Philly Cheese Steak

Recipe for a 12 inch hoagie

Ingredients
1/2 Onion, Diced
1/2 Green Pepper, Diced
300 Grams of finely sliced beef.
3 slices of aged provolone cheese.
12 inch fresh baguette

Vinegar
Salt
Sugar

Suggestions
Beef: Finding beef for a cheese steak can be tough in many places.  If you are near a butcher asked them to slice some rib-eye very thin.  For me, I actually have used slices of beef normally designated for Chinese fondue.  The thickness of the beef is perfect and the cut is normally of a decent quality (as it is meant to be eaten without a fork and knife).

Baguette: Finding the right baguette is really crucial.  I highly suggest an artisan baguette which has a little big more density in the middle and just a slight firmness in the crust.  You do not want factory baked bread.  It is too soft and often too fragile.

Directions:
Place the peppers in a skillet (with a little olive oil) and start browning them.  Two to three minutes later add in your onions as well.  After the vegetables have browned, add about 1/3 of a cup of water.  This will help soften the vegetables even further.  Also, add a pinch of salt and sugar as well as about 2 tea spoons of vinegar to the vegetables.  This will add a little bit of acid to the rich sandwich.  After the liquid has been cooked off, remove the vegetables and put them to the side.

Next, add the beef the a skillet (again oiled).  You can use the same skilled, but its probably wise to clean it off before adding the beef.  As the beef gets close to being browned, add the vegetables to the combination as well as one slice of the cheese.

As the meat gets close to completion, you need to be sure that your sandwich is sliced (lengthwise, but hinged, of course) and that the other 2 cheese slices have been placed at the bottom of the cavity in the sandwich.

As the meat becomes fully brown, remove it from the skillet and place it straight into the sandwich.  The heat from the meat will melt the slices of provolone at the bottom of the sandwich.

French Fries

French Fries are, of course, a rather simple dish, but there are some tricks to perfecting them at home.

Recipe Serves 2 People

Ingredients
4 Potatoes, peeled
Large pan
Olive Oil
Large pot of Boiling Water
Salt (and any other seasonings you like on your fries)

Directions
Cut each of your potatoes into 4 medallions.  Then, cut each of your medallions lengthwise into 4 slivers (Fries).  This should give you 16 fries per potato where the height and width of each fry is approximately 2/3 cm by 2/3 cm.  Try your best to make the fries as even in size as possible.  This will help them cook evenly.

Next, place all of your uncooked fries into the pot of boiling water and let them cook for approximately 7 minutes.  Depending of the type of potato you are using the cooking time can vary.  Every few minutes check the consistency of your potato.  The fries are ready when they are pliable, but still can snap when bent (Andante).

Next, place the now boiled fries into a large frying pan, on medium high.  In the frying pan make sure that there is enough olive oil to coat the entire bottom.  Also, be very careful with temperature.  If the heat is too high the olive oil can burn.

Because you are not using a deep fat fryer you will need to constantly flip your fries to make sure each side browns.

Your fries are ready to be removed when the sides are consistently a golden brown.

Take your fries out of the pan, drain and blot them.  While they are still hot dust them with a dash of salt.  I also like to cover my fries with a little bit of red pepper, black pepper and garlic powder.