's not burnt.

Slice it up just like in the pictures below.

Now we come towards sandwich assembly.

Cuban bread is even hard to find in some areas of the US so any long bread would do.

I got Garlic Bread from Jalal Sons and Sub Sandwich Bread from Bread and Beyond.

Ingredients for Sandwich Assembly:

Classic yellow mustard

Butter or margarine

Pickled cucumber

K & N's Chicken Mortadella Slices

Cheese slices

Slice the bread up and apply butter on it.

Heat for a while and add a layer of mustard to the sandwich base.

Now steps wise:

1. Add a layer of the sliced beef.

2. Add a layer of mortadella slices.

3. Add a layer of cheese.

4. Add a layer of pickles

5. Put mustard on the other side of the bread and assemble your sandwich. (see the pictures below)

This does not end here. The Cuban Sandwich has a special sandwich make which we unfortunately do not have here but HEY! we can make that press in the Desi way.

You just need 2 things. A non stick tawa and a non-stick frying pan.

THIS PART IS DIFFICULT AND YOU NEED TO DO THIS VERY POLITELY.

Turn your stove on low heat and place the tawa.

Put the Cuban Sandwich on the tawa and press it with the base of the non stick pan for 30-50 seconds.

Then flip your sandwich very carefully and press the other side with the base of the frying pan again for a 30-50 seconds.

The Halal Cuban Sandwich is ready.

I WAS SO HAPPY I MADE A FREAKING VIDEO IN THIS MOMENT OF FAKE ACCOMPLISHMENT

Just slice the sandwich in half and your Halal Cuban Sandwich is ready to serve.

Ladies and gentlemen, the much awaited and requested Halal Cuban Sandwich.