Breaded Steak stuffed with Ham and Cheese

Breaded steak stuffed with ham and cheese with a side of yuca fries with mojo and salad.

Okay, I don't know where this recipe came from. I think it may have been my mother's invention – a culinary spark that extinguished almost as soon as it arrived, but we somehow managed to grasp it and store it into memory. Making this steak is relatively simple. Although Bistec Empanisado or Breaded Steak is very common in the Cuban kitchen, this differs with the additions of ham and swiss cheese (sandwiched between the steak and the ham).

You will need:
Palomilla Steaks (thinly sliced sirloin)
Seasoning (whatever you would normally season your steak with, I use seasoned salt and a little lemon)
Swiss cheese
Sweet ham
All purpose flour
1 egg
bread crumbs
vegetable oil 

I halved my steaks to make them easier to handle. I would have prefered thinner, but these turned out fine.
Lay one slice of swiss cheese on top of each seasoned steak and a slice of sweet ham above that. Now to hold it all together weave a toothpick through it at both ends.

To bread it, you will need three shallow bowls. Pour some flour into the 1st bowl, in the next one beat an egg (you can add a little water to it), and in the third, bread crumbs.

From left to right: flour both sides of your steak, drag it through the egg (both sides), and finish it off in the third bowl by coating it on both side with the bread crumbs.


Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan about 1/4 inch high. Bring the heat up to medium high and carefully place your steaks (steak side down) in the hot oil. If it starts to brown too quickly bring the heat down to medium. Let it fry for a few minutes before flipping. (This is where it gets tricky because you cannot tell how done your steak is, it takes experience and trial and error; however, depending on how thin your steak is, you could probably judge the cooking time correctly.)

Remove the toothpicks before serving.