ironpeddler
Ye Old Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2008
- Messages
- 6,660
Hey guys, I wanted to post up a recipe that I found on the Internet and have no idea what it's called...it was more of a 'how to' with pictures but without measurements and amounts used. Believe me, this isn't rocket science, so I'll post how I made it and you guys can go nuts with your own variants. (Sorry for the blurry cell phone pics, I wasn't thinking I would post this here not knowing it would be this good!)
1) Medium sized bread bowl. I used an Italian panella bread because it's a bit pliable. You can get a French bread version too, but that is more fragile.
2) Flank Steak. The one used here was 1.80lbs...and was a bit too large for this dish. Fear not, the extra didn't go to waste.
3) Havarti cheese. I bought two 8oz. blocks, but only used one and it was plenty.
4) One pound of thick cut bacon cooked to semi-crispy.
5) A container of Arugula leaves. You use them raw, not steamed!
6) One large white onion sauteed in EVO until they caramelize nice and dark....but not burnt!
7) Italian dry seasoning.
Set your oven to 400 degrees.
I started out drizzling the flank steak with Blood Orange EVO (to brighten it up to blend with the Arugula taste) and then lightly covered it in sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. I grilled it about 4 1/2 minutes a side until it was rare. That's our preference, you can grill it any way you like it.Once grilled, I let it rest and sliced it to about 1/4" thick slices. Yeah, we like it bloody and tugging back at you as you stick the fork in it!
Now you grab the panel bread and give it an angled round cut on the top to open it. Clean out the insides and cut the extra off the top to create a lid.
Now the simple part....start layering in the ingredients. Start with a layer of the steak, jam it in the corners to make an even layer. Don't make it too thick because you will have two layers of meat.
Then a layer of half the creamy Havarti cheese followed by a layer of all the bacon.
Now jam in there a layer of Arugula leaves and cover that with all the caramelized onions. Don't be afraid to gently push all this down with the back of a serving spoon to get it to fit under the top. You'll hear the bacon crunching when you do it...awesome!
Now you add another layer of steak and top that off with the rest of the Havarti cheese. At this point you sprinkle on some dry Italian seasoning. I was surprised how important this was when we finally ate it.
Now put the bread lid back on and put a large pan on top of the filled bread bowl and put some weight on top to compact everything together...like a Cuban Sandwich. Not too much pressure because the bread will split...but just enough to fill in the gaps and make it a bit thinner. I put a large spaghetti pot on top and had my son Anthony hold the KitchenAid mixer on top for a few minutes. Now take the lid off and pop it in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes....keep an eye on it and take it out once the cheese is melted and is completely covering the whole top. At the same time, take the bread lid and put it next to the bread so it toasts a little too.
You can see on the backside how our bread split a little when we compacted it, that's why I say be careful when doing that step. But don't bypass it, it's important to get all the ingredients to meld together once it heats up. It was totally fine and no cheese leaked out at all. Now put the lid back on and cut it in half.
You can see each identifiable layer once it's cut. Then cut it into wedges from each half...
Guys, I do a lot of cooking and this is one of the tastiest things I've made or eaten in years...honestly....and it stuffed the both of us and we can eat! We had it with a wheat beer so as not to take away from the taste too much and man was it good.
From start to finish, less that an hour to our plates in front of the TV as we watched football. :thumbs:
Enjoy!
1) Medium sized bread bowl. I used an Italian panella bread because it's a bit pliable. You can get a French bread version too, but that is more fragile.
2) Flank Steak. The one used here was 1.80lbs...and was a bit too large for this dish. Fear not, the extra didn't go to waste.
3) Havarti cheese. I bought two 8oz. blocks, but only used one and it was plenty.
4) One pound of thick cut bacon cooked to semi-crispy.
5) A container of Arugula leaves. You use them raw, not steamed!
6) One large white onion sauteed in EVO until they caramelize nice and dark....but not burnt!
7) Italian dry seasoning.
Set your oven to 400 degrees.
I started out drizzling the flank steak with Blood Orange EVO (to brighten it up to blend with the Arugula taste) and then lightly covered it in sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. I grilled it about 4 1/2 minutes a side until it was rare. That's our preference, you can grill it any way you like it.Once grilled, I let it rest and sliced it to about 1/4" thick slices. Yeah, we like it bloody and tugging back at you as you stick the fork in it!
Now you grab the panel bread and give it an angled round cut on the top to open it. Clean out the insides and cut the extra off the top to create a lid.
Now the simple part....start layering in the ingredients. Start with a layer of the steak, jam it in the corners to make an even layer. Don't make it too thick because you will have two layers of meat.
Then a layer of half the creamy Havarti cheese followed by a layer of all the bacon.
Now jam in there a layer of Arugula leaves and cover that with all the caramelized onions. Don't be afraid to gently push all this down with the back of a serving spoon to get it to fit under the top. You'll hear the bacon crunching when you do it...awesome!
Now you add another layer of steak and top that off with the rest of the Havarti cheese. At this point you sprinkle on some dry Italian seasoning. I was surprised how important this was when we finally ate it.
Now put the bread lid back on and put a large pan on top of the filled bread bowl and put some weight on top to compact everything together...like a Cuban Sandwich. Not too much pressure because the bread will split...but just enough to fill in the gaps and make it a bit thinner. I put a large spaghetti pot on top and had my son Anthony hold the KitchenAid mixer on top for a few minutes. Now take the lid off and pop it in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes....keep an eye on it and take it out once the cheese is melted and is completely covering the whole top. At the same time, take the bread lid and put it next to the bread so it toasts a little too.
You can see on the backside how our bread split a little when we compacted it, that's why I say be careful when doing that step. But don't bypass it, it's important to get all the ingredients to meld together once it heats up. It was totally fine and no cheese leaked out at all. Now put the lid back on and cut it in half.
You can see each identifiable layer once it's cut. Then cut it into wedges from each half...
Guys, I do a lot of cooking and this is one of the tastiest things I've made or eaten in years...honestly....and it stuffed the both of us and we can eat! We had it with a wheat beer so as not to take away from the taste too much and man was it good.
From start to finish, less that an hour to our plates in front of the TV as we watched football. :thumbs:
Enjoy!
