Philly Cheesesteak (sorta...)

You gotta love America. It's big, it's bold and dammit it loves its food. I remember back in 2004, the presidential election. George W. Bush gunning for re-election and John Kerry stepping up to challenge. My buddy Bobby turns to me and says 'this Kerry guy...he's got a lot of potential and all, probably the better candidate but he's never going to win this race.' And so, I mustered up every little bit of interest I had in me and asked why he would say such a thing. 'Onions' Bobby replied. 'He's just done Philadelphia and he asked for a cheesesteak without onions. That's just not gonna fly.'
Obviously we all know what happened next. Was it the onions? We'll never know. Onions. Ha.

And so, because I'm clearly more American than SENATOR John Kerry himself, I started my cheesesteak with one white onion and one green pepper. Slice them up and fry them off for 8-10 minutes in a bit of oil until they soften up nicely. Stick them to the side.

All good sandwiches start with good bread. A couple of hoagies or Italian loaves will do a treat, slice them lengthways and hollow out a bit of the dough. (More room for more meat, dummy)

So this is why I call this my Philly Cheesesteak 'sorta', and I'm sorry to anyone from Philly who reads this (anyone?). A real Philly Cheesesteak is pretty strictly made with provolone. White American, maybe. Unfortunately Buckinghamshire is not Philadelphia. And ASDA is not Joe's Italian Deli and so I had to work with what I had. I chose maasdam. A nice light, slighty sweet Dutch cheese. Sorry.

About 400g of flat beef steak. Nice, pink and tasty. Slice it up into slightly-smaller-then-mouth-sized chunks and fry it off with a bit oil. You can go ahead and use the same pan you used for the vegetables, go on, it's fine. After the meat has browned nicely add the veggies and shake it all up.

Top with the cheese and take it off the heat. Now if I were a younger, single-r man this might be the point that I grab a fork and say 'hell to y'all' but I'm a grown-up in a relationship and that stuff doesn't really fly around here anymore. Scoop it all up and fill up your meat pockets. Ummm.

That's it. My Philly Cheesesteak (sorta). Hot sauce is a must, beer fries are recommended, napkins are optional. Dig in and enjoy. God Bless America.

Ingredients
1 bell pepper
1 white onion
400g flat beef steak
2 Italian loaves
cheese
hot sauce (I like Franks)