A High Class Peanut Butter Sandwich

I recently started a new job behind the bread counter at Eataly. As a result, the amount of bread I have consumed in the past week has been kiiind of ridiculous. I thought I'd be able to resist, but when you have the opportunity to take free loaves of bread home... well... could you resist?

Right now I've got a semolina baguette with lots of seeds all over it, a bag of chocolate rolls, a cinnamon raisin loaf and one with pancetta and provolone baked right in. Sheesh. But the one that didn't last very long was the fig bread. Amazingly delicious. (Especially toasted for breakfast with a teeny bit of mascarpone spread on top instead of butter.)

One day for lunch I decided to make a grilled cheese on fig bread. Unfortunately I didn't have anything fancy -- I could have gone for some brie or jarlsberg, or even some gouda. All I had was slices of store-brand cheddar. So I thought to myself, "Well... What else goes with cheese?" And I bet your first thought would not be "Peanut butter, obviously." But think about it: Everybody loves those cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers. And that's how my sandwich was created.

Toast 2 slices of fig bread (of course, any bread would do if you don't have this amazing creation available to you) with cheese on top. Just enough so the cheese is melty and the bread is a little toasty. But before putting them together, add some peanut butter. I used natural crunchy (as always) and it made the sandwich a little messy, but what did I care? I was alone and didn't think twice about mopping up my peanut butter drips with the bread. Completely worth the mess.

So next time you have a craving for a peanut butter sandwich, try it with a slice of cheese. It'd be equally delicious on whatever bread you like and untoasted.

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Steak, Pepper & Onion Grinders

This is making me hungry just thinking about how to make it....

For the marinade:

1/4c. ken's italian dressing

1/4c soy sauce

1 - 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

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1 lb shaved steak

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

sliced mushrooms (optional)

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

split rolls

shredded italian cheese (anything sharp: provolone, asiago, fontina or all of the above)

Marinate the meat in the mixture for at least an hour. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan on med heat. Add meat (reserving marinade liquid) to pan and cook until brown. remove meat from pan and add onions and peppers, cooking until softened. Add mushrooms and garlic about halfway through (5 minutes) this process. If your pan needs a little deglazing after all of this add a little of the leftover marinade, but not too much or your sandwiches will be soggy. Return the cooked meat to the pan and mix everything together 1 - 2 minutes.

Toast the rolls, spoon the steak and veggies onto them and top with the shredded italian cheese.