I’ve been craving comfort food for the past few weeks, possibly because summer is coming to an end, which makes me sad. I love the freedom to let my 6-year-old sleep late and wear flip flops daily if she choses. For us, school starts back on Monday meaning the lazy days of summer officially come to an end. Sigh. I’m in need of a meaty, yummy sandwich to make me feel better. Say hello to this Beef Dip Sandwich from, you guessed it, Woman’s Day magazine. I’ve tweaked it a bit to make it Kosher so there’s no excuse for not making this bad boy yourself whenever you are in need of a little comfort.

First, let me tell you about my funny trip to the Kosher butcher. I rarely cook with beef other than ground beef for hamburgers or meatballs. When I saw that this recipe called for Beef Bottom Round or Rump Roast, I added it to my grocery list … while thinking, who in their right mind wants to eat something that is basically the behind of an animal … but I’m a beef novice so what do I know? I arrived at the meat counter and started looking for the said Rump Roast. It was no where to be found and neither was the butcher. I ventured over to the non-Kosher meat counter to see what they had. Sure enough, there was a big, plump rump roast. Hmm, I must have just missed it at the Kosher counter. So back I go to search some more. I finally found the butcher and asked for the item on my list. I’m not sure but I think he snickered before telling me that the backside of the cow was not Kosher. Apparently I wasn’t the first person to come looking for a kosher cow behind so we discussed my options and I ended up with a lovely Kosher brisket.

Later, I did a Google search on the topic and found an article titled How to make a beef hindquarter kosher by Martha Adams on eHow, as well as a few other articles that say it is possible to make the backside of a cow Kosher but it takes extra time, which probably means higher costs. I even checked KC Kosher coop and AviGlatt.com with no luck. Per one article I read, it’s easier to find this type of meat – like Filet Mignon – in Israel. I’ll continue my research on this topic but in the meantime, the brisket worked just fine for this recipe – and for this somewhat lazy cook, who didn’t want to drive all over town in search of a Kosher cow’s behind. Here’s the recipe from Woman’s Day with my tweaks to make the recipe Kosher:

Beef Dip Sandwiches Recipe – Woman’s Day

Ingredients:

• 1   (3 lb)  beef bottom round or rump  roast, trimmed (I used a 3.5 lb Kosher brisket that I cut in half since there are only 3 of us and we didn’t need 3 lbs of meat)
• 1 medium Vidalia or sweet onion (I think the onions would be yummy but my hubbie won’t eat raw onions so I skipped this ingredient)
• 1 jar(s)   (11-oz)  pepperoncini  peppers, sliced (reserve 1/2 cup juice) (I was THRILLED to find Kosher Pepperoncini Peppers at the first store on my list – WalMart. I used the Mezzetta brand. Thank you Mezzetta for making your food Kosher!)
• 1/4 cup(s) olive oil
• 1   (0.7 oz)  pouch basil vinaigrette or  Italian salad dressing & recipe mix (I used Good Seasons)
• 3 clove(s) garlic, finely  chopped
• 4 ciabatta rolls (I had no luck finding Kosher ciabatta rolls in Dallas so I went with a Kaiser Roll instead. I’ll continue searching for Kosher ciabatta rolls and maybe even consider making them in the future. Has anyone tried homemade ciabatta rolls?).
• Sliced  tomatoes and baby arugula, for serving
• Sliced avacado (Since I skipped the onions, I added a layer of slides avacado instead. It was an awesome addition to the sandwich).

Directions:

• In a 5- or 6-qt slow cooker, combine the pepper juice, oil, dressing  mix, garlic and 1/4 cup water. Add the beef and turn to coat.
• Cook, covered, until the beef is tender, 8 to 10 hours on low or 5 to  6 hours on high. Transfer beef to a cutting board and let rest for at least 15  minutes before slicing. (Since I was using a smaller cut of meat, I reduced the cooking time to 6 hours on low but wished I had reduced the time even more because the meat was a little tougher than I’d like. Next time I’ll try 4 hours on low).
• While the beef is resting, thinly slice the onion and pepperoncini  peppers and cut the rolls in half lengthwise. Brush cut sides of the roll with  some of the cooking liquid. Pour remaining liquid into a serving  bowl.
• Layer the beef, onions, sliced pepperoncini, tomatoes and arugula on  the rolls (I added the avacado slices). Serve with reserved cooking liquid for dipping.

This Kosher Beef Dip Sandwich is a crazy-filling meal. Fortunately the toppings provide some vegetables so you won’t feel so guilty about not serving a side-dish, but you really don’t need anything else to go with it. According to Woman’s Day, the calorie count is 635 based on their recipe. However, the Kaiser Roll (167) seems to have fewer calories than the Ciabatta Roll (250) but the added avacado probably cancels out any savings. So just know it’s comfort food, it’s filliing and it’s somewhat fattening – probably not something you should eat everyday but definitely worth the comfort every now and then.

Happy Kosher Treif Cooking!