Since she lives on the ranch and cooks for lots of hungry ranchers, The Pioneer Woman often shares her man-friendly recipes. One of them is her husband’s favorite sandwich. This one didn’t really strike my fancy. But recently she posted her version of the sandwich. And I knew we had to try it.
I thought it was delicious, but the real test was what Chris thought of it. He loved it! He even said it was better than the Philly steak sandwiches he gets for lunch at his favorite restaurant downtown. That’s quite a compliment!
(I actually halved the recipe since we didn’t need that much meat. It still gave us plenty of filling for sandwiches at dinner and enough leftovers for two lunches for us later that week.)
Here’s the full recipe:
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
2 pounds cube steak
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 whole large yellow onion, halved and sliced thick
2 whole green bell peppers, sliced into strips
2 whole red bell peppers, sliced into strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
16 ounces, weight white mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons (additional) butter
1-½ cup sherry (regular or cooking sherry)
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes Tabasco (more to taste)
8 whole deli rolls
2 tablespoons (additional) butter
8 slices cheese (provolone, Swiss, pepper jack)
Preparation Instructions
Cut cube steak into strips against the grain. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over high heat. As soon as it’s melted (but before it burns) brown strips of cube steak in two or three batches, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Remove meat to a clean plate when brown. Set aside.
Reduce heat to medium-high. Add onions, garlic, green peppers, and red peppers and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until relatively soft (but not flimsy.) Remove to a clean plate. Set aside.
Melt 2 add’l tablespoons butter to the skillet. Add sliced mushrooms and stir. Pour in sherry, then add Worcestershire and Tabasco. Cook over medium-high heat for five minutes, or until liquid has reduced by about a third.
Add in meat and vegetables, stirring to combine. Cook for just a few minutes to heat everything up, adding more sherry and Worcestershire (and Tabasco) as needed. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter at the end. Keep hot.
Toast halved deli rolls in plenty of butter until golden brown and crisp. Spoon meat/veggie mixture on the lower half of the bun, then spoon one or two tablespoons of pan sauce over the meat (it will soak into the bun.) Drizzle a little sauce on the underside of the top bun, too, for extra flavor and moisture. Top with cheese and broil for a minute or two, until the cheese is melted.
Serve immediately.