This meal is based on the classic sandwich from Florida…the Cubano! To be completely honest, I hadn’t known what a Cubano was until watching the movie, “Chef,” a year or two ago…but boy did that movie open my eyes! This sandwich is made of two different types of pork (marinated roasted pork loin/tenderloin/shoulder and ham), which makes it an automatic winner…but when you add in the Swiss cheese, dill pickles, and mustard, you’ve got something magical. That said, we weren’t in a sandwich mood, so we decided to take the flavours and build stromboli. We also figured that as long as we weren’t making a sandwich, we could play with the bread and stray from the traditional French bread. Instead, we went with our Pumpernickel Pizza Dough figuring that the sweetness of the molasses would complement the saltiness of the ham and the tartness of the pickles and mustard. Hey…why not?
We had to make a few alterations to typical Cubano methodology to accommodate for the fact that we are making stromboli instead of a sandwich, and thus, the bread component needs to be treated a little differently. Thus, instead of roasting the pork, we sliced it thinly and marinated the slices…and we also opted to use dill pickle relish instead of dill slices. This made the stromboli much easier to roll than it otherwise would have been…and it helped ensure we didn’t rip the dough while making.
Time: 60 Minutes (including pork marination time) if using pre-made dough. 120 Minutes if making your own dough.
Ingredients:
- Stromboli/Pizza Dough. Check out our Pizza Dough recipes if you’re making your own from scratch!
- Boneless Pork Loin Chop
- Pork Marinade
- Olive Oil
- Lime Juice
- Black Pepper
- Ground Cumin
- Paprika
- Brown Sugar
- Deli sliced ham
- Swiss Cheese (shredded or slices that you cut into thin strips)
- Dill Pickle Relish
- Mustard (we are using whole grain Dijon, but yellow can work too if that’s your preference)
Method:
- If making your dough, get started with that before anything else.
- Slice your pork thinly, and place the slices in a bag. Add your marinade ingredients, smoosh everything together to coat, and marinate it in the fridge for 30-120 minutes
- When you are ready to start cooking (dough is ready and has risen, and your pork is well marinated), preheat your oven to 415 degrees F, and place your pizza stone in the oven to heat as well.
- Sear your pork in a pan…it will finish cooking in the oven since it is thinly sliced.
- Roll your dough into an approximate square shape.
- Add your filling:
- Start with a layer of mustard
- Top that with your ham
- Next, add your cheese
- Layer your pork atop the cheese
- Lastly, add your dill relish
- Roll up your stromboli (pictures below for the method I use…think burrito), and put it on top of a piece of parchment paper.
- Cut little slits into the top of your stromboli for air to escape as it cooks, and let it sit for a few minutes to rise a little more.
- Place your stromboli and the parchment paper on your hot pizza stone, and bake for about 20 minutes.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
