Do you ever crave a good old-fashioned sandwich for dinner? A simple, rustic, hearty sandwich?
There used to be this restaurant near my parents house called Siegelman’s Deli. It had THE BEST corned beef I’ve ever had. My Dad would pick corned beef up there often along with a half loaf of rye bread, 2 croissants for Kara and me and a pickle. It was the best possible dinner. But then Siegelman’s closed and our family was left with a gaping hole in our hearts and bellies for what used to be but no longer was.
Then we learned to make our own corned beef sandwiches and we kicked them up a notch with cheese and dressing. They take 5 minutes to make and they are delicious. Take that Siegelman’s!
It was kind of funny making these Rueben Grilled Cheeses because for 3 people we made them 3 different ways. Kara’s was a croissant with just cheese and corned beef…skip the dressing and kraut. Mine was a croissant with dressing, cheese and corned beef…skip the kraut and Cliff’s was rye bread…everything on it (as posted below). That’s the good thing about sandwiches, it’s easy to customize each one. Everybody’s happy. Especially my parents because they got to enjoy all the leftovers!
Here’s what you’ll need
Make the homemade dressing, set aside.
Spread butter on the bread
Now layer on the cheese, corned beef and dressing. We out a slice of cheese on both slices of bread
Finally top with sauerkraut
Use a cast iron skillet to grill low and slow
Look how amazing this looks!!
Yield: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 to 4 small dill pickles, finely chopped
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
couple dashes hot sauce
For the Sandwich:
1 jar sauerkraut
8 slices rye bread or 4 croissants, sliced in half
Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
1 pound Vienna corned beef, thinly sliced
butter, softened
Directions
Start by making the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the shallots and pickles with mayonnaise, ketchup, and a dash of hot sauce. Stir to combine then set aside.
Squeeze the liquid from the sauerkraut. Set aside.
Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread (or croissant). Start assembling the sandwiches. Place one slice of cheese on each piece of bread, on the opposite side that you spread the butter. Layer 3 slices of corned beef on 4 slices of bread. Top the corned beef with a spoonful of dressing and two tablespoons of sauerkraut. Place the other slice of bread on top.
Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-low heat. Place sandwiches on the skillet, one or two at a time and buttered side down. When the bottom bread is browned, flip the sandwich and cook until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted.
Source: a Live Love Pasta original
