First of all, I wanted to thank you all for all the love and kind words on my recent announcement, that was so nice of you all! 🙂
So far, pregnancy has brought me some major cravings for carbs. All the carbs. Usually I eat a fairly low carb diet, but during pregnancy, carbohydrates are important as part of a healthy diet for a developing baby, so I broaden my carb horizons just a tad. Fun, right?!
Enter these Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. These are sooooooo good. After seeing this Half Baked Harvest Recipe, I knew I needed to give it a try. We’ve got thinly sliced ribeye steak sautéed in butter, caramelized onions and peppers, and melty cheese all on a toasty roll. The Roasted Garlic Aioli, which I adapted from a Cookie Rookie recipe, is my new favourite condiment. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love roasted garlic on some nice crusty bread. Here we make it into the most irresistible aioli for our cheesesteaks, plus it is the perfect dip for some oven fries, should you chose to serve them alongside (and I highly recommend you do!). The aioli is perfect to make ahead as it will keep for at least a week in the fridge (though you’ll want to put it on everything so I can’t promise it will actually last that long)!
I made this meal when a couple of my husband’s buddies were coming over for supper (it seemed like a manly meal to me lol), and I’m happy to report that pretty much everything can be prepared ahead of time. The veggies and steak can be sliced ahead of time and prepared later, or you can prepare your cheesesteaks completely, wrapped in foil ahead of time, so all you need to do is reheat them to melt the cheese and throw the fries in to bake. If I’m slicing my sweet potatoes or regular potatoes ahead of time, I like to keep them in a big bowl of cold water so they stay crisp and do not brown, it works great! Also, a tip for thinly sliced steak that actually works really well for forgetful mamas like me… slice your steaks while they are still partially frozen and you’ll be able to get the perfect thin strips. This works great for me because I always forget to take my meat out far enough in advance that it is completely thawed anyhow! I discard any really large, tough pieces of fat, but you want to keep the marbling in the meat as it will give it so much flavour as the steak cooks.
Now if you are worried about all the carbs in this meal, or if you are gluten free, don’t worry, I have a low carb solution so you need not miss out on cheesesteak deliciousness. You can serve your cheesesteak filling in a roasted portobello mushroom cap or half of a seeded roasted bell pepper and it will be fabulous! See my recipe notes for instructions on this route. A tangy kale slaw would be a really nice accompianment if you want to skip the oven fries. The good news for my dairy free friends is, all you need to sub out is the cheese for a hard goat’s cheese or your favourite dairy free cheese, and coconut oil or ghee for the butter. The rest, including the aioli, is already dairy free!
However you choose to serve this, I can promise you you won’t be disappointed. I’m already craving another round of these… I’m guessing it won’t be long until I whip some more up. Tell me in the comments below, are you a cheesesteak on a bun kind of person, or do you like to branch out with the low carb options? I’d love to hear how the recipe worked out for you! Hope you all have a great weekend, hopefully including some cheesesteak. 🙂
Philly Cheesesteak with Roasted Garlic Aioli
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced half moons
- 2-3 bell peppers, whatever colour your prefer thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 8 ounce Ribeye Steaks thinly sliced
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 6 slices provolone cheese
- 6 hoagie rolls, or bun of choice *low carb option: hollowed out portobello mushroom or half of a bell pepper, seeds scraped out (per person)
Roasted Garlic Aioli
- 4 whole heads of garlic tops sliced off
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 lemon, juice of
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- pinch cayenne pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Garlic Aioli (make ahead):
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Put the whole heads of garlic (tops sliced off) on a piece of tinfoil. Drizlzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and wrap tightly with the foil.
- Bake for 45 minutes until the garlic is very soft. Let cool.
- Squeeze the heads of garlic to release all of the roasted garlic cloves. Add these and the remaining ingredients to the bowl of a food processor or Nutribullet.
- Blend until smooth and creamy. Season to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. WIll keep for at least a week in the fridge.
For the Cheesesteaks:
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Add sliced onions and cook slowly until they begin to caramlize, turning a deep yellow colour. If they start browning or getting crispy, the pan is too hot. This should take about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the pepppers and cook for 3-4 minutes until the peppers soften.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Remove pepper and onion mixutre to a bowl.
- Add another tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of olive oil to the pan and, when the pan is nice and hot, add the thinly sliced steak. Season generously with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes until nicely browned. If the steak releases alot of liquid while cooking, you can quickly drain off the liquid so the steak will brown instead of boiling.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and coconut aminos and stir for 1 minute. Add steak to onion and pepper mixture and combine.
- Spread one side of each hoagie roll with a generous amount of Roasted Garlic Aioli. Add the steak/onion mixture. Top with provolone cheese. Wrap each sandwich individually with foil and bake for 10 minutes, until cheese is melty. You want to keep the sandwiches wrapped completely or the bread will get too crusty in the oven and be dificult to chew. Serve warm with oven fries, Roasted Garlic Aioli for dipping, and dill pickle spears (if desired).
Notes
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Lodge 12-inch Cast Iron Pan – My everyday go to, most used pan. I keep it on the stovetop because I use it so often there is no point in putting it away. I keep it nicely oiled and it is better than any non-stick pan I’ve ever had. It gives the best sear and I am happy knowing there are no weird chemicals or coating potentially going into our family’s food. The size is perfect for our large family. This is probably my number one staple piece of equipment in the kitchen.
NutriBullet – Sometimes it’s not practical to lug out the big food processor when I just want to make myself a smoothie, or puree a small batch of something. I’ve had my NutriBullet for several years now and it has served me very well – too many smoothies to count!
Coconut Aminos – This is an excellent healthy substitute for soy sauce. It is gluten free, soy free, much lower in sodium than soy sauce, and packed with amino acids and active enzymes. And it tastes delicious, very similar to soy sauce.
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