Make-Your-Man-Love-You Beef Dip Sandwich

You know those pub style beef dip sandwiches you can get? This isn't that.  This is so much better.  It's made with real chunks of slowly simmered roast beef and will put a smile on your man.  Assuming he's a big meat eater.  It's a stereotype I know- but if your man fits the stereotype, pull this baby out next Father's Day, birthday, Superbowl or any day you just want to make him happy.  This recipe is mine- it's what I came up with when Cole said he wanted beef dip.  I never ordered it in the restaurants because it never looked very good.  This version is scrumptious.

Ingredients:

1 beef roast (it's going to simmer in your crock pot all day so a tough cut is ok)
salt/pepper
Montreal Steak Seasoning
red chili flakes (optional)
2 tbsp oil
4 submarine buns
3 large, sweet onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
shredded cheese (I usually use white cheddar)
garlic butter (I mix butter with minced garlic, lemon zest, chopped parsley and salt)

Directions:

Rub your roast with salt, pepper, steak seasoning (I use Montreal), and chili flakes if you like it to have a kick. 

In a HOT pan (medium high heat), add some oil.  Then sear your roast on all sides.  Let it sit undisturbed for a good 4-6 minutes before turning it to the next side.  Put your seared roast into a crock pot and cover half way with beef broth.  Let it go for 5ish hours on high (depending on your crock pot- you want it shredable).

Make your garlic butter and set it aside till your roast is done.

A half hour or so before you are ready to eat, slice your onions and get them into some butter on low/medium heat with some salt.  Stir and let them carmelize.  It takes a while.  I add some brown sugar towards the end of the process to sweeten them a little more because I use chili flakes on the roast so it's a little spicy.  The sweet onions with the spicy beef is a nice mix. 

When you're ready to assemble your sandwiches, take your subs and spread some garlic butter on each side then put under the broiler to toast.  Add your cheese on one side a few minutes into the broiling and let it melt. 

Top your buns with meat and onions.  Slice.  And serve the au jus (the simmered broth from the crock pot) on the side.

Pulled Pork and Coleslaw

We have wanted to try making proper pulled pork for a while and this summer we did it twice.  We used our charcoal grill and slow cooker, but you could also use your oven or if you're awesome enough...smoker!  Recipe courtesy of the great Emeril Lagasse.  Love his bold flavours- worked great in our house.  It's spicy.  Too spicy for most kids, ours was fine but she's weirdly fine with spicy food.  Just cut down/out the cayenne and red pepper flakes if you want it mild.  Also, the longer you marinate the pork, the more pronounced the flavours will be- including the spice level.

Note: For a family of four, 2 lbs of pork butt is sufficient.  So use that as a guide.

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork butt, about 4 lbs
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp Essence, recipe follows
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp cayenne ****only if you're good with spicy food
Wet Mop Basting Sauce, recipe follows
Barbecue Sauce (we just used our favourite bottle, if you go to the site you can find Emeril's)
8 buns
Kicked Up Cole Slaw, recipe follows
(the site also has a recipe for fried pickles to add to the sandwich)

Wet Mop Basting Sauce:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red pepper flakes ****only if you want it spicy
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp salt

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
(great for blackened cajun chicken and shrimp and whatever else you want to cajun up! love this stuff)

Kicked Up Cole Slaw:

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons buttermilk
4 teaspoons celery seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 cups shredded green cabbage (about 1/2 head cabbage)
3 cups shredded red cabbage (about 1/2 head cabbage)
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

(alternatively, buy premade coleslaw packages and just make the dressing)
In a bowl, combine dressing ingredients (mayo to cayenne); whisk. Combine veggies and toss with dressing.

Directions:

Place the pork in a baking dish.  In a bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, salt, cumin, paprika, pepper and cayenne.  Rub the seasoning evenly over the pork to coat.  Cover with plastic and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight (the first time we did it I only was able to refrigerate for a couple hours- still yummy). 

Combine ingredients for wet mop basting sauce.  Refrigerate overnight or as long as you are able.

Preheat oven or smoke to 225 or if you're like us, prepare the coals in your grill.  Prepare wood chips to smoke if you like. 

{If you are unfamiliar with the process, google and youtube are helpful to read/watch before attempting the charcoal grill version}

Oven: Bring the pork to room temperature and place in a roasting pan, fat side up. Slow cook in the oven, basting with the wet mop basting sauce every 45 minutes, until tender and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F. (The cooking should take about 6 to 7 hours.) Remove from the oven and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Grill: Push coals to one side to create indirect heat for the pork.  Let pork carmelize and gain a "crust"- this will take about an hour.  Baste once or twice in that hour.  Once the pork reaches an internal temperature of around 130 wrap it up in tinfoil to slow the cooking process.  You want it to take as long as possible to break down all the fat and be left with pullable pork (195 degrees).  A charcoal grill is really hard to keep at a low heat and both times we made this, our pork cooked too fast.  The grill gets hot and it's hard to turn down unlike a gas/propane grill.  If your pork reaches 195 and isn't pulling easily, throw it into the slow cooker with the drippings and let it cook down until it does.  The reason we used the grill before the slow cooker is we wanted the smoky flavour and the nice crust on the outside. Continue to baste throughout the whole cooking process- just open the tinfoil.

With a knife and fork or two forks, pull the meat apart into small slices or chunks. Toss with the barbecue sauce, to taste, and divide among the buns. Top with the coleslaw.

pork butt rubbed the night before

smoking chip soaking

coals heating up; drip pan

wood chips on the coals

pork- indirect heat (not directly over heat)

smoke-lovely smoke

neighbours thought our house was on fire...for real

crust

wet mop basting sauce

basting

wrapped up

up to temp

drip pan added to pork- don't waste that good stuff

pulled pork- no sauce

Both days we did this were super crazy so I didn't remember to actually take a picture of the pork in the sauce in the bun with the slaw.

