Open-Face Steak Sandwiches with Herbed Goat Cheese and Tomatoes from Fine Cooking Magazine, June/July 2010

Leftovers always end up being a headache-causing experience for us. On nights that I don't want to cook (or clean the kitchen) we graze the refrigerator, each person picking out what looks best to them, be it a grilled cheese sandwich or reheated dinner from the night before. Unfortunately, this method usually doesn't bring down the amount of leftovers simply because everyone chooses the path of least resistance; something that doesn't need much preparation or clean-up.

The main problem is, though, that while I'm pretty good at creating new recipes, I'm not as fond of or good at using up the results of those recipes in other dishes. There are a few things, like shepherd's pie with leftover mashed potatoes and vegetables, that are no-brainers, but my creativity tends to go fetal when I'm looking in the fridge and trying to figure out how to use stuff up before I have to throw it out.

So, I love the section in this magazine called "Cook Once/Eat Twice." Using the Grilled Flank Steak with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce leftovers as the base, the magazine provides an additional three recipes that can be made, all taking a minimum of time. Since there's only three of us, I had only made one flank steak and still had enough leftovers to make on additional dish so I chose the Open-Face Steak Sandwiches with Herbed Goat Cheese and Tomatoes.

Instead of buying a loaf of bread, I just used homemade bread, in this case the Kneadless Bread that is so easy but tastes so incredible. The recipe itself is very simple. The herbed goat cheese consists of parsley, basil, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. That's the only real preparation, unless you count slicing tomatoes and beef and shaving the cheese. Admittedly, I'm not that good at slicing beef really thin if it's not been semi-frozen beforehand, but that's ok, it's just for family.

As the instructions suggested, I did have to lower my rack a notch or two after the first two minutes because the bread was starting to burn but the cheese hadn't begun browning.  Lowering did the trick and the sandwich toasted up very well after that.

The first bite is quite a surprise because of the tartness that the lemon zest brings to the party, however with each consecutive bite, the flavor continues to grow and develop and is quite wonderful. I don't know that I'll bother to rub a piece of garlic over the bread if I make this again. With the garlic in the herbed goat cheese, it doesn't really need more. Of course, now that I write that, there's a different flavor in the garlic that's been toasted on the bread and the raw garlic in the cheese. (Can you tell that I'm tasting a lot of garlic at the moment?)

Anyhow, we did enjoy this very much and think it's an excellent and quick way to use up leftover steak of any sort. Another winner for us.