Tag: steak

Concept Reviews & Cubed Steak Sandwiches

Posted on by Brittany O'Neil

Working in the Project Management IT world I complete a lot of concept reviews when working on MANY projects. 🙃 However, what I didn’t realize is that is sort of how recipe building works too! That is what brought me to this delicious steak sandwich.

I love watching the food channel and cooking shows and one of the Chefs I love is The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. First off can we talk about her products at Walmart??? I own a significant amount of kitchen appliances… I now need to throw one appliance or tool out when I buy a new one so a lot of thought goes into my purchases. 🤪 Back to Ree – I own three cook books that I have read at least 3 times. I own every utensil she could possibly offer to use in the kitchen down to her pie cutter people. I own her toaster, crockpot, Pots & Pans, I digress. It is an unhealthy obsession, but it is:

  1. Available (Pretty much everywhere there is a Walmart)
  2. Pretty
  3. Affordable
My Pioneer Woman Cookbooks – I have a thing for Sticky notes and colors, but it helps me organize my recipes.

SO – lets talk about how I “reviewed” a “concept” and then changed it entirely. The story behind her Marlboro Man Sandwich is what really made me want to try this recipe. (I highly recommend looking it up or reading it if you have her book “The Pioneer Woman Cooks” Recipes from an accidental Country Girl.) She uses Cubed steak in this recipe. Once I got to reading the recipe and looking at her spices I decided it probably wasn’t something for me. I will say she has some unique flavor ideas throughout her books.

HOWEVER – here comes that whole concept review thing I was talking about. Why not use the cubed steak but season it the way I usually would if I was using shaved steak to make steak and cheese????🤔 Also I do not have a huge pan to toast massive rolls either like the recipe calls for so lets do what I did a few weeks ago and use the broiler and incorporate the leftover heat. Guess what? IT WORKED! It was delicious and I think I may be giving up on shaved steak for steak and cheeses for a bit! 🤫😬

So before I share the recipe below remember do not be afraid or shy away from a recipe just because there is a spice in there you may not like, you do not have the correct pan, or there are too many steps – because you could be missing out on something delicious. Take recipes and make them your own – but never forget to give credit where credit is due!!!

This is George he likes squid 🦑 *Fun fact 3897492:
I own a saltwater fish tank!🐡

CR Steak Sandwich

For my meal I only got enough for two sandwiches. Add more to the recipe based on who your feeding. For the Shredded cheese you can use whatever you would like, I used Trader Joe’s Sharp White Cheddar and I wish I had more. You can use sliced cheese you may need to leave them in the oven longer to melt though.

Ingredients

  • 2 Packages of Cubed Steak
  • 2 Sandwich Rolls sliced in half
  • 1 cup Shredded Cheese
  • 2 Medium Size Onions sliced
  • 3 Tsp. separated Garlic Salt
  • 3 Tsp. Seasoned Pepper
  • Salt & Pepper to taste/shake
  • 1 stick of butter cut in 1/4’s

Instructions for the Steak &Onions

  1. Take the cubed steak and cut it in strips against the grain (Thanks Ree!!)
  2. Take 1 Tsp of Garlic salt and 1 Tsp of Seasoned pepper and sprinkle it all over one side of the strips. Take the salt and pepper shakers and do the same but just lightly and once. (We have a decent salt and pepper on there already so you can skip the salt & pepper if you want to)
  3. Place your cast iron skillet (or pan) on Medium high heat. Place 1/4 stick of the butter into the pan to melt.
  4. Once the 1/4 stick of the butter is melted add the sliced onions to the pan.
  5. Take your 1 next Tsp. of Garlic Salt and 1 Tsp. of Seasoned Pepper and spread all over the onions in the pan. Then take your salt and pepper shaker and shake it all over the onions.
  6. Sautéed the onions until they start to turn golden/yellowish.
  7. At this point I push them to one side and move that side of the pan off the burner just a smidge. (I like to not remove things from the pan because you dirty more dishes but you can do that at this point)
  8. Add another 1/4 stick of butter (it will be hot and sizzle and it will melt quick)
  9. Add the strips to the cast iron pan on the melted butter seasoned side down.
  10. Now take your other 1 Tsp of Garlic Salt and 1 Tbsp of seasoned pepper and season the other sides of the cubed steak strips. Take the salt and pepper and shake it over the strips lightly. (Or again you can skip the S&P) (Also you could of already season both sides and in that case skip this step. 🙂 – I just make enough of a mess its nice to make the mess in the pan)
  11. Let the strips cook for 1-2 minutes depending on thickness and then flip all the strips.
  12. Cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes and remove.
  13. Your Filling is complete!!
Here’s the Spices
Cubed steak cut and one side seasoned

Instructions for the Rolls

  1. Turn your Broiler on High
  2. Take the sliced bread and using the 1/2 stick of butter left butter the open side of both the Top & Bottom roll (see picture below)
  3. Place the pan into the oven and Broil for 1-2 minutes (watch your bread it can burn fast – hence why there is three just in case)
  4. Remove the bread from the oven and shut off the broiler QUICK – close the door trap the heat in there.
  5. Now take your shredded cheese and generously apply it to your bottom rolls
  6. Throw it back into the oven to melt (When you use block cheese and shred it yourself it melts faster, its cheaper, and its delicious. If not you may need to put your oven on 250° to help melt the cheese if you are using pre shredded or sliced type of cheese)
  7. Remove the bread and build your Steak Sandwich!

