Luci's Tasty Adventures

After making a 3lb Corned Beef for St. Patty's Day I had plenty of leftovers.  Making Reuben Sandwiches with the leftovers seemed like the logical next step.  What makes a Reuben?  To me it's a fancy grilled cheese sandwich.  There are few key things you need, mostly some good rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and a Russian dressing.  So I'm not here to show you all how to make grilled cheese, more so to show that making your own dressing can bring a bright flavor to an otherwise simple dish.

My recipe for Russian (thousand Island) dressing is fabulously delicious. This dressing is so easy to make at home with things commonly found in most pantry's.  I highly recommend using this dressing the next time you barbecue shrimp, or even over a nice green salad.  Save yourself some bucks, and make your own dressing, it literally takes minutes, and you can make as little or as much as you need.  My next goal is to make my own mayonnaise to make rémoulade .  Fun times!

Reuben Sandwiches Ingredients:

• 4 slices of rye bread
• unsalted butter, softened
• Swiss cheese, sliced- I used about 4 slices per sandwich
• Corned Beef, sliced thinly- Enough to make two sandwiches, I eyeballed it.
• 3/4 cup sauerkraut, well drained
• ¼ cup onion, diced
• 2 tsp olive oil

Russian Dressing Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp sweet pickle relish
• 2 Tbsp Ketchup
• 1/2 tsp horseradish
• kosher salt and freshly grated pepper to taste

Method:

In a small bowl mix together mayonnaise, vinegar, pickle relish, ketchup, and horseradish. Salt pepper to taste.  Store Russian dressing in the refrigerator till you are ready to assemble the sandwiches, can be stored for two days.

Heat a small sauce pan over medium heat, and olive and saute onions till they are soft and sweet.  Sprinkle them with a little kosher salt to help the process along.















After they are soft, add the drained sauerkraut and heat up.  Add freshly grated pepper to taste and set aside (keep over very low heat while you prepare the sandwiches).

















Heat a sauce pan over medium heat.  Butter the outside of each slice off bread.  Place cheese on one of the non buttered sides, and then top with corned beef, and then put another slice of bread to finish the sandwich.











Grill the sandwiches till they are golden brown on both sides and the cheese has melted.











After the sandwiches are golden brown, take them out of the pan and open them up and add the sauerkraut and Russian dressing.  Close the sandwich back up, cut in half and server.  Enjoy!