I am a person who hates waste. I always try to use up everything that I can, all my leftovers, etc. I think I get that from my mother.
Its a good habit to get into, especially when you consider how much food is thrown away each day in the world, and how many people are starving in the world. Throwing anything away seems like a great sin to me!
I had my family over for dinner on Tuesday evening. I roasted a pork Porchetta that I had gotten at the grocery store around Christmas time and frozen for a future time such as this. It was a President's Choice brand.
I have never had Porchetta before so I cannot attest to its authenticity, but I can tell you that it was quite delicious! We all really enjoyed it. I served it with some mashed potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower I had roasted in the meat juices.
Altogether very good.
I ended up with one nicely sized piece of the roast leftover. I thought about making a hash of it, but the more I thought about it I thought to myself, I bet that would make a great sandwich!
And so that is what I did, I made a Toasty Leftover Porchetta Sandwich! I enjoyed it on a toasted brioche bun, spread with a homemade basil garlic mayo, along with a quantity of sautéed peppers, onion and fennel, and some melted cheese.
So what is Porchetta? I will tell you what it says on Wikipedia. They are the authority on most things!
Porchetta (Italian pronunciation: [porˈketta]) is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The carcass is deboned and, in some traditions, arranged carefully stuffed with liver, wild fennel, all fat and skin still on spitted or roasted traditionally over wood for at least eight hours, though many versions of porchetta do not involve liver or fennel.
Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild. Porchetta has been selected by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy as a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale ("traditional agricultural-food product"), one of a list of traditional Italian foods held to have cultural relevance.
Mine did not have any liver or fennel in it, but instead a nice mix of herbs and spices. There was a lovely cap of fat covering the whole roast.
The flavors were fabulous and I knew the leftovers would make a great sandwich. I had some fennel in the refrigerator and so I added it to the vegetables. Call that a lucky co-incidence!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE TOASTY LEFTOVER PORCHETTA SANDWICH
Simple, simple, simple.
- 1 toasted brioche burger bun
- 1 (1/3 inch thick) slice of Porchetta
- 1/4 each yellow, green, orange peppers, thinly sliced
- a small piece of fennel, thinly sliced (optional but nice)
- 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp butter
- 1/4 cup grated Italian cheese mix (Provolone, mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan)
- 1 TBS full fat mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp gourmet garden basil
- Pinch garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Parmesan cheese
You could probably use any cut of leftover roast pork for this tasty sandwich. Pork chops, pork tenderloin, etc. If you are using anything but a porchetta, I would add some spices to the pork when reheating it, such as garlic, a bit of ground fennel seed, perhaps some crushed chilies, black pepper, thyme, etc.
Gourmet Garden Basil can be found in your fresh produce aisle at the grocery store. It comes in a tube and is a paste of fresh basil in some olive oil. Its very nice.
If you don't have that, I would just mix the mayonnaise with a bit of basil pesto.
HOW TO MAKE TOASTY LEFTOVER PORCHETTA SANDWICH
Nothing could be simpler really. Its just a matter of toasting a bun, sautéing some vegetables and reheating the meat for the most part.
Butter your brioche bun on the cut side and toast cut side down in a skillet. Once toasted, set aside and keep warm.Add the butter to the skillet along with the peppers, onion and fennel (if using). Stir fry until beginning to soften. Add the slice of porchetta to the skillet. Brown on one side and flip over. Brown on the other. Mound the cheese on top of the meat. Cover the skillet and set aside for the cheese to melt.
Mix together all of the ingredients for the basil mayonnaise. Spread on the cut side of the bottom half of the toasted bun. Place on a plate.
Top with the pepper/onion/fennel mixture. Place the cheese topped slice of porchetta on top and then finally place the toasted bun top, cut side down on top of everything. Enjoy!
This was a really, REALLY delicious sandwich! The pork was perfectly reheated the way I did it, so that the fat was crisp on the edges and yet still melted in the mouth.
It went really well with the basil mayonnaise and that tasty mix of lightly caramelized vegetables.
Here are some other hot sandwiches created using leftovers that you might enjoy:
RUSTIC ITALIAN BAKED SANDWICHES - These Rustic Italian Baked Sandwiches are real favourites! Lots of meat and cheese, etc. ULTIMATE MEATLOAF SANDWICH - Slices of leftover meat loaf served on a toasted baguette with lettuce, cheese and crispy onion rings.BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICH - A delicious BBQ Chicken filling topped with creamy coleslaw served on a toasty bun
Toasty Leftover Porchetta Sandwich
Yield: 1Author: Marie RaynerPrep time: 5 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 20 MinSomething delicious to do with your leftover Porchetta roast. You could also use leftover pork tenderloin, or even a pounded pork chop in this. Its delicious! Amounts are given for one sandwich, multiply to make more.Ingredients
- 1 toasted brioche burger bun
- 1 (1/3 inch thick) slice of Porchetta
- 1/4 each yellow, green, orange peppers, thinly sliced
- a small piece of fennel, thinly sliced (optional but nice)
- 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp butter
- 1/4 cup grated Italian cheese mix (Provolone, mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan)
- 1 TBS full fat mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp gourmet garden basil
- Pinch garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Butter your brioche bun on the cut side and toast cut side down in a skillet. Once toasted, set aside and keep warm.
- Add the butter to the skillet along with the peppers, onion and fennel (if using). Stir fry until beginning to soften.
- Add the slice of porchetta to the skillet. Brown on one side and flip over. Brown on the other. Mound the cheese on top of the meat. Cover the skillet and set aside for the cheese to melt.
- Mix together all of the ingredients for the basil mayonnaise. Spread on the cut side of the bottom half of the toasted bun. Place on a plate.
- Top with the pepper/onion/fennel mixture. Place the cheese topped slice of porchetta on top and then finally place the toasted bun top, cut side down on top of everything.
- Enjoy!
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