Hot Pastrami, Roast Beef, Philly-Cheese-Steak-Style Sandwiches

These sandwiches were introduced to me by my good friend and fellow camper Bob Silva. We decided to get together at our friend's house to make these sandwiches and submit them for the Camping Club's Newsletter and Recipes. Our friend Eric Simonsen lives in the Sierra Foothills just outside of Pioneer, California. Although we weren't camping, we were among the pines and the deer, so the setting was right.

Submitted by Scott Hayden

You'll have to figure out the amount of meat and cheese you'll need depending on the number of campers you are feeding. The easiest way to do this is simply go to the deli and tell them how many sandwiches you are making. Ask for enough pastrami, roast beef, and cheese to make them. With the combo of other ingredients, there should be plenty. Sometimes, if we have a larger group of eight or more people, we may add an extra sandwich or two to the number, just to make sure we have enough, or in case someone wants a little extra. We had six people, so this recipe reflects that number.

We have an old tractor disc that is converted into a wok-style frying pan, but any large skillet will work.  The wok is nice because the heat is in the center and the edges aren't as hot. Later in the recipe, you will need to remove a portion of the ingredients from the heat. With our disc, we simply push the ingredients to the outer sides. This may work with a wok but don't try it with a flat pan. There simply isn't the room, and it will take longer for one portion of the recipe to cook while the other portion will get over cooked.

Ingredients:

• olive oil (Infused with garlic and/or rosemary is a nice option)
• 1 onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• Worcestershire sauce
• 8 oz of liquid, suggest Red Ale, Porter, or Stout (or use water)
• 2-8 oz packages of sliced mushrooms
• garlic powder
• pepper
• sliced pastrami
• sliced roast beef
• sliced provolone cheese

Bread and Condiments:

• 6 sandwich rolls (toasted, if preferred)
• Hawaiian sweet and hot mustard (or any mustard for those not liking the bite!)
• mayonnaise (or use sandwich spread desired)
• horseradish (optional, but recommended)
• deli-style pepperonchinis (optional, but recommended)
• chopped black olives (optional, but recommended)

First, cut up an onion and a green bell pepper into thin slices. Heat up a little oil in the pan--get it good and hot. Toss the onions and bell pepper into the pan. Stir them up and get them nicely coated with the oil and evenly warm. Add a splash of Worcestershire Sauce and continue to cook them just until they start to caramelize.

Add the mushrooms. The moisture content will be just about gone, so you should splash in the liquid.  This will help steam the vegetables, keeping them from drying out. Season the mixture with a sprinkling of garlic powder and a dash of pepper.  Once the mushrooms have started to shrink and become limp push the mixture aside if you have room, or remove it from the pan. You don't want to over cook the mixture. The onions and peppers should still have a slight bit of crunch to them.

At this point, have everyone prepare their sandwich bun with preferred condiments (I like it all!).

Toss all the roast beef and pastrami into the pan. Stir it quickly and use two cleavers or large knives and cut with a cross action to shred the meat (You can do this prior to adding it to the pan if you don't have the room or can't tolerate the heat). Don't over cook it as it is already cooked.  It only takes a minute or two.

Re-introduce the onion, pepper and mushroom mixture until it is heated again.

Turn off heat and spread out the mixture. Cover the mixture with the slices of provolone cheese. Let the cheese begin to melt. Once it becomes slightly melted, stir it up in the mixture and call over your campers. Serve a nice spatula full of the mixture onto each campers prepared bun.

Serve with potato salad and pork-n-beans. We have these for lunch the second day of camping each time we go. They are very tasty!

Variations:

• Try serving on onion rolls.
• Instead of sandwich rolls, try using a long loaf of French bread. Prepare as one, long sandwich and slice into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
• Try using Italian sausage sliced vertically with mozzarella cheese, smothering the sandwich with a thick and warm tomato or marinara sauce and eat it open faced.
• Try using ham and/or turkey with Swiss cheese, substitute cranberry sauce for hot mustard and horseradish.
• Try preparing with hamburger meat formed into oblong patties to fit the roles and use BBQ sauce instead of Worcestershire Sauce, toss in cooked bacon bits and top with bleu cheese.