I imagine you’re wondering 🙂 What makes this stuffed sandwich so good to make it even exquisite?
All good things, very good ones. That’s what!
But I couldn’t decide on the title, so I chose the adjective that best expressed my thoughts while enjoying this hey-how-good-is-this-sandwich!
I tried to write a ‘normal’ title but couldn’t. The short titles I tried didn’t satisfy me. I couldn’t just call it Sandwich with meat since it’s not only a meat sandwich. And I couldn’t call it Sandwich with the slice, because it’s not true: it’s a sandwich with two slices, since pork loin slices are small and two are the minimum necessary for this sandwich, even four could have their reason. So I considered various titles such as Sandwich with slices, and Sandwich with two slices, and also Sandwich with pork loin slices… oh well, what ugly titles!!
But I couldn’t even title it Stuffed sandwich with thin marinated and pan-cooked pork loin slices, mixed salad, red onion, radish sprouts, and kefir sauce with garlic and lemon, because… well, it wouldn’t have been a plausibly usable title given its excessive length, don’t you think?
Besides, leaving out even one of the ingredients would have damaged the image of this sandwich, because it’s the whole that fits well together.
Because without the onion it wouldn’t be it, and without the sprouts it wouldn’t be it, and… in the end, that’s how – despite starting to prepare it with a thousand doubts: how do I cook these slices? with what vegetables do I pair them? will a sauce be needed or not? – a stuffed sandwich came out so good, so good that I dare to call it exquisite. Yes.
And we really enjoyed this delicious stuffed sandwich! 😀
What a delight, my friends!! And who dares to say that eating low-salt doesn’t taste good… what do they know!!! 😀
Here. This is my exquisite proposal today for Light and Tasty, in this appointment where the ingredient is “the unusual slice”.
Cook your meat slice like this! And stuff your sandwich like this! You’ll see it will be unusually good!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 35 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for 2 sandwiches
- 4.9 oz baguette (or other fresh bread of choice)
- 4 pork loin slices (thin, 1.4-1.8 oz each)
- 0.7 oz mixed salad (lettuce, red chicory, arugula)
- 0.7 oz radish sprouts
- 1.1 oz red onion
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (one tablespoon)
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 4 leaves sage
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 0.7 oz milk kefir (one tablespoon per sandwich)
- to taste lemon zest (grated)
- Half clove garlic
Tools
- Deep Plate
- Pan
Preparation
First thing… buy the bread. 😀
Okay, joking aside, I chose a baguette for the bread, but I’m sure a ciabatta or any other bread of your liking would work too.
Even if it doesn’t seem so from the photos, given that the grill marks didn’t appear on the bread (next time I’ll have to come up with some tricks from more seasoned food photographers!), I sliced the bread and toasted it (on both sides). It’s not mandatory, also because fresh baguette already has a crispy crust, but these sandwiches are like that, with slightly toasted bread.
Second step: marinate the pork loin slices.
The marinating should be at least 15 minutes but can be extended if desired. While the meat was seasoning, I took care of other tasks including preparing the other ingredients (slicing the onion, washing and cutting the salad, washing the sprouts) and eventually my marinating time was 35 minutes.
After this time, cook the meat: remove the pork loin slices and cook them in a pan with a teaspoon of oil (with a non-stick pan a teaspoon is sufficient). The cooking is quick, a few minutes, as they are thin slices. At the end of the cooking, pour the marinade over the meat (although there is little), and turn the slices in it for a minute.
Assemble the sandwich:
Pour the leftover cooking juices from the meat over the slices, or on the bread slice. (It’ll be little juice, but even that little should not be left in the pan).
Place the meat slices on the bread (two slices per sandwich).
Place the thinly sliced salad (a mix of romaine, red chicory, and arugula) and red onion on the meat.
Finish with the radish sprouts (washed and dried by patting them with a towel).
I didn’t know radish sprouts, I bought them spontaneously because I liked their color, when I saw them I immediately thought they would look good in these sandwiches. I discovered then by eating them that they actually taste like radish! 😀 Don’t laugh! there’s always a first taste for everyone! 😀
For their taste, their slight crunchiness, and their nice color, these radish sprouts are an ideal combination for a sandwich stuffed with meat 😉
Finish with the kefir sauce and close the sandwich. And eat immediately!
Tips, substitutions, and variations:
First variation, for the hungriest: you can double the meat slices by adding a second layer (i.e., two more meat slices) between the salad and sprouts.
Second: you can replace the pork loin slices with beef slices (or other), the important thing is that they are thin slices.
Third: you can replace radish sprouts with alfalfa sprouts.
Fourth: those who don’t use kefir can prepare the sauce with plain natural yogurt (unsweetened).
Fifth: if your kefir is less dense than usual, instead of pouring it on the filling, pour it on the bread (inside) so the bread will absorb it and it won’t drip down the sides of the sandwich.
Sixth: in any case, the sauce is optional.
This sandwich is super delicious, don’t miss it! 😋 Try it and then let me know!
Salt-free tips
There’s no need to salt the meat: marinating the slices, even for just half an hour, is an excellent way to avoid salting them. And there’s no need to salt or season the salad or sprouts: the presence of red onion and the accompanying sauce flavors them adequately. 😉
For the meat marinade in this recipe, I was inspired by a marinade for meats from a book I’ve owned for many years, which I treasure and which inspired me at the dawn of my low-salt cooking: The Salt-free Cooking by L. and M. Landra sisters (De Vecchi Ed.), a book from 1998 that unfortunately is no longer easily available.
If you’re interested in a salt-free recipes book, I propose this Cooking without salt by Cuvello, Guaiti, Prandoni, ed. Demetra which also features some recipes from the Landra book.
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate must gradually get used to it and should not notice the progressive reduction.
■ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
■ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
■ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
■ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
■ Use my salt-free vegetable granular
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Occasionally allow yourself a break from the rule. It’s good for the mood and helps perseverance.
If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
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Light and Tasty:
And now here are the proposals of my colleagues from the Team Light and Tasty:
Daniela: Turkey slices with coconut and jasmine rice with lime
Elena: Chicken breast with Genoese pesto
Franca: It’s not the usual slice
Mary: Pork loin saltimbocca
Milena: Skewers of stuffed rolls
WW Propoints:
For those following WW Propoints: this very tasty sandwich counts only 6.9 p (9.9 p in the richer variant with two layers of meat).