Sliced Italian Sausage Hoagies

I saw this on the Rachael Ray Show last week and it looked really yummy so I made it tonight.  I haven't been doing a lot of cooking because I really haven't felt up to it while pregnant so Cole was pretty excited when he walked in and saw a fully home cooked meal even though it was just Sausage Hoagies.  I subbed out turkey sausage for the pork sausage in the recipe.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/sliced-italian-sausage-hoagies/

For 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced (I omitted this since Cole isn't super in love with it)
• 4 frying peppers, such as cubanelle, and red frying peppers, thinly sliced (I used 1 red bell pepper and 1 anaheim-I was only making this recipe for 2 people)
• 1 hot chili pepper, thinly sliced, optional
• 1 onion, yellow or red, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (I used 2)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 pounds Italian sausage links, hot, sweet or mixed (I used 4 hot turkey sausages)
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste (1 1/2tbsp)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I just used stock)
• 1 cup chicken stock (I only used 1/2 to 1/3c)
• A few leaves torn basil (I didn't have any fresh on hand so I used dried italian seasoning and red chili flakes to get the desired spice we like)
• 4 Italian-style hoagie rolls, split and buttered
• 1/2 pound deli-sliced provolone cheese, halved (her recipes always call for so much cheese- I just grated up a little of what we had in the fridge and sprinkled it on the buttered rolls)

Directions:

Place the sausage in a skillet with about 1/4 inch of water and a drizzle of oil. Bring sausages to boil and allow liquids to cook away then crisp skins in the oil.

Remove sausages and add fennel, peppers, chili, onions, garlic, salt and pepper, and cook to soften 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add tomato paste to fennel and peppers, and stir 1 minute or so. Add wine and stir another minute; add stock and basil. Reduce heat to simmer.

Slice the sausages on an angle and add back to pan and simmer until liquid reduces and you are left with veggies and sausage in a bit of thick sauce.

Place your buttered and cheesed rolls under the broiler for a few minutes till cheese melts and buns are slightly toasted.  Add sausage/pepper mixture and enjoy!  I served along side roasted potatoes.  In the original recipe, Rachael Ray serves this with Ritz Fried Delicata Squash Rings.



My modifications to the recipe yielded enough sausage pepper mix for 4 rolls.

Banh Mi

If you've heard or know of Banh Mi then this post title should have brought a smile to your face.  Banh Mi sandwiches are delicious.  Here's one variety I've tried at home myself now.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi with Vietnamese Pickled Vegetables and Hot Chili Mayo

-pork meatball recipe found here
-pickled veg recipe found here

Ingredients:

Hot Chili Mayo:

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)

Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Pickled Vegetables:

• julienned carrots 
• julienned cucumber
• julienned daikon
• 1 c sugar
• 1 c water
• 1 c rice vinegar
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

Hot Chili Mayo:

-mix everything together, chill until ready to use

Pork Meatballs:

-Line rimmed baking sheet with wax paper. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover and chill so they can set up- but let them sit on counter to come to room temperature about a half hour before cooking them.  Mine only sat in the fridge for like 30 minutes.

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and carmelized all around, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.  Mine were in the oven for like 15 minutes while I got other things ready for dinner.

Pickled Vegetables:

-disolve sugar and salt in the liquids and then put the vegetables in to pickle for 1-5 hours.  I would even suggest less sugar...I thought they needed a little stronger of an acidic punch when I tried them.  The site provided up top gives step by step instructions.

Sandwich:

-Submarine bun+mayo+meatball+cilantro+vegetables=delicious!

Shrimp Po' Boy Sandwich

For 2 Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• For the Po Boy:
• 2/3 cup Buttermilk
• 1/8 cup of your favorite Louisiana red hot sauce
• 4 tablespoon Creole/Cajun Spice (Cajun Spice Blend Recipe)
• about 12 jumbo shrimp/prawns
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup All-purpose flour
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Lengths of po'boy bread split lengthwise (6-8 inch lengths) -your favourite sub bun
• mayo/butter for toasting bread
• 1 Medium tomato (thinly sliced)
• Shredded lettuce (for garnish)
• sauce for sandwich (I've used the 2 following sauces- jalapeno aoili [http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Shrimp-Po-Boy-Emeril-Lagasse] and remoulade sauce [http://www.food.com/recipe/stans-place-shrimp-po-boy-127016]- both delicious!

Directions:

-Combine the buttermilk, hot sauce, and half of the cajun spices in a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the shrimp and allow to marinate for up to 30 minutes, refrigerated.
-In a separate medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, and remaining cajun spices and stir to blend.
-Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot or deep-fryer until the temperature reaches 360° F. You can also shallow fry in a pan. Working in batches, remove the shrimp from the buttermilk marinade and transfer to the masa harina mixture. Dredge to coat, shaking to remove any excess breading. Cook the shrimp, in small batches, until golden brown and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain. Season with salt and pepper or a little more of the cajun spice blend if you want to really make it spicy and delicious and set aside.  Repeat with the remaining shrimp.
-Spread the bottom and top halves of the bread with the melted butter or mayo and then put in a hot pan to toast up. Generously spread the top halves of the toasted bread with the Jalapeno Mayonnaise or Remoulade sauce. Divide the shrimp evenly among the bottom halves followed by the lettuce and tomatoes (add any other veggies). Place the top halves of the bread over the fillings and press lightly.  Cut each sandwich in half and serve immediately.

you can see two of the shrimp on the plate- this is what they should look like. served with onion rings.