Cheesesteak Sandwich

First of all, I'd just like to mention that I'm trying to integrate my Twitter account use with this blog, so do follow me on Twitter if you're interested. =) I'll be posting pictures of food that don't quite need a whole post on their own, but are so pretty that they deserve to be shown somewhere, haha. Anyway, on with the food!

I first heard of a cheesesteak in the Sims 3 game. Unlike the previous two games before it, where your Sims would just cook random plates of food, in the Sims 3, you could actually tell them what to cook and a "Cheesesteak" was one of the options. It came out in the form of a sandwich. Very very intriguing. And the name. Highly interesting as well. I love cheese. <3

So I wikied it. And wow! It looks totally awesome. It's basically a long roll with lots of beef and lots of cheese. Sounds good! I kept it in mind to try to make it one day, but ... well, forgot about it, really. Until recently, when I got a couple of packs of submarine rolls and was looking around for ideas on what to stuff them with. And that's when the cheesesteak came up again. I *had* to make them this time, so here we go!
What you need:
(serves 1)
1 submarine roll, or long bread roll of your choice, lightly toasted
150g beef steak, cut into very thin slices (easiest way to do this is to stick them in the freezer for a couple of hours before slicing)
Cheese - apparently, the most authentic cheese to use in a Philadelphia Cheesesteak would be American cheese, but we don't have them available here... so this isn't a Philly cheesesteak recipe, just so you know. I used one of those processed cheese slices (like Chesdale, only more orange) and a sprinkling of mature Cheddar cheese)
2 shallots OR 1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed - I just used garlic granules
Salt and pepper, for seasoning

What you do:

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the shallots/onion and fry until fragrant and softened. Set aside.
2. Heat another tablespoon of oil. Add in the beef slices and fresh garlic, if using. Fry until well-cooked, all the while stirring and breaking up the meat into smaller pieces. Season well with salt and plenty of pepper and the garlic granules, if you're using that.
3. Add in the fried shallots and mix well. Put to one side of the frying pan in a long shape roughly the size of your bread roll. Place your cheese over the top of the mixture and allow it to melt over the heat.
4. Transfer mixture onto your warmed sandwich roll and enjoy!

Spoil the unhealthy-ness of it all with some fresh veggies, if you wish. ;)

Mmmmmmmm! Will you look at that? Soft bread, peppery beef, sweet shallots, melty gooey cheese... the makings of a great sandwich! And it's so easy to make too, as sandwiches usually are. Cooking the whole thing up took about 5 minutes, maybe. Preparation took another 10. So this is a quick recipe, something I like very much, hehe.

I'm definitely adding more black pepper next time... I think this would be perfect if it were more peppery. Also, I think I didn't add quite enough meat in there, but never mind. Add as much beef as you like. I wouldn't have added lettuce, but I really really need to use mine up, so in it went. I'm not too big a fan of beef, but the cheese definitely made up for it. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, cheesy! Absolutely delicious!

If you were looking to make this in Brunei, I'm not sure what you could use for the bread roll. Sausage buns won't quite cut it and I'm not sure if they sell these kinds of sandwich rolls there. Perhaps Supasave might have some more "exotic" kinds of bread, not sure. But the rest are all very easily available. It's basically a sandwich with beef and cheese. Can't go wrong with that. ;)

Quote of the day: Sandwiches are wonderful. You don't need a spoon or a plate