Perfect Summer Steak Sandwich Recipe

This steak sandwich is basically ripped off from Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef. He didn’t have a recipe on the foodnetwork.com website so here is my version. This is a really tasty steak sandwich which is super easy, but has
big returns on very little effort and money. If you cook it on the grill, there is next to no clean up so this is a great summer meal at home or at the lake.

I would recommend some really nice bread for this. When dealing with something as simple as a sandwich, details matter. First, get some nice bread. Use some bread with a bit of character like sour dough, or something crusty. Secondly, slicing the meat on the bias makes the meat seem much more tender because the meat fibers are so much shorter. I was shooting for less than 45 degrees relative to the cutting board. It makes the meat much more tender, plus it looks damn cool. Lastly, when it comes to putting the EVOO on the sandwich, use the good stuff.

Ingredients

juice of 1/2 lemon
A couple of handfuls of “Rocket” or spring greens
1-2 lbs bottom round steak (less than 1″ thick)
salt
pepper
2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 teaspoons of really good olive oil to top the sandwich
1 large zip top bag
1 loaf of good bread, sliced

Procedure

Prepare your grill for cooking a steak (Make a hot fire).

While your fire is getting ready, there is plenty of time to prepare the meat. Strip off the “leaves” of the sprigs of rosemary and chop them roughly. Drizzle about couple of teaspoons of olive oil on the steak. Season it well with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Put the meat in a ziplock bag and massage the meat. You want nice coverage with the oil and the seasonings, then beat the steak in the bag with your hand. Really beat the crap out of it. This will help to tenderize the meat, but it will also increase the surface to mass ratio of your meat. You can let the meat hang out in the bag until the fire is ready.

When your fire is ready, remove the meat from the bag and shake off any extra oil. You don’t want too much oil or it will fall into your fire and burn, but at the same time, you would like a nice thin of oil. Cook the meat to your liking. For me, that is about 2-4 min per side over a damn hot fire. That gives me a nice seared exterior and a nice medium to medium rare interior. Let the meat rest a couple of minutes on a plate. While the meat is resting, you can toast the bread on the grill. After your bread is toasted, slice the meat into thin strips on a bias. Now it is time to assemble your sandwich. Start with a layer of greens, then add your meat. Then you can top it off by drizzling your lemon juice and your good EVOO on there, don’t forget the juice that dripped out of your meat during resting and slicing! If you don’t have a lemon, you could also use some nice mustard instead.

April 16, 2009 Posted in: Cooking Techniques