Now before any of you Chicagoans and Italians start sending me the moulocchio, this is close to authentic!  Since this is my budget friendly go to, I found chuck steak for $3.15 for a 1.5 lb piece of beef.  As opposed to a 2 lb. Eye Round at roughly $12 or more, and wanted to see if I could yield the same results.  I am slow cooking this on the stove, instead of roasting it as I would my beef.  I am using thinly sliced garlic, instead of inserting it into my roast I am using it as slivers and searing it in the steak, then adding the usual Italian flavors.  I will finish with a light saute of mixed bell peppers that I bought for $1.50, along with a jar of peperoncini that I got at the dollar store, don’t scoff you can get some good deals here on jar items and spices.  I am combining them with other flavors so I can skimp on the peppers.  If this were my antipasta, I would not use them, but for this it is perfect.  I get beautiful rolls at my farmer’s market 4 for $1.00 and I get a great buy on Kitchen Basic Broth’s which is a top name in commercial broths for $2.50 for a 32 oz. container.  I am forgoing the giardiniera, which for those of you that aren’t Italian may not know, is traditional for this sandwich, giardiniera is a mixture of pickled veggies in vinegar it comes mild or spicy, and is a generally a mix of sliced carrots, cauliflower, green olives red pepper, and peperoncini, but it is expensive for this meal to consider it budget friendly, and using the peperoncini makes sense here.  All toll for a family of 5 I can pull this off for about $1.75 per person, I accounted for the garlic, so I rounded up! Not bad.  Besides all that it is pretty damn good!

Having grew up on this sandwich I can honestly say the beef in the broth is delicious and unless you are use to having roast beef you would be hard pressed to decipher the difference becasue the meat is that tender.   I am thinking of using this in my Italain vegetable beef soup becasue short ribs are expesive and I can defintely taste the goodness this would bring to the soup.

Making delicious food on a budget doesn’t have to be hard, or a sacrifice in taste.  There are always ways to create tasty dishes that are fun, and fabulous, as with my poblano peppers with canned corned beef hash you just have to be willing to free your mind and let your imagination take over!  I hope you give this a try!

Sinfully,

Susan xoxo

Italian Style Chicago Beef Sandwiches

• Servings: 4-5
• Time: 1 hr. 8 min.
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A simplified version of an Italian Classic, that's easy, cheap, yet so satisfying!

 

 

Credit: CrazySexySavor.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. of chuck steak
• 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic
• 1 tsp. of Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. of dried thyme
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp. of fresh parley chopped
• 1 32 oz. container of beef broth
• sliced mini bell peppers or one large red and one large yellow bellow pepper sliced thinly
• 1 small jar of peperoncini sliced in rings reserve juice
• 1 tbsp. of EVOO
• Kosher Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven heat EVOO on medium high heat.
2. Season steak with salt, pepper, dried thyme and dried Italian seasoning
3. Add sliced garlic to Dutch oven and place meat on top.  Sear on both sides for about three minutes.  Immediately add beef broth, fresh thyme.  Simmer on low covered for one hour.
4. In a large frying pan add 1 tbsp. of EVOO, add bell peppers, season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Saute for about five minutes on medium until soft.  Add in peperoncini and saute another three minutes.  Add in about half of the juice of the peperoncini.  Let reduce about five minutes. Add in chopped fresh parsley.  Thinly slice beef , which will be very tender.  Slice rolls or bread, (you can use Italian bread as well) ladle broth to wet bread, layer beef, and peppers, spoon some more broth, serve immediately with a side of au jus to sop of the bread and flavor the meat.  Devor!

Susan xoxo