Cuban Breakfast Sandwiches -- The Morning David Left for Brooklyn

David came up from Brooklyn for the weekend. The first visit since Easter. He flew in on the Bolt Bus — which is not a plane, but he calls it "flying in" out of habit, and I have stopped correcting him — and he arrived Friday at 6 PM with a backpack and a box of something from a bakery in Red Hook that he had been wanting me to try.

The box contained a dulce de leche cake. From a Colombian baker in his neighborhood. "Ma," he said, "this is not a replacement for your flan, it is its own thing, but you need to try it." I tried it. It was excellent. Different — drier, layered, with whipped cream between each layer — but excellent. I told him it was excellent and that the woman knew what she was doing. He looked relieved. He has been trying to impress me with Brooklyn desserts for a decade and this one finally did it.

Saturday we cooked mofongo together. Mother and son at the stove, side by side, at the Hartford counter where we have cooked mofongo a hundred times. I did the garlic — the garlic is always mine, the oldest task, crushed by hand — and David did the chicharrón, frying the pork belly pieces until they crackled, and we assembled the pilón together. The pilón. The wooden mortar. Not the one I gave him in March, which lives at his restaurant, but the one at my house, which is older than David and which I have been using since Luz María gave it to me in 1989.

David said, as he worked, "I miss this." I said, "You could cook it in Brooklyn any day." He said, "Not with you, Ma." I had to turn to the sink for a minute and pretend to wash something. He is twenty-seven years old and my boy and he said "not with you, Ma" and what can a mother do with that except keep crushing garlic.

Sunday dinner was twenty people, because David visits always inflate the Sunday crowd — everyone comes when David is in town, including neighbors, including my friend Gladys from the hospital who is Dominican and who treats David like her own nephew. The mofongo was good. David's was close to mine. Mine was slightly better. I told him so. He said, "Next time." I said, "There is not a next time where you beat me, David." He laughed. Everyone ate.

Monday morning he left on the Bolt Bus at 8 AM. I sent him off with three frozen containers of sofrito, a pound of Bayamón vanilla, a jar of my pickled onions, and a piece of the dulce de leche cake back in the box because David had forgotten it in the refrigerator. Eduardo drove him to the bus stop. I waved from the porch. He waved back. Wepa.

We said goodbye on Monday, and goodbyes in this house are never quiet — there is always food involved, always something pressed into a bag or a box, always one more thing pulled from the freezer. I kept thinking about David on the Bolt Bus back to Brooklyn with his sofrito and his vanilla and the forgotten slice of dulce de leche cake, and I wished I had made him something warm before Eduardo drove him to the stop. These Cuban Breakfast Sandwiches are what I would make him next time — something with good pork, something that holds up, something that says I am still cooking for you even when you are not here. They are not mofongo, but they are ours, and they are built to travel.

Cuban Breakfast Sandwiches

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 Cuban rolls or soft hoagie rolls, split
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 oz thinly sliced Cuban-style roast pork (or leftover pernil)
• 4 oz thinly sliced ham
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, for the pan
• Pickled sliced onions or dill pickles, for serving (optional but recommended)

Instructions

1. Whisk the eggs. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and cumin until fully combined and slightly frothy.
2. Scramble gently. Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Pour in the egg mixture and cook, stirring slowly with a spatula, until just set but still slightly soft. Remove from heat immediately — the eggs will finish from carry-over heat.
3. Warm the meats. In a separate skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced roast pork and ham in a single layer and cook for 1—2 minutes per side until lightly browned at the edges and warmed through.
4. Build the sandwiches. Spread mustard on the bottom half of each roll and mayonnaise on the top half. Layer on the scrambled eggs, then the warm pork and ham, then one slice of Swiss cheese per sandwich.
5. Press and toast. Close the sandwiches and press them in a panini press, a cast-iron skillet with a heavy pan on top, or a griddle over medium heat. Cook for 2—3 minutes per side until the roll is golden and the cheese is melted.
6. Finish and serve. Slice each sandwich on the diagonal. Serve immediately with pickled onions or dill pickles on the side if you like — the acidity cuts through the richness and is worth it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 490 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 890mg