Steak and Blue Cheese Sandwich

There are certain food combinations that, to me, seem timeless. No matter how much we advance in cooking, people always seem to be doing a riff off the same old thing: peanut butter and jelly, beets and goat cheese, eggs and bacon. The reason? It’s good!

When I create a new recipe, sometimes I try to venture far from my comfort zone: sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But after three years of cooking, I know what a sure thing looks like, and this sandwich was definitely it.

I pan-fried a steak quickly and then cut it into strips perpendicular to the grain, like you would with fajita meat. I took some good French bread and heated it up in the skillet, and then added a slab of blue cheese, some grilled red onions, and lots of steak. A simple sandwich, if ever there was one, and something that plays off of timeless flavors. Sometimes it’s nice to just throw something together and know it’s going to be delicious.

This is my entry for Lore’s Original Recipes Event over at Culinarty. It’s a great event that celebrates creating your own recipes… something that many of us around here do every day! I’m sliding in right at the end, but this event happens every month, so stop by and check out the rules, and think about trying it out next month.

Steak and Blue Cheese Sandwich

2 tsp. olive oil, separated
100 grams (about 3-4 ounces) steak, uncooked
French bread, split in half
enough blue cheese to spread over one side of the bread
1 small red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
salt and pepper

Heat one of the teaspoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the red onion and cook until charred on the outside, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, salt and pepper the steak on both sides.

Slide the onion to the side of the skillet to keep it warm. Add the other teaspoon of oil and cook the steak until medium rare. For a thin steak like the one I used, which you can see in the picture, I cooked it for about a minute per side.

Remove the steak from the skillet and allow it to rest. Meanwhile, place the bread open side down on the skillet to heat it up and allow it to soak up the flavor of the steak. Remove from the skillet and add the blue cheese and onions. You will probably have more than enough onion: I saved the rest and used it later on a salad. Cut the steak perpendicular to the grain of the meat, and pile it onto the bread. Enjoy!

I had extra steak too, but I didn’t save it… 🙂