Southwest 'Philly' Cheesesteak

Whenever hubby and I go out to a restaurant there are a couple of things that I tend to gravitate to if they're on the menu - along with jalapeno poppers and lemon meringue pie (which doesn't come along too often unfortunately), I love to see Philly Cheesesteak on the page.  Some have fancier bread than others, some add a different twist with the cheese choice, some mix up the veggies, but whatever differences are there I'll usually want to try it.  Well here's my take on one of my favourites, and I'm calling it my Southwest 'Philly' because like so many of my recipes it's turned down the road to Spiceville with the addition of salsa (you may of noticed our penchant for the salsa kick :o)

Southwest 'Philly