My thoughts and a Giant Steak Sandwich

Giant Steak Sandwich

First of all, I'll introduce myself. I'm Matt, currently 21 years old as I'm writing this, and a student at university. I have enjoyed cooking ever since I was small. Unfortunately, being a student, I haven't got much money, so until I leave in a few months the recipes I post about will be simple foods that fill the stomach on a tight budget. I will update this blog with a new recipe each week.


I will show you all my favourite foods, simple tweaks to make common meals taste much better, and experiments with cooking that I do.
For my first recipe it will be something my house-mates dubbed "The Manwich". This is due to the relative "man-sized" portion of things, but I will go for the slightly more conservative name of giant Steak Sandwich. It contains a couple of steaks, cheese and some mushrooms in a spicy herb and tomato sauce.

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Giant Steak Sandwich

by Matt Conlan.

A sandwich sure to satisfy those hunger pains

Prep time: 0h 05m
Cook time: 0h 30m
Total time: 0h 35m
Yield: 1 Large Sandwich

Ingredients

• 400g Tiger loaf (Other bread can be used, silced bread is not recommended
• 2 Beef Steaks (Chicken or pork will work, just use your favourite cut for this)
• Few Slices Freshly cut cheese (I used a mild cheddar)
• 4 Medium sized mushrooms, quartered (I used a pack of Irish closed cup mushrooms)
• 2 Tbsp Oil for brushing the steaks
• Small knob Butter
• 1 batch Spicy herb and tomato sauce(Recipe provided, or substitute with store bought pasta sauce)

Ingredients for Tomato Herb sauce

• 400g Tomatoes, peeled and chopped (I used tinned peeled plum tomatoes as I had no fresh ones on hand)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped (use less or more depending on how much you like garlic)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 small handful basil leaves, torn
• 1 small bunch parsley (flat leaf has a stronger flavour, so I used that)
• Small cup stock (vegetable or chicken)
• To taste Crushed chilli peppers or chilli powder (depends entirely on how spicy you like it)

To make the sauce:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, I used a deep frying pan but you can use any pan with high sides. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic and cook them until soft but don't let them colour.
2. Add in the tomatoes and herbs, stirring gently to break up the tomatoes, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the stock and the chilli, stir and leave for another 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes are all broken down and it has reached a sauce consistency.

Cooking Directions

1. Slice the bread. May sound obvious but a lot of people I know would leave this until last. This is a fast recipe, so cut the bread first.
2. Heat a frying pan or a griddle pan.
3. While the frying pan is heating up, brush the steaks with the oil.
4. Heat the tomato and herb sauce over a medium-low heat in a pan that will have enough room for the mushrooms.
5. Once the frying pan is hot, place the steaks into the pan, you should hear a slight "sizzle" sound, and cook on one side for about 2 1/2 minutes.
   

   

   Mushrooms on top of the steaks, yes you can see the steam

6. Carefully flip the steaks over, cook for another 2 1/2 minutes, about a minute before they are done cover with the cheese. You can adjust the timing on this step to cook the steaks to your preferred readiness.
7. Take the steaks out of the pan and place them on the bottom of your bread. Note that I haven't buttered my bread, you may if you wish but the sauce should keep the sandwich moist without the need for buttered bread.
8. Add the butter to the pan that the steaks were cooked in.
9. Once the butter has melted, add the mushrooms and fry gently for 2 to 3 minutes.
10. Add the mushrooms to the tomato and herb sauce, gently simmering for about 3 minutes, or until the mushrooms look cooked through.
11. Once the mushrooms in sauce are ready, put them on top of the steaks in the sandwich, the steaks should be well rested by this time.
12. The sandwich is ready for the top piece of the bread, and you can either eat with some difficulty as a whole sandwich as I did, or you can cut it into smaller sandwiches to enjoy a piece at a time.

This has been one of my favourite sandwiches, and took a good while to eat the whole thing.


Author:

Matt Conlan