Cuban Panini with Lemon Cilantro Potato Salad

Cuban Panini with Lemon Cilantro Potato Salad

In my house fall=crazytown.  Back to school, homework, lessons, sports, get-togethers, Halloween costumes, football games…  I love it all but I rarely have time for a gourmet dinner mid-week.  And since “easy dinner recipes” was one of the top search terms in Pinterest this month, I have a feeling I’m not the only one.  As much as I love crockpot meals for my busy evenings, sometimes I don’t think about dinner 6 hours ahead of time.  These cuban paninis make for a super easy dinner that takes about 15 minutes.  The entirety of the recipe can be summed up in the image below.

Cook, mix, wash, assemble.  It’s really that easy.  The hardest thing is this recipe is making sure you use dill pickle relish instead of sweet relish.  Something even I can do on the days the baby wants to play all night.

A Pinini press has been one of my favorite kitchen gadgets.  We love to make paninis for easy meals as well as quesadillas and burritos.  (A fancy cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms is one of my go-to quesadilla dinners.)  So if you don’t have one, put it on your Christmas list.

It’s fun to get that smoosh with the little lines from the grill.  If you don’t have a panini press (yet!)  you can grill it in the pan and place another pan on top to press it down a bit.

Here’s what you’ll need for the Cuban Paninis.

Keizer rolls
Baby swiss cheeseDeli ham
Bacon
Cilantro
Mustard
Dill pickle relish

Really you can serve this with any sides you have on hand.  Sweet potato fries and a salad would be great.  I also love this lemon-cilantro potato salad recipe.  My sister lived in Chile for a few years and brought this recipe back.  In Chile they frequently add lemon to anything with mayonnaise, in fact you can buy lemon mayo in the grocery store.  And it’s fabulous, as far as may goes.  I’ve taken this recipe to a number of gatherings and I always get great comments and recipe requests.

The ingredients are very simple.  Just potatoes, carrots, cilantro, mayo and lemon.

Start with 2 pounds of  potatoes.  I like Yukon golds.  They aren’t too starchy and hold together well once I start mixing everything together.

Then peel and chop the carrots into chunks.  This is my favorite peeler.  I bought it at Williams-Sonoma for about 3 dollars.

Boil carrots and potatoes, cool and add cilantro.  Mix the lemon, mayo and a little salt then stir it all together.

This is my lemon-juicing set-up.  Little hands love to help me with this part.  The citrus reamer costs around a dollar.

Lemon Cilantro Potato Salad

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Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into even pieces
• 5 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• Juice from one lemon
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Place potatoes into a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil. Cook for 14 minutes or until a knife can be inserted into the potato without resistance. Drain and chill.
2. Bring another small pot of water to boil. (Add just enough water to cover the carrots.) Add carrots and cook just long enough for a knife to slide easily through the carrot. Drain and chill.
3. Combine mayonnaise, lemon and salt to taste. Combine with potatoes, carrots and cilantro.

   It’s always nice to have something quick in your arsenal.  Let me know.

For more easy peasy recipes that come together in minutes, check out a few of these:

Crazy Easy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Tom Yum Soup – in 7 minutes!