FRANCESINHA SANDWICH

The Francesinha has a lot of ingredients, so feel free to adjust your meat and cheese portions to taste. Some people use premade sauce for the gravy; however this is the most important part of the dish. This recipe is from the Hotel Teatro in Porto. It uses a splash of port in the gravy, but others include beer, red wine or other unique touches.

SANDWICH

Fresh Bread 2 slices

Flamengo or Edam Cheese

3–4 slices

Steak or Roast Beef several slices

Ham several slices

Smoke-Cured Sausage

several slices1

Cooked Fresh Sausage

several slices2 1 Such as linguiça. 2 Such as merguez or chorizo.

GRAVYOlive Onion Oil1 1 clove, small,1 Tbs chopped chopped

Garlic

Tomatoes 2, chopped

Red Bell Bepper 1, chopped

Beef Stock 2 cups

Port a splash

Piri-Piri Sauce a dash,

to taste

Worcestershire Sauce

several dashes, to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 FOR the gravy, sauté the onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes in olive oil until browned.

2 REMOVE from the heat and add the beef stock, port, piri-piri sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Use an immersion blender to purée the gravy until it has a velvety consistency.

3 RETURN to the stove and simmer on low heat for 2–3 hours.

4 WHEN the gravy is ready, put the meat and sausages inside the sandwich and lay the slices of cheese on top. Broil for 1–2 minutes to melt the cheese. Pour a generous helping of boiling hot gravy on top of the sandwich; serve.