Chopped Steak Sandwiches

  I've been trying to find a good recipe for a steak sandwich. I've tried the frozen "Steak'Um" product found at my local grocery store. It is okay, but not what I'm looking for. If you've ever been to Ypsilanti, Michigan, you probably heard of "Gabriel's Cheese steak Hoagies". They are absolutely the best cheese steak sandwiches I've ever had. When I was pregnant with my kids I could use "cravings" as my excuse for taking a drive out to Ypsilanti. These days I just have to plan a trip down to see my mother, because a new Gabriel's location has opened a couple of miles from her house. 
  Recently, I watched a program on the Food Network with a lady who has a food blog titled "The Pioneer Woman". On that program the lady made a steak sandwich for her husband. Watching that program got me craving a good cheese steak sandwich. I decided to try her recipe. Let me show you how I did it.

 I gathered some ingredients; cube steaks, onion, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and hoagie rolls. I was making a double batch, but for a single batch I would have used one onion and about 1/3 pound of cube steak per person.

I began by chopping the onions.

I heated a large fry pan with olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of butter.

I sliced the cube steaks into bite size strips and sprinkled salt and pepper over it.

When the pan was hot I sauteed the onions until they were lightly golden, and then I removed them from the pan and set them aside.

I put the meat in the pan and cooked it until it was no longer pink.

I added Worcestershire sauce ~ I meant to buy the regular kind, but when I got it home I realized I had purchased THICK Worcestershire sauce ~ who knew they even made that! Oh well! I decided to use it. 

I let the mixture simmer as I toasted the hoagie rolls and melted provolone cheese.

It only took a few minutes in the oven at 450 degrees ~ but be careful! They burn easily.

I scooped some of the steak onto the roll and spooned some of the sauce from the pan on top.

This is how it looked when it was all put together.


This is the recipe for Chopped Steak Sandwiches
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Serves 4


1 onion, cut in half and sliced
olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 pound cube steak, sliced in bite sized strips (oh heck, go for 1 1/2 pounds)
salt 
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 hoagie buns 
4 slices provolone cheese

In a large fry pan set to medium high heat, saute onions in about 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter until light golden. Remove from the pan and set aside. Reserve the butter/olive oil in the pan.
Put meat in the pan and cook until no longer pink.
Add Worcestershire sauce and put onions back in the pan. Simmer while toasting hoagie buns
Toast hoagie buns in a 450 degree oven for about 5 minutes - watch carefully!
If you plan to use cheese add the cheese to the buns before toasting.
When rolls are toasted, add meat mixture and spoon additional sauce over the top, if desired.

What was the taste tester's bottom line?  
This sandwich is not as good as Gabriel's...bummer...but it does taste good, just not AS GOOD. I was surprised how spicy it tasted considering the ingredients. The only thing I can think is the Worcestershire sauce must have been spicy. GoodMan did not like the extra sauce I spooned over the sandwich because he felt he needed to use a knife and fork ~ I, on the other hand, managed to eat it with my fingers just fine!

The bottom line: What would I change next time? I would use regular Worcestershire sauce, and I would try a not-so-crusty hoagie roll...I don't want it to be gummy-soft, but probably not toasted. And I would not spoon the extra sauce over GoodMan's.