So the other day my cousins Chris & Evie came through town and we were lucky enough to have them stop by our house on their trip (to read more about their mission click here) and they had answered my questions on what they wanted with, steak or sandwiches and I thought what better then the ultimate steak sandwich? You would have to be crazy to not love a Philly I mean the meat the cheese the peppers the caramelized onions and the mushrooms. YUM! That is all there is to it! So I decided to challenge myself to make this happen!

Heather’s Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 Rib-eye steaks (6 to 8 ounces each) I just did one steak per person
• 1 Large yellow onion (sliced up)
• 2 Green bell peppers
• 1 package cremini mushrooms (8 ounces)
• 4 Garlic cloves (minced)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Provolone Cheese, sliced (4-6 ounces)
• 6 Hoagie rolls (if you can’t find them Italian bread rolls would work)4
• 2 -3 tablespoons Olive Oil

First thing you want to do is heat a large heavy bottom skillet on medium heat. Then place your Rib-eye steaks in the freezer. The steaks have to be in the freezer for 1 hour. While the skillet is heating up slice up the onion into 2 inch strips and set them in a bowl to the side. Slice up the bell pepper remove all the seeds and pith (the white stiff inside the pepper) and set aside. Slice up the mushrooms and set to the side. Mince the garlic and set it to the side. At this point your skillet should be nice and hot. This is an important step in cooking and will help the things you are cooking actually turn out the way you had planned! Now we want to caramelize the onions. The right way to do this is very time consuming and should take about 35 to 40 minutes.

Put the olive oil in the pan to coat the pan. Start with 1 tablespoon and if your pan is larger and needs 2 tablespoons then add that to make sure the bottom of the pan is coated then throw in the onions. Now all you do it wait. You let the onions cook stirring every few minutes so they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. If they look like they are drying out you can add water to the pan. Just add a tablespoon at a time. The closer the onions get to being done the more often you will need to scrap the pan and stir them around so they do not burn.

When the onions are about half way toward being down you can throw in the peppers (at about the 20 minute mark.) Then after 30 minutes throw in the mushrooms. After 45 minutes your onions should be caramelized the peppers should be cooked down and firm yet soft and the mushrooms should be cooked and browned. When this has happened you need to transfer the onions, peppers and mushrooms to a plate and tent with foil. DO NOT TURN YOUR SKILET OFF let it continue to heat for when you cook the meat.

At this point your steaks will have been in the freezer for 1 hour. This will make it easy for you to slice them into paper thin slices. You can avoid this step all together if you have a nice butcher who wants to slice the meat up for you! I did it this way in case you don’t have this as an option to show you that you can do it yourself too and without a meat slicer! Pull out one steak at a time and with your sharpest knife slice against the grain of the steak as thin as you can. After you meat is sliced place it in a bowl or on a plate and salt and pepper it. I probably used 1 teaspoon of sea salt and 1 tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper. Stir the meat to make sure it is all combined and coated in seasoning. It is at this point that if you wanted to add any other seasoning or steak seasoning that you would do that. Throw in the garlic and mix it around.

In your hot skillet put in 1 tablespoon of olive oil to coat the pan a little and throw in your steak. You want to cook it in sections. You do not want so much meat in the pan that it does not brown. You want to cook it for about 1 minute per side or just until it is not pink.

You want to cut it up with a metal spatula as you are turning it to cut it up some more. Plate the meat and cook the next batch until all the meat is cooked. Dump the onion, pepper and mushroom mixture onto your cooked meat and stir it up.

Turn your broiler in your oven on to high. Cut your sandwich rolls so that they are open but still connected in the back so they are only cut 3/4 of the way. Place a slice of cheese on the inside of each roll.

Top with the meat mixture and the place cheese on top of the steak mixture. I put 4 to 6 ounces of cheese in the recipe depending on how cheesey you want it but you just want to make sure there is enough on top to get all the meat you piled up cheesey. Place it it the broiler for 5 minutes. You want it to broil until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. This could take more or less time depending on your oven.

Once the sandwiches are done in the broiler you are ready to plate and serve!

I know this seems like a lot of steps but it was worth it! Also you can freeze the meat and slice it the day before as well as salt and pepper it. Or you can have the butcher do it and save yourself that time. This was fantastic! I served this alone because this sandwich did not need anything else to go with it and it got a thumbs up from everyone that night! Not to mention that the second and third day it tasted even better if that is possible!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! What did you cook for the 4th of July??

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Heather’s Philly Cheese Steak