The Art of Left Overs

One of the things I sometimes struggle with is finding a use for left over cooked meat without it tasting like left over cooked meat. It's not that I don't like stews, casseroles, curries and so on, but especially as we head into Spring I'm in a bit of a hurry to leave Winter warming dishes behind for a while.
I made roast beef on Sunday with a plan to do something with the left overs later in the week. Last week my friend lovely friend Sarah, who is also a foodie blogger posted her recipe for Philly cheese steak sandwiches, which gave me an "A-HA!" moment. Sarah's idea to use a cheese sauce, instead of just grated or sliced cheese was an inspired one, which I was quick to try.

I didn't take any pictures of our sandwiches, because I wasn't expecting them to be much to write home (or blog) about. As it turns out, this twenty minute supper was fantastic and required very little washing up afterward.

Philly- Style Roast Beef Sandwiches
Serves 4, takes 15-20 minutes

400g (8oz)left over pink roast beef
200g (4oz) mature cheddar (or other robust flavoured, semi-hard cheese) grated
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
1 onion
1 each red and green bell peppers
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
300ml (6 floz) milk
chilli powder
paprika
4 crusty white French rolls or hoagie rolls

Slice the peppers and onions into thin strips and fry gently in a little oil and a pinch of salt for approx 10 minutes, until going brown and softening a little.

In a small saucepan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat and stir in the flour. Coo this mixture together for a few minutes until it starts to smell nutty, then pour the milk in slowly, stirring well as you go. Stir in the grated cheese and the spices and stir well to melt the cheese and form a smooth, unctuous sauce.

Turn your grill on high and split the rolls almost all the way through, opening each one up like a book. Lay them on the grill pan, insides facing up and grill for a 30-60 seconds to lightly toast the bread. When lightly browned, turn the rolls over and repeat on the outsides.

Slice the roast beef, using a very sharp knife to get the slices waffer thin and lay them out equally between all of the rolls, covering as much of the cut side of the bread as possible.

Lay a generous amount of the peppers and onions over the roast beef and then spoon plenty of the gorgeous cheese sauce. Pop under the grill again for a minute, to make the cheese begin to bubble.

This whole process takes less than 20 minutes if you cook the sauce and peppers at the same time and really is one of the best sarnies I've had in yeeeaaars. A bit like having a takeaway without the price and with a much better control over the quality of ingredients.

Tomorrow I'm going to make a Thai curry with left over roast chicken. I'll let you know how that goes...

Philly Steak Sandwiches