Roast beef sandwiches with caper-horseradish mayo and arugula - to go!
Jon is a man of many hats—one of the more common ones is workman. He has completely gutted and/or renovated and/or built out all three of his restaurants, and he really, really enjoys it. He is currently engaged in the overhaul of the kitchen at the bar, and on Sunday, he and two friends planned to work on it all day. I thought it would be nice to bring them over lunch, so I made what is my favorite deli meat sandwich, inspired by one from a local bakery that I can't get enough of: good white bread, roast beef, provolone, arugula, red onion, and caper mayo with a little bit of horseradish. Grilled. And served with kettle chips. It's perfection.
Roast beef sandwiches
Good white bread (I bought a loaf from a bakery and cut it into ¾ inch slices)
Caper-horseradish mayo (recipe to follow)
Thinly sliced roast beef (about 2-3 oz per sandwich)
Provolone cheese (1 slice per sandwich)
Very thinly sliced red onion (about 5-6 slices per sandwich)
Baby arugula (small handful per sandwich)
Freshly cracked black pepper
Butter for grilling
Small frying pan to use as a weight on top of sandwich
Grill pan for grilling
Caper-horseradish mayo
Yields enough for 4 sandwiches
½ cup mayo
1 T chopped capers
1 tsp prepared horseradish
¼ tsp salt, or more to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper
Begin by making the mayo by combining all ingredients in a small bowl or jar and stirring together. Refrigerate until ready to make the sandwiches.
To assemble the sandwiches, start by spreading a spoonful of caper-horseradish mayo on a slice of bread. Pile on roast beef, and top with a piece of provolone cheese. Place red onion slices on top of cheese, followed by arugula. Then, add another spoonful of mayo to another slice of bread, and crack a little black pepper on it. Turn over onto sandwich. Spread a little butter on top of sandwich (for grilling).
Heat a grill pan over medium-low heat. Place sandwich, buttered side down, on grill pan, and set small frying pan on top of sandwich to weigh it down. Grill for a few minutes until underside has golden brown grill marks, and prepare to flip. Before flipping, though, spread a little butter on top side of sandwich. Then, flip and grill for another few minutes. Repeat with additional sandwiches, being aware that sandwiches may grill a little faster the second and third rounds as the grill pan gets hotter. Serve right away with potato chips, or pack them up to-go along with chips the way I did!