These are both sandwich recipes but they are not your normal sandwiches!
Sandwich #1 - "Steak & Carmalized Onion"
Ingredients (I dont have the exact measurements with me, but honestly I don't use them anyways, I just eyeball and it always turns out okay)
- 1 lb flank steak or any kind of top round (cheaper, and thin cut)
- Red wine vineager
- Olive oil
- Dried herbs (thyme, basil, oregano)
- Garlic
- Salt/Pepper
- Soy Sauce
- Onion (3 or 4 sweet onions, just depends on how much you want, however keep in mind that the onions cook down considerably, and also, it's good to have extra because these keep great in the fridge for over a week and you can use them on lots of other things!)
- Sugar
- Balsamic Vineager
- Dijon Mustard
- Rye Bread (though any will work, I like the dill rye)
Okay - so for the steak you put it in a large plastic bag (or big tupperware, whatever you like) and mix in about 3 tbls. red wine vineager, 2 tbls. olive oil, 2 tbls. soy sauce (again, this is all just a guess, you just can eyeball it it turns out great either way), a couple cloves of garlic minced (i just use the pre-minced jared garlic for a time saver), some shakes of the dried herbs and salt/pepper. Mix it all around and let marinate for as short as 30 minutes, but up to a whole day if you like.
For the onions - these are very easy. People tend to hear "carmalized onions" and think it's some fancy process. It's not! Slice the onions very thin, and put in a large sautee pan with just a bit of olive oil in the pan. Put the lid on for about 5 minutes and then stir them around a bit. Continue the process until they have cooked down a bit. (about 10, 15 minutes) Then add sugar (now, the recipe calls for some teaspoons of sugar, however I like mine sweeter so I add a tablespoon or more (depending on how large the batch)! :) Then add some dried thyme, just a few shakes (maybe a teaspoon or two).........stir up and put the lid back on. You'll see they'll start to cook down even more. When they look soft and transparent, add a couple teaspoons of balsamic vineager. Stir quickly as vineager evaporates, add a small amount of salt and pepper, then that's it, YOU'RE DONE! Remove from heat and you can just refrigerate them - they're yummy :).
Now you just have to put the steak that's been marinading under the broiler for a few minutes (it is thin so you dont need long at all, you dont want it tough!), then slice thin across the grain. You can toast your rye bread if you like, but just put some dijon mustard on the bread, add the onions and steak, maybe some tomato slices, and that's it! :) This is definately a favorite of Caleb's (mine too!) and I'm sure you'll like it too...........!
Sandwich #2 - Chicken/Cheese Panini
- Fresh basil leaves
- Sun dried tomatoes (though the recipe calls for roasted red peppers, I dont like those, so I substituted with the tomatoes and it was awesome!
- Sliced Cheese (the recipe calls for Swiss, but I used Monterey Jack. I have a feeling Mozarella would be great!)'
- 1 cup of so of cooked diced chicken. (I just cooked up some boneless skinless tenders with garlic, salt and pepper and cut it up small. I think you could just the canned chicken if you wanted!)
- Fat Free or light mayo
- Balsamic Vineager
- Whole grain bread
Mix 2 tbls. mayo with 1 or 2 teaspoons balsamic vineager. Spread mixture on bread, then lay basil leaves on 1 side of each sandwich. Add sun dried tomatoes (or roasted red peppers if you like), cheese, and chicken. I put mine in a George Forman grill though you could probably put them in a skillet or even a fancy panini maker. :)
Cook until bread is grilled to your liking, let cool before cutting.
Oh my gosh this was excellent, I made it last night for dinner and it was one of the best tasting sandwiches with the basil, and the sun dried tomatoes, yummmmm. :-)
Try one or both of these out & let me know what you think or if you made any changes like I did to make it your own! :)
Again-sorry no pictures!! :(
