Katydid Knits

I actually made and photographed this the other day, but while fighting with the laptop upgrade, I didn’t have time to post it.

These are one of my very favorite things to make.  It’s my aunt’s recipe for Hot Beef Sandwiches, although I have also been known to sub in ground turkey with equal success.  Also, I made a double recipe (There were five of us for dinner, I can NEVER eat only one, and they freeze well), so the quantities in the pictures are a bit more than what I will give in the instructions. 

Start with a pound of ground meat (either beef or turkey).  Brown it in a large skillet, and add in a finely chopped onion.  Saute the two together until the onions are softened.

Add about 1t of dried oregano:

Take a jar of olives – the good old basic green ones with pimentos.  No time for fancy-shmancy oil-cured imported ones.

Chop up half the jar of olives.  Doesn’t have to be super finely, just a nice rough chop.

Add the olives to the meat mixture,

along with 2/3 of a cup of tomato sauce:

Mix well, and let all of this simmer for a few minutes, while you prep the next step

Tear sheets of foil about square-ish, and get out the hamburger buns. (1 pound of meat will make about 8 sandwiches – you need a sheet of foil per):

Pull the skillet off the heat, and add in the good stuff – 8 oz. of shredded mozzarella.

Yum.  Cheesy goodness.

Mix the cheese in well, and start building the sandwiches – a good scoop of the filling on a bun,

Slap the top on and put the sandwich in the center of a sheet of foil

And wrap it up into a nice little bundle.

Once you have all of the sandwiches assembled and wrapped, pile them on a cookie sheet (or in my case, pizza pan) and pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

And then, enjoy. Several of them, if you are me.

Oh, and if you freeze some extras, you can put them straight from the freezer into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. No need to thaw first.

ETA:  I HATE green olives.  No, seriously – I will not eat them.  But they totally work in this, and you don’t get that green olive flavor.  Black olives don’t have the right flavor.  Trust me on this – just try it.

And if you are freezing them, you don’t need to bake them first.  Just wrap them and throw them into the freezer.  You can also freeze them after you bake, so no worries if you have leftovers.  Put those in the freezer (I usually put them in a baggie), and pop them in the oven when you want to eat them.

January 8th, 2009 | Tags: Food | Category: Misc. | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed