Grown-Up Grilled Cheese

Now THIS is what I call a grilled cheese sandwich with everything you could want. If you haven't yet, you need to find the February issue of Bon Appetit. I bought it because the sandwich looked so good I began to (silently) blubber at the magazine rack.

Forewarning - This can take all day. But you should do it. Because the results are farking divine. You don't even have to take this with a grain of salt, you know why? Because I don't even really LIKE beef. In fact, I haven't eaten cow other than ground beef (which isn't even really like beef to me, it's like the original veggie ground round), in years. I avoid it because it's stringy and there's fat and I hate having to deal with the animalness of big cuts of beef. So I started small. You're totally supposed to use short-ribs, but they had the unfortunate drawback of having bones. Since I don't like bones I used some pre-cut shoulder steak instead. Nice little strips, very little fat and no bones!

You should check out the original recipe if only to drool over the photo. But my version was a bit different so I'll just post what I actually did.

Grilled Cheese and Steak Sandwich - KM Styles

Ingredients:

STEAK

1 pkg. shoulder steak strips
1.5 tbsp margarine
1.5 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup dry red wine (I used a Merlot, yum!)
1/4 cup broth (I used chicken broth)
3 tbsp medium-dry Sherry
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 bay leaf

PICKLED CARAMELIZED ONIONS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, sliced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar

ASSEMBLY
8 slices of fresh bread, or 8 french rolls
some sliced sharp or old cheddar cheese
1/4 head of romaine lettuce

Directions:

STEAK

Mis en Place



Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper.



Heat margarine and olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef until just browned.



Transfer to a baking sheet or bowl. Add celery, carrots, and onion to pot and sauté until beginning to soften and brown, stirring often, about 5 minutes.



Add wine, broth, Sherry, garlic, and bay leaf; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Season with salt and pepper.



Return steak to pot, placing them over the vegetables. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1/2 hour.
Transfer steak to baking sheet or bowl. Continue to simmer sauce until thick, adding more stock if necessary, about another 45 minutes or so. Discard bay leaves and thyme sprig. Cut meat into 3/4- to 1-inch pieces then return meat to pot.



PICKLED CARAMELIZED ONIONS
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar and cook until almost all vinegar is absorbed, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl; cool.



ASSEMBLY
Butter your bread slices on each side. Divide meat among four slices. Add cheese, then top with onions. Finish with some romaine, and top with extra bread slice, buttered side out.

Heat griddle to medium heat. Grill sandwiches until bread is golden brown and cheese melts, about 3 minutes per side.



Transfer to work surface. Cut each in half on diagonal. Transfer to plates and serve.

To make it a real treat, serve with fries.





We had this on Friday night and it was perfect with a bit of the leftover wine. I'm really looking forward to making this again, though I think next time I'll try the actual short-ribs from the original recipe. I need a cast iron dutch oven though. I've been looking through the Pioneer Woman website and several ladies have mentioned that her shortribs are delicious, but I really want one of those 5L dutch ovens. I notice that she has a Le Creuset, but it's a little out of our price range right now, so we were looking at the KitchenAid one. Unfortunately a few people have complained about the quality, leaving us to save up for the one I really want.



Almost makes me drool as much as this sandwich. Almost.