Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Italian Roast Beef Sandwiches



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This week I had two meals on the menu that were very similar -- Baked Steak and BBQ Beef -- both are beef dishes with BBQ-style sauces. I do that once in a while because I'm not paying close enough attention when I'm making my menu. Fortunately I had all the makings of an Italian Roast Beef to serve instead of BBQ.

This is the second time I've made this dish and it is especially a man-pleaser. I like it and Faith likes it, but the boys rave about it. I serve the beef on buns or Italian rolls, and they load on the hot banana peppers and dunk the whole sandwich in a dish of au jus. Yum. It's very messy, but we're all friends and family here, so we don't care if you dribble juice down your chin.

I apologize that I didn't get a picture of a sandwich. The buzzards were circling and I had to get it on the table before they ate it straight from the pot!




Italian Roast Beef
serves 6-10 depending on size of roast

printer version

salt and pepper
2 T. olive oil
3-5 pound Rump Roast (aka Bottom Round Roast)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
3 cups beef stock (or 1 can condensed beef consomme and one can water)
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried thyme leaves
1 t. dried marjoram leaves
1 bay leaf
1 t. dried basil leaves
1 t. Tabasco (or other hot pepper sauce)
2 T. Worcesterhsire
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

chewy Italian rolls or sandwich buns
pickled banana peppers, pepperoncini or giardinieri

Dry outside of roast with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Heat oil until hot and place roast in dutch oven, browning and turning until sides are lightly browned. Turn heat down to medium and add broth or consomme, green peppers, onions, spices, Tabasco, Worchestershire and garlic. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for several hours (between 2 and 3 -- the longer the better).

Remove roast from pot and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Slice thinly and place back in pot with juices. At this point you can cover and refrigerate roast overnight to serve the next day or continue to serve the same day (I think it would be even more flavorful the next day, but I've never planned in advance to do that). If serving the same day, bring broth to a simmer again, and, reducing heat to medium-low, cover and allow to simmer for about another hour.

If serving the next day, bring pot from refrigerator and place over a medium- low heat. Heat for an hour until roast and au jus are completely hot throughout.

To serve, place slices of roast on buns or chewy Italian rolls (my favorite). Top with hot banana peppers, pepperoncini or giardinieri. Strain au jus and ladle into individual bowls or cups for dunking.


Serve with Potato Salad, or Fried Potatoes, and a Cucumber Tomato Salad. For a good homemade bun recipe, try this one.
Or you can use this Italian bread recipe to make rolls.
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5 comments:

Jane @ Sweet Basil Kitchen said...

These words are pictures enough! This sounds like a hearty man dish! My man would be pleased! Bless you!

Anonymous said...

Have you ever tried to make this in a crock pot? Do you think that would work?

I love your recipes, Barb. I made the Greek Gyros this week. My eldest loved them and even had the leftovers for Breakfast the next day.

Rachel in Dallas

Barbara said...

Thanks, Jane. Let me know what your man thinks. ;-)

Rachel,
I'm sure it would. My kids have, lately, had some issues with crock pot meat. I think the meat just breaks down too much and we end up with meat mush. I think it's a problem with my crock pot cooking too hot. That said, I think this recipe would be fine in the crock pot, especially if you have had success with other beef roasts. A Bottom Round Roast (called for the in the recipe) is ideal for the crock pot.

Glad you enjoyed the Gyros. I have a lot more Mediterranean dishes planed this month -- just finished reading The Language of Baklava and it was studded with family recipes. Yum.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

This would be great! I have a big bottom round in the freezer and my husband is not a pot roast fan. Bet this would be a huge hit. Thanks!

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

So good! It does work in the crockpot--I browned the meat first in a heavy pan on the stove, then moved it to the crockpot with the broth, garlic and onions. 3 hours on high, then I removed it to settle, sliced it and put back in 1 hour on low.