One of my quick weeknight meal inspiration sites is Panini Happy, run by my friend Kathy. We met at BlogHer last summer and I have been impressed with her and her site from the beginning. Kathy is in love with her panini grill and it shows in her creative sandwiches. Even if your average weeknight is too busy for a fancy dinner, everyone has time for a healthy sandwich in the evenings, and Kathy’s site provides plenty to choose from.

She inspired me to spiff up our weekly panini night, and I came up with this one after I found a tub of grated fontina in the back of refrigerator and couldn’t remember why I bought it. Obviously I need to keep better track of my groceries. The slow-roasted tomatoes came from our summer garden, and we are looking forward to growing even more tomatoes this summer.

Prosciutto and fontina can be a little pricey, but you can easily substitute another thin-sliced ham and some Swiss cheese. If you don’t have slow-roasted tomatoes, purchased sun-dried tomatoes will work just fine. We really liked the sandwich and will make this again.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. I am hosting this round, so please send your post to me at andreasrecipesgyo AT gmail DOT com by February 28. If you are new to the event, you can read more about the rules for participating at the Grow Your Own page.

[Updated April 17, 2010.]

More Quick and Easy Dishes

More Panini Recipes From Around the Blogs

Panini Happy – Super Bowl Buffalo Chicken Panini

Taste and Tell – Roast Beef and Slaw Panini

The Wednesday Chef – Ino’s Tuna with Black Olive Pesto Panini

Passionate Eater – Mozzarella and Eggplant Panini

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On Super Bowl Sunday I attempted to fulfill one of Michael’s foodie wishes. He has been craving Chicago Italian beef sandwiches, and I decided to do some research and make some for him. He got to relive some good memories, and I learned that making Italian beef is pretty easy and well worth it!

Italian beef is a Chicago institution, and a number of restaurants around town serve up this dripping wet sandwich, which is best eaten over a trough. The meat is roasted to medium rare, sliced thin, then simmered in an au jus made from the meat drippings, stock, lots of oregano, and other seasonings. To eat it, you fill a sub roll full of meat and then dip the whole sandwich into the au jus. No dainty dipping of the ends, you plunge the whole sandwich in! Then you top it with bell peppers and giardineria (pickled vegetables). It is sloppy good!

While researching I came across Roadfood.com, which has an active forum, and I found a thread that discussed making your own Italian beef. After reading the thread, I decided to follow a recipe attributed to Max’s Italian Beef. I cannot verify if indeed this is their recipe, but we thought it tasted pretty darn good. Neither the giardineria nor the dry rub ingredients had any amounts listed in the original, so I made a wild educated guess. I also played around with the giardineria a bit, adding some pepperoncini instead of the serrano peppers, and we liked it.

Cutting the meat properly is crucial to a good Italian beef sandwich. Slice it as thinly as possible using an electric knife. You can see that ours was a little bit thick. We used an electric knife and learned that short strokes produced thinner slices than trying to make large, full slices. Again, not completely authentic, but we made do with what we had. A meat slicer would definitely do a better job, but I’m not sold on their safety, particularly since our 5-year-old likes to play with things he shouldn’t!

Using the right bread is also very important. Bread that is too light will fall apart in the au jus, so use some hefty sub rolls or a good French bread cut into individual portions.

I used some fresh oregano from my kitchen garden for the au jus, so this is my contribution to Grow Your Own for February. If you are growing your own produce or raising your own meats, then join in! The deadline for entries is February 27th.

[Updated January 2, 2010.]

ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES

Adapted from a discussion thread at RoadFood.com.

Makes 12 to 16 sandwiches.

Equipment

roasting pan and rack
meat thermometer
small bowl
6 quart pot
electric knife
glass jar with lid
small sauce pan

Ingredients

sub rolls or French bread (hefty texture, otherwise it will fall apart in the au jus)

MEAT
5 pound (2.268 k) outside round roast
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon course black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons oregano
1 tablespoon paprika

AU JUS
64 ounces (~2 liters) low-sodium beef broth or homemade stock
1 tablespoon garlic
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

SWEET PEPPERS
2 large green bell peppers, slice thin
8 ounces (240 ml) beef broth or homemade stock
8 ounces (240 ml) water
4 or 5 stalks fresh or 1 tablespoon dried oregano

GIARDINERIA
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
6 serrano peppers or pepperoncini, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced green olives (optional)
6 Italian hot peppers, thinly sliced or chopped
2 cups olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

1. GIARDINERIA: Several hours to one day before you prepare the meat, put all the vegetables for the giardineria in a jar. Heat the olive oil, vinegar, and salt in the microwave just until warm. Pour over the vegetables, then put a lid on the jar and store in the refrigerator.

2. MEAT: Preheat the oven to 350° F/175° C. In the small bowl, stir together the ingredients for the dry rub, then rub the mixture all over the outside of the roast. Stick in the meat thermometer and place the roast on the rack. Roast in the oven until the meat is 140° F/60° C (medium rare). Remove from the oven and allow it to sit for 1 hour before slicing.

3. AU JUS: In the 6 quart pot, add the beef broth, garlic, oregano, and black pepper.

4. Using the electric knife or meat slicer, shave the meat as thinly as possible and put the slices into the au jus. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Do not boil the meat.

5. SWEET PEPPERS: While the meat simmers, put the sliced sweet peppers, broth, water, and oregano in the small sauce pan and heat just to a boil, then drain.

6. To serve, pile some of the meat onto the sliced rolls, then dip the whole thing into the au jus. Then add some sweet peppers and some of the giardineria. Eat with lots of napkins or paper towels.

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