Greedy Girl : Scallion Pancake Philly Cheese Steak Wrap

Potluck

There are several crazy things happening all at once in this one delicious bite. There is the delicious scallion pancake, the perfectly cooked peppers and onions, the rib eye steak and then there is the garlic provolone cheese sauce. The most perfect layers of flavors one could imagine.

Let just put this out there, I’ve never had a Philly cheese steak, meaning a cheese steak sandwich made in Philadelphia. I have however had several NY cheese steak sandwiches, the first experience being at college. We use to have flat top made cheese steak sandwiches all the time at our college with peppers, onions, cheddar and provolone.

Let’s talk about the cheese. There are several ideas of what type of cheese makes a perfect steak sandwich, whether it be provolone, cheddar cheese sauce or cheese wiz. I personally hate the cheese wiz idea so I can’t speak on its taste. Provolone tends to be very subtle with cheddar being the most present flavor wise. However the cheese sauce on a sandwich almost always trumps a slice, and I find strong cheddar over powers the steak onion and peppers, so for me provolone is the winner. I decided to do a provolone sauce with a touch cheddar and a hint of garlic just to be fancy.

I actually got a tip from the Butcher at whole foods. He said instead of purchasing steaks and slicing them you could go to the meat counter and have them slice the roast beef, maybe a pound or two and then make the recipe in the same way as if you had used the rib eye. I tried both ways and they are equally yummy. The roast beef was not as juicy as the rib eye but it was more tender, cooked faster because it was sliced so paper thin. If your butcher would slice.

Ingredients (printable recipe)

For the scallion pancake (see this post)

3 cups flour

1 ¼ cup hot water

4 stalks scallion

Salt

Oil

For the steak

2 boneless rib eye steaks

1 green sweet pepper

1 onion

Salt (to taste)

Black pepper (to taste)

¼ teaspoon Allspice

Oil for the pan or flat top

For the cheese sauce

8 provolone slices

4 cloves garlic

4 oz cream cheese

2 oz cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

2 tablespoon

Instructions

For the scallion pancakes (see this post)

Heat a flat skillet
Combine the flour and hot water and knead into a dough, set aside covered for 20 minutes
Slice the scallions and set aside
Portion the dough into balls about the size of one and a half golf balls
Flour a work surface and roll into a flat disk
Brush generously with oil, sprinkle with salt and some chopped scallions
Roll the dough into a log and then roll again into a spiral shape
Flatten the dough down and roll it out again into a flat disk
Place some oil in the pot and fry the pancakes on both sides until golden brown and crispy

For the cheese sauce

In a blender or food processor, combine, provolone, cheddar, cream cheese and garlic
Whisk together the flour and milk and place in a saucepan to warm
When the milk is warm and bubbling turn off the heat and add the blended cheese mixture
Whisk until the cheese has melted and become one uniform consistency

For the steak

Remove all bones, skin, connective tissue and any other elements that are not pure meat from the rib eye.
Slice it with a very sharp knife as thin as you can
Slice the onions and peppers
In a very hot skillet add some oil to the pot and sauté the onions and peppers sauté until they begin to caramelize slightly sprinkle on a little salt
Remove from the heat and set aside
Reheat the pot to very hot and add more oil
Place the thin cut steak in the pot without moving it, season the top with salt black pepper and allspice
Once the bottom looks like its caramelizing flip it over and allow the other side to cook while using a spatula to sauté and stir the meat.
Add the cooked onions and peppers to the meat and continue to sauté until all the flavors have melded together and the beef is cooked.

Assembly