Enjoy!!

Butter the open side of the sliced roll
Cheese melted ready for your Steak filling
Final Product

My love for food and where I think it started? 🤷🏼‍♀️ With Steak 🥩

Posted on by Brittany O'Neil

Where to start with this I think we can blame my grandparents for my very refined palate. They introduced me to fine dining at a very young age and continued to spoil me throughout my entire life with amazing food amongst other things of course. My grandmother still spoils me to this day, but we miss my Grandfather every day, he passed away 2 years ago.

One memorable thing about my Grandfather that I can share with you was that we always knew if he was not a fan of his food. Did not matter if we were at a McDonalds on our way to camp or at one of our old favorites (no longer around) Donatello’s. He was not shy about his opinion of food but that is because he could of probably gone home and done a better job himself. I think this rubbed off on me a little… I don’t make my opinion known vocally, but I do not eat something I do not like. I will move it around the plate or just not eat it at all.

With that being said, I think my first really big taste for food was when I was brought to my first upscale high end steak house. Abe and Louies in Boston, used to be my go to for birthdays and holiday requests. It has since gone down hill – so I do not recommend running to Boston tomorrow, but if your in the area it’s still pretty good just doesn’t have all the things that made me fall in love with them. My go to in Boston is Ruth Chris now. Anyways I digress…

With that being said…… Let’s start with steak 🥩 nothing makes me more dissatisfied then paying decent money for a steak and not having it come out right. I’m a medium rare person and would rather eat it rarer than cooked more… if that makes any sense? It got to the point in life where I was tired of dropping $50-80 on a Texas Road House Meal or Longhorn dinner and having to send something back while I watch whoever I am with eat. 🙄The one thing I cannot eat is steak or meat over cooked just not my thing. So being picky and knowing that I cannot just drive to Boston or go to Dallas on the regular with work anymore I thought how hard can it be to cook a steak?

Tomahawk Steak purchased from Whole Foods

So first I tried filets from Trader Joe’s and they were fabulous and relatively easy to cook. When I cook them again I will blog about it. However for this blog post I wanted to show you the Go Big Or Go Home steak. The one that is the most expensive when you go out the Tomahawk Steak. I found one at Wholefoods I paid $35 for the steak itself. It was a little bit over 2.5 pounds, only other thing I needed I had a at home. Butter, salt, and pepper. You can do other things to it but I am all about that butter and simple taste.. I like the flavor of the steak 🤤 Also I recommend a digital meat thermometer so you can cook to temperature.

So once you have all of your ingredients what’s next? I read an array of posts on Pinterest and the best method seems to be reverse sear which means you salt and pepper the steak and you put it in the oven on a low low temperature. 225° you cook the steak depending on the thickness so you go by the internal temperature. To get that you need to use the digital thermometer and stick it in the middle of the steak… not so far through that you hit the pan the literal middle 😉 your gonna have to check the temp periodically so you do not overcook it’s. You want to remove the steak once the internal temperature reaches around 125°. It took about 50 minutes for my steak to get there. Towards the end of the cooking cycle get out your cast iron pan melt some butter and get it hot but don’t burn the butter. You can add herbs if you want to the pan but I like plain old salted butter, salt, and pepper.

Once you get to that internal temperature (this is attempting for Medium Rare by the way Cook longer if you don’t like that juicy yummy goodness) take your steak out of the oven and throw it in the pan to sear. Turn the pan up at this point and I would flip the steak every minute until desired char but watch that internal temp because you don’t want to overcook it. Right before you take it off throw some butter on top let it melt and rub the steak in it then transfer from a pan to a place to cut, server, and eat. (The picture below the internal temp was 136° which is technically considered Medium but right on that line of Medium Rare)

Tomahawk reverse seared
Internal temp 136°

Was this hard? NOPE

Will I do it again? Possibly – but I’m a filet girl 💁🏼‍♀️

Can you do it? YES!

This is simple to do and you can serve it with potatoes and a vegetable all for under $50! It fed 2 humans and the dogs got some too! Highly recommended for a date night between two or if you just want to eat some steak.

Reverse searing is a great method I’ve learned to use when cooking steak. It gives it that fine dining quality! You can use this method for all steaks just need to watch that internal temp is all.

Ingredients

  • Steak
  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • **‘herbs are optional

Instructions

1.) Pre-heat oven to 225°

2.) Salt and pepper all sides of the steak

3.) Once the oven is up to temp put the steak in the oven. Cook for approximately 45 minutes (possibly more/possibly less) or until the internal temp reaches 125°

4.) Pull the steak out of the oven and transfer to pan with melted butter and sear. Flipping the steak every minute for approximately 5 minutes.

5.) Check the internal temperature and make sure it is 130+ for MR

6.) Remove from pan cut and Serve once steak reaches the desired internal temperature