Nowell’s WEST COAST Cheesesteaks

by Nowell Valeri

Haha, I got you! They’re really just East Coast Cheesesteaks with whatever decent bread you have available. The point is that I have successfully made an awesome cheesesteak on the West Coast with locally available ingredients, and you can too, wherever you happen to be. Here is how it’s done:

2 Ribeye steaks (1 per cheesesteak – if you have leftovers, that’s a good thing)
6 slices American Cheese (or provolone, or extra sharp cheddar – just don’t use Cheez Whiz or you will make me mad)
1 sweet onion (Vidalia preferred, though you can do a straight yellow onion in a jam, just make sure you cook it well)
1/2 to 1 red bell pepper
1 long loaf of soft, fresh baked bread from the grocery store or bakery- I use sourdough loaves from Safeway
NOTE: Don’t get hung up on the bread. Good cheesesteak can be eaten with NO BREAD AT ALL. Or eggs. (YUM)

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients for 4 hungry adults, and YES there were leftovers. Except for one ambitious guest 🙂

First thing you need to do is chop everything up. In other recipes they would tell you to slice the steaks up ultra thin while they’re raw but don’t bother. They’re much easier to cut once they’re cooked. Just chop them up well. Same with the onions and bell peppers.

Sautee the onions and bells with a little oil (we used avocado oil to make them WEST COAST, but whatever you have is fine) in a pan for several minutes until they look nice and cooked, onions are translucent. If you burn everything a little no worries, it tastes better that way anyway. Put them in a large mixing bowl off to the side.

Use the same pan to cook the steak strips, might have to add a little more oil but ribeye is super fatty (which is why it is the correct steak for cheeseteaks!) so you probably don’t need much or any. Cook them until they are brown. You can’t really dry them out because the fat keeps them juicy. Remove from heat with tongs and place on a cutting board for thorough chopping.

BEFORE THE CHOPPING:

AFTER THE CHOPPING (this batch could have used even more, TBH):

Combine with the cooked onions and bells in aforementioned large mixing bowl. Should look something like this:

Cut your rolls to the right size to get them ready for their new (albiet short) lives as cheesesteaks:

Now for the fun part. Heat up the pan once again (drain excess grease as necessary/preferred) and configure as such. Try to divide the ingredients up evenly between sandwiches but don’t stress. Medium heat is fine. Lay 3 slices of cheese over the other ingredients and let it melt a bit. Feel free to tear them up into smaller strips, might melt better that way.

As the cheese is being melted, bring in the bread and cover your pile of steak, onions, bells and cheese with it. Use a spatula to gather up any runaways so they remain within the bounds of the sandwich.

Once the cheese is satisfactorily melted, the last step is to get your spatula under the whole thing if possible, then flip the entire thing onto a plate. Get your plate close by ahead of time so you don’t sacrifice any delicious sandwich components to the floor gods (or to your dogs- frankly they don’t deserve this). Pick up the pan and shovel the leftovers on top. PRO TIP: If you plan on making these more than once, I would invest in a long spatula, that can cover the length of this kind of sandwich. I did and it’s amazing. Best $13 I’ve spent in awhile.

Wow your guests with your sandwich prowess. Congratulations, you’ve jailbroken a sacred art that Philly sandwich snobs have successfully gatekept for almost a century, and everyone on the West Coast and around the US nearly always gets wrong.