…if what they want is GOOD food.

I didn’t eat much roast beef growing up; the only place I ever really saw it was in sandwiches. In fact, my first encounter with this particular roast beef came about after a botched attempt at an Italian beef sandwich.  See, I have a thing for sandwiches.  I expect perfection: not too small, not too crusty, and each flavor component should burst with each bite. Unlike my reproduction of the BELT, my beef sando effort was doomed from the start. First I ruined the relish. Then I realized I wasn’t going to have nearly the jus required for an authentic, “wet” Chicago-style hoagie. Instead, I was left with a perfectly cooked,  medium-rare eye-round roast — there are worse problems, I know. Now Lauren begs me to make this “failure” every couple of weeks.

Employing a few slow-roasting techniques that I’ve picked up over the years as well some overnight salting, I’ve refined this recipe into a roast that yields superbly seasoned, tender and juicy meat.  Served alongside mashed potatoes with a horseradish cream sauce or steak sauce and you have a cheap dinner that definitely satisfies any serious beef cravings.

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Having never been to New Mexico, I am by no means an expert on green chili. While I’ve made a Mexican version of chile verde in the past with the addition of tomatillos, this authentic New Mexico version relies exclusively on the smokey, complex flavor of roasted green chiles.

My sister, having visited the Southwest on several occasions, oftentimes regales me with stories “of the best tasting green chili on the planet” and boasts about the fact that you can get “roasted green chilies on anything.”  Judging by how fanatical the inhabitants of the state are about food in general and especially their famous green sauce, I have no doubt that I would fit right in.

Knowing how fascinated I am by the humble, yet satisfying cuisine of he Southwest, one of the first cookbooks my girlfriend ever purchased for me was Huntley Dent’s, The Feast of Santa Fe: Cooking of the American Southwest.  While the picadillo recipe has already become one of our all-time favorite weeknight meals, after preparing this authentic green chili, we just might have discovered our new, slow-cooked Sunday sauce.  If the sound or look of this dish doesn’t get you excited, throw some green chilies in the oven to roast and their intoxicating aroma certainly will.

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In elementary school, showing up to the lunch table with an egg salad sandwich was almost certain social suicide. This was unfortunate for someone like myself who simply loved the stuff.  Along with tuna sandwiches (which somehow brought about an even more violent reaction in my peers), egg salad sandwiches were unfortunately an after school snack staple.

It wasn’t until I was in college, going to school at the University of California at Santa Cruz, that my girlfriend turned me on to  a version of egg salad that even picky grade schoolers would have difficult time hating. Known as the BELT at Zoccoli’s Delicatessen on Pacific Avenue, this simple, yet delicious sandwich marries the classic bacon, lettuce and tomato version with the creamy, richness of egg salad on toasted wheat bread. 

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