Some nights you just feel like throwing in the towel and eating leftover crackers and dip while standing over your kitchen counter. This was one of those nights. We’d agreed it would be Top Chef Night and we weren’t going to let the down mood deter us, so we went with the toppiest top chef we could think of — Tom Colicchio and his ‘wichcraft sandwich book. We found a quick, delicious-looking sandwich tucked away in the “breakfast sandwich” section, but we kicked breakfast to the curb.

We decided to eliminate the fried egg from the skirt steak and oyster mushroom sandwich with parsley vinaigrette because K doesn’t like eggs at all and I don’t like fried eggs. No problem. Egg out. With that decision taken care of, we only had a few simple steps to take before we could enjoy dinner. From our “bounty” of parsley in our container garden (plus some chopped shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, olive oil and salt) we mixed up the parsley vinaigrette.

K sautéed the mushrooms with a little garlic then tossed them in some parsley vinaigrette. We’d coated the skirt steak (from Thousand Hills) with big chunks of sea salt and some pepper and, when it had absorbed all the goodness, we threw it onto the grill pan (because our grill cooks unreliably unevenly). Once cooked medium-rare, we popped the steak onto the bowl of mushrooms and vinaigrette so the meat could rest and everything would absorb the juicy goodness.

I couldn’t find ciabatta rolls at the co-op, but I found mini baguettes so we toasted them lightly and piled everything on top. A few sweet potato chips on the side and we were ready to take a breather from the craptastic week with a fantastic sandwich. And fantastic it was. The bread was crispy on the outside, but still pillowy soft on the inside. The meat was tender and juicy. The mushrooms were robust and the parsley vinaigrette was vibrant and cool. The bread soaked up all the delicious juices too, I love it when that happens. It was the perfect antidote to a long week and a quick, simple dinner.

Skirt Steak and Oyster Mushroom Sandwich with Parsley Vinaigrette

Alterations: No fried egg, used fresh shiitake mushrooms instead of oyster mushrooms.
Would we make this again: Yes. In fact, we’d recommend the entire ‘wichcraft book because it has great ideas for quick but gourmet-delicious meals so you can have a sandwich for every meal of the day.