Reuben Sandwich

Today will be the last post of my St. Patrick's Day themed March :(

I'm a little sad. Luckily, I still have a bunch of leftover goodies in my freezer so I can pull them out when I'm going through withdrawal in a couple days.

And I still have a gigantic container of shamrock sprinkles! Springtime shamrock shakes? You better believe it!

Today's recipe is a good old fashioned Reuben! I love all sandwiches because of how creative they allow you to be with mixing and matching ingredients. And the Reuben is one of my absolute favorite combinations. The unique taste and texture of the corned beef, the strong flavor of the sauerkraut, and the tangy Russian dressing. Perfection!

For my personal twist on the sandwich, I used whole wheat sandwich thins. It just happened to be the bread I had on hand and I don't love rye enough to buy and use a whole loaf. I actually liked the sandwich thins. As I've stated before, I think that bread has a tendency to swallow up the flavors of a sandwich and I wanted to taste every delicious bite of this sandwich without the bread mellowing it out at all. Plus, it makes the sandwich quite a bit more diet friendly. I also substituted muenster cheese for swiss. I'm not the biggest fan of swiss cheese and I don't think it melts well. To me, muenster tastes like a cross between swiss and provolone so it seemed like the ideal substitution.

The highlight of this sandwich is the Russian dressing. I used a recipe I found that was based off of the Zingerman's recipe. The only changes I made were that I omitted the lemon juice because I didn't have any, I substituted soy sauce for Worcestershire sauce because I hate that stuff with a passion, and I increased the horseradish from 1/2 teaspoon to a full tablespoon for a liiiiiittle extra bite. This dressing is creamy and chunky and completely delicious. I'll never ever buy it from the store again. Period.

Just whip up this recipe next time you're craving a nice warm delicatessen-quality sandwich!

Reuben Sandwich (1 sandwich)

For the Russian dressing from Food Network

• 3/4 cups mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 teaspoons chopped curly parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoon onion, minced
• 2 tablespoon sweet pickle, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated horseradish
• 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

1. Combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce, sour cream, parsley, onion, pickle, horseradish and soy sauce in a bowl and mix well.
2. This makes about two cups. Store in an airtight contain in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

For the Reuben

•  1 tablespoon butter
• 2 slices of your favorite bread (rye if you want to be tradition, sandwich thins if you want to be carb conscious)
• 2 slices muenster cheese (swiss, if you prefer the original)
• 1/4 cup sauerkraut
• 2 ounces shredded or sliced corned beef, warmed
• 1-2 tablespoons Russian dressing

1. Heat a skillet over medium heat. 
2. Butter the outsides of your bread. Place one slice of bread butter-side down in the skillet. Put one slice of cheese on the bread. Layer with half of the sauerkraut and half of the Russian dressing. Then put on all of the corned beef. Finally, layer with the rest of the Russian dressing, the rest of the sauerkraut, and the other slice of cheese. Place the other slice of bread butter-side up on top of the sandwich. 
3. Grill for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the cheese is melted and the outside of the bread is golden-brown.

Russian ingredients

homemade Russian dressing!

looks deli-worthy to me!