Recipe - Corned Beef Sandwiches

Due to St. Patrick's Day, there were quite a lot of Irish-inspired recipes that popped up on Bon Appetit that were emailed my way. One that I saw and wanted to try were their corned beef sandwiches, with a few changes of course. The day before St. Patrick's Day, Duc and I decided to celebrate with these sandwiches and thoroughly enjoyed their heartiness. A hiccup in our planning was finding out that we couldn't buy pre-cooked slices of corned beef and had to cook the brisket ourselves; please make sure you know what your local stores carry before you think of making this meal "real quick." I love love LOVE corned beef; the similarity to pastrami makes it even more enjoyable. Oh what brining does to meat!

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 2 hearty sandwiches)

• Dijon mustard
• unsalted butter, sliced (for pan)
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced & carmelized
• 1/2 lb. corned beef brisket, sliced
• 2-3oz. Fontina cheese, thinly sliced
• 4 slices onion dill rye bread
  

Step 2: Prepping the ingredients
Slice up the onion and cheese. If you don't have the beef brisket cooked, you should do that before even starting any of the other ingredients. If you have it cooked, slice it appropriately. I messed up on the sandwich that is pictured with too small of slices so make sure you get nice big slices that don't fall apart on you when you eat. Carmelize the onions.

Step 3: Constructing the sandwich
Spread Dijon mustard on the first slice of bread. Then layer on the corned beef brisket. Place carmelized onions on top. Layer with cheese. Spread Dijon mustard on the second bread slice and top.


Step 4: Finishing
In a skillet heated on medium, add just enough butter to brown the bread (a nice pat will do). Spread it around the hot skillet before adding the sandwich. After about a minute, flip the sandwich over. Remove and enjoy!


Photography provided by Duc.