Dinner with the Boss

I find cooking to be very therapeutic and it has a very mellowing affect on me, especially when i am cooking for someone. There are times I wish they had a kitchen at work, where when needed, I could get away from my stressful desk and go whip up a nice pasta salad or bruschetta at times.

Tonight dinner was "Tony Soprano Steak Sandwiches with Giardinera Relish", I was never a fan of the Soprano's, I preferred "The Godfather', so for my meal, I prefer to call this "A steak sandwich offer you can't refuse"

Here are the ingredients.......

2 pounds sirloin steak, 1 inch think cut into two pieces(had to buy this one and I did buy sirloin, but you could also purchase flank steak, patio steaks or what is also call charcoal steaks. They are all very good cuts of meat for sandwiches or any dish that is not actual the eating of a steak by itself)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar(had to buy a small bottle)

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste(got it)

1 jar/quart of giardinera salad(bought a jar and for those wondering, this is basically pickled vegetables and peppers, actually tasty stuff to be honest)

A handful of fresh parsley leafs(got this already)

The juice of 1/2 lemon(got it already)

EVOO....(got plenty of this stuff)

1 loaf garlic bread split in half lenghtwise(bought a loaf)

4 leaves Romaine lettuce(already have this, thanks to my failure to find "bibb" lettuce for the other nights dinner and settling at the time for romaine)

Rub each steak with the balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of coarse salt and pepper. Let meat rest.

Drain Giardiniera salad and reserve the juice. Place salad in a food processor with parsley, lemon juice and drizzle of evoo. Pulse-grind the mixture into a finely chopped relish.

Brown garlic bread under broiler and remove from oven.

Wipe a little evoo across a skillet and heat over medium high heat until pan smokes. Add steaks and cook 5 mins on each side. Douse the pan with a few tablespoons of the juice from the pickled relish. Rub the steaks around, picking up the color and juice from the pan. Place steaks on a big cutting board and let rest for 10 mins, allowing juices to distribute.

Slice steaks very thin,on an angle and against the grain. Pile meat on a plate and scrape juice off the board and over the top of the meat. Wipe off board.

Place garlic bread on board and cover bottom half with relish. Put piles of meat on top of relish. Top with romaine leaves and the other half of the garlic bread. Hold bread together with toothpicks and hack up super sub into 4 big chunks.

Just when you thought life could not get better, serve this with some kind of fancy chips. I used cracked pepper and sea salt potato chips.

The verdict............well to be honest, I am really pushing my diet again, so i did not try these at all.....but.........the person I cook for, she thought they rocked and also my cats ate a piece of the meat, faster then I would have thought possible, so that is a big positive review from the feline world.

I can also say that I really enjoyed cooking this meal a lot, it was fun and it did only take around 30 mins. It was a bit of a heavy meal, as I can see as I type this, that my friend has fallen asleep on my couch bless her cute little soul.

Well that is it for tonight. I have to go now and prepare for work tomorrow and also wake of my friend so she can drive herself home.

Until tomorrow...........