Fantastic Ford, Majestic Mel & Delicious Dave's Italian Wonder Sandwich

   Mel and I don't have cable, digital, or satellite television. We don't have it for a multitude of reasons, but it doesn't seem to hurt us. We do wish we had it sometimes, but then we see the price of it or hear many of our friend's complaints about the price or some other cable-company related problem and then we give much thanks for our $16 dollar a month Netflix bill. But...when we are near it, we are like those people who don't eat sugar and when they get to, they soak it up like a sponge. I know, it's not good, but what are you gonna do? When we go to either of our parent's homes, we tend to find ourselves not that far from the old boob tube. Over the Christmas holidays, Mel, Ford, and I watched a seemingly endless marathon of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It is a good show, but many of the food items that the host has to put down, seem like something I hope to never have to consume. However, on one of the episodes, the host went to an old sandwich shop in either NYC or Jersey and they served up this hot Italian sandwich that was topped with fresh mozzarella and then baked in the oven till the cheese was melted and it looked SO good and I made it up in my mind to try to make something very close to it once we had gotten back to our house. So, I consulted Mel, my mom, the "interweb", and around 10 of Mel's cookbooks, but in the end just decided to go rogue and do it by what may seem good together and in the end come together to make a delicious Italian sandwich. Here is exactly what I purchased, took out of our pantry, or got from our garden:

Shopping List: 

1 28 oz can of Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can of Hunt's diced tomatoes

1 8 oz can of Goya tomato sauce with garlic and cilantro

1 large bell pepper

1 small white onion

Pesto

Minced garlic

Olive Oil

Onion salt

2 packs of sirloin tip side steaks

French/Cuban Sub Rolls

Fresh mozzarella

  And here is how to cook/make this delectable sandwich. This recipe makes enough for 4 six inch subs and there will be sauce leftover for your own new creations:

      In one pan, put a layer of olive oil, two tablespoons of minced garlic, and two tablespoons of pesto together, put the heat at about 5 (out of 10) and begin sauteing. After the garlic and pesto have cooked down a little, add finely chopped onions and your bell pepper. You can decide how big you want the bell pepper pieces to be. I did longer strips. After all of this has cooked down, add a little more olive oil. Leave the heat at mid-range and add all three cans of tomatoes and you don't need to drain the can of crushed tomatoes or the can of tomato sauce, but you do need to drain the can of diced tomatoes. After you have added the tomatoes, put a lid on this little concoction, turn up the heat, and let it cook.  

     

       In another pan, put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and put the sirloin tip steaks into the pan and brown both sides of the beef. Sprinkle both sides of the meat lightly with onion salt for flavor. Continually watch the meat and let it cook for several minutes on each side and cook both sides till the meat begins to look pan seared. Once you feel the meat has browned enough, add it to your sauce and push each piece of meat down into the sauce and make sure it is completely covered. Turn the heat of the sauce down to low and let the sauce/meat concoction simmer for several hours. I cooked mine from 3-6pm. 

    After your meat & sauce have had many hours to cook, take your hoagie/sub rolls and slice them down the middle and place them on a flat oven pan that has been covered in foil. When the rolls are sliced and placed on the pan, take a spoon and place several slices of meat along with a good quantity of sauce on the roll. Now comes my favorite part: the cheese. Take the mozzarella and slice it into small circular pieces and place several pieces onto each sandwich. After enough cheese has been added, place it in the oven and either cook at 350 for about 10 minutes or broil until the cheese has browned. Now the sandwich is ready to be enjoyed! Take the piping hot sandwich off the pan and place it onto a plate, add some chips, an apple, and pour yourself a fresh Coke or apple cider. Sit down and take a bite. Make sure the bite has meat, sauce, cheese, and bread and then try to think when you've had a better hot Italian beef sandwich. Yeah, that's right, you haven't. Eat slowly, because you won't be getting one of these for a good while because you will have to make it again in order to get another one that tastes just as good. 

Hope you thoroughly enjoy and happy eating,

  David

    

Just like you won't catch a good fish if you don't hold the tobacco just right in your mouth, this sandwich will not turn out just right if you don't hold you baby just right as you stir the sauce.