The Week of the Sandwich

Maybe it's because of my recent obsession with Scanwiches, or maybe it's because the sandwich is such a simple, yet hearty meal, or maybe it's because I'm very picky when it comes to sandwiches, but whatever the reason, I have designated this week to be The Week of the Sandwich.

Now, I must confess, I decided this Monday night (after we'd eaten leftovers for dinner) and we won't even be home this weekend, so maybe I should have called it Three Days of Sandwiches.

Whatever.

Anyway, the first sandwich was the roast beef sandwich. This is not your school lunchbox roast beef sandwich. This is a sandwich that I would (and did) actually eat.

I took a 3-pound sirloin roast, some sea salt, some fresh ground black pepper, and this stuff:

Rosemary. From the garden. Y. U. M.

I chopped it up using my beloved ulu, then tied the roast with kitchen twine and rubbed the salt, pepper and rosemary all over the roast.

If you don't know how to properly tie meat, I suggest you learn. It'll make people think you know way more about food than you actually do. Plus, it holds things together a little better, making them a bit more uniform. Think of it as the Spanx of the kitchen. Sort of.

Then, using my trusty-but-never-rusty skillet, I seared the outside, placed it on the roasting rack of my roasting pan and cooked it for 3 1/2 hours at 200 degrees.

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.

While the meat "rested," I baked a baguette. I put grainy Dijon mustard on one slice of bread, A-1 sauce on another, then layered the beef and one Clausen dill sandwich slice.

Perfection.

Kyle put provolone cheese on his, and had I not been rushing out the door at the time, I would have pulled out the panini press and made this a hot sandwich. Still, we have plenty of beef leftover, so later this week we'll make hot pressed Philly cheese steak sandwiches.

Tonight's menu: the Cuban sandwich.