Francesinha

Francesinha is a classic Portuguese cuisine. It basically is a sandwich originated from Porto and made with bread, wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausage like chipolata, steak or roast meat and covered with molten cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce served with french fries. [Wikipedia]

These are some Super Indulgent Portuguese Sandwich, very delicious to eat, as it is rich with a lots of yummy flavors. Francesinha are served in many restaurants around Porto, however every restaurant have a unique taste  in their Francesinha which is hidden in their sauce. The first and basic sauce ingredient would be Beer, but Francesinha is popularly judged according to the balance of flavors in the sauce. So, this Beer based sauce is a key recipe to make perfect Francesinha.
Francesinha have a lot of ingredients, a variety of cooking techniques. So, to have a taste of that Classic Francesinha you must go take a visit in the wonderful restaurants of Porto. However, I have a simple recipe to make some Francesinha in your house using the key ingredients of original Francesinha Recipe.

Francesinha Recipe:

Here is a simple Francesinha Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices White Bread
• 2 slices Ham, smoked
• 1 slice Roast beef/meat
• 4 slices Cheese
• 1 Sausage, cooked and sliced longitudinally

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 1 Beer
• 1 Chicken stock cube
• 2 tbsp concentrated Tomato paste
• 1/4 cup Brandy or Port Wine
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 1 tbsp Cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt and Chili, to taste

Procedure:

• Dissolve the cornstarch into the milk to start the recipe with Sauce.
• Add remaining sauce ingredients to the milk and blend in food processor.
• Put this in a pan at low heat, and add the bay leaf and let boil with constant stir.
• Remove the bay leaf and set aside.
• Assemble the sandwich with all the ingredients, but save two slices to cheese.
• Put this cheese on the top of sandwich and pour the hot sauce over the sandwich such that the cheese melts.
• Your Francesinha is ready, serve it with French fries.

Okay, so this was a basic Francesinha Recipe, which is actually quiet easy. All you need to take care is the sauce because the sauce should be perfect to give it a real Portuguese flavor, so take care of thickness of the sauce and the balance of salt and chili. I hope you liked this recipe.