Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Cooking steak on the stove scares me! In the past, I’ve had a couple bad experiences that ended with overcooked, leathery stove-topped steaks, and that frequently causes me to doubt my ability to cook any beef that isn’t ground beef on the stove. Typically the non-ground beef consumed in this household is either grilled outdoors by the huz, or else in the slow cooker, by me.

I decided to try again though. I had to ask the butcher at my grocery store to hunt down some flank steak for me, and I came home with this slab of meat, with the goal of making Philly Cheesesteaks, using this recipe from Cooking Light.

First, I placed the flank steak in the freezer for about 15 minutes, to assist in thinly slicing, across the grain.

Next, I got my oiled skillet screamin’ hot, and tossed in the beef for a brief two minutes, stirring frequently. Oh, and don’t be like me and forget to season the beef at this point – add a solid 1/4 tsp of both salt and pepper!

After that, I set the beef aside, covered, to rest, while prepping the remaining ingredients.

I made a homemade white cheese sauce with flour, milk, provolone (I used the sharp provolone that I also used in the Butternut Squash Lasagna I recently made), Parmigiano-Reggiano, and dry mustard.

Green peppa, onion, baby ‘bellas sautéing.

After a few minutes, add the flank steak, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. How do you pronounce Worcestershire? I kind of take after Rachael Ray and say “woost-a-shy-er.” Bahaha.

Next all you need to do is hollow out a few hoagie rolls, toast them, add in the beef, pepper, and onion filling, and top with cheese sauce. Yummay!!

To my delight, the beef was actually quite tender, and yummy! The key is to slice across the grain, slice very thinly, and cook it hot and fast!

I originally told the huz I was going to make asparagus with out Philly Cheesesteak, and he sounded a tad disappointed, and brought up tater tots, so, just for him, I made Crispy Crowns with our Philly Cheesesteaks. Good call, huz!

Philly Cheesesteaks

• Recipe from Cooking Light
• Calories: 397 per sandwich
• My rating: 8.4/10

 

The man was a fan! I’m a fan of flank steak, I have to say. It is inexpensive, and when prepared properly, cooks up nicely on the stove top.

For the record, I have been to Philadelphia, once, and only ate one Philly Cheesesteak – at the airport. It was really sad and lame. Sometimes at local Michigan sandwich places (like Sottini’s or DiBella’s) I’ve been known to order local cheesesteak renditions and they have been decent but I don’t think I’ve ever truly had a legit Philly Cheesesteak.

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In non-food news, did you hear that RYAN GOSLING (SWOON), NATALIE PORTMAN (SWOON), and that chick from “..Dragon Tattoo” (okay fine, Academy Award-nominated Rooney Mara) are all filming a movie together?!?! RyGos + NatPort!?!?! Togetha!? zOMG.

Currently listening to: The High Road – Broken Bells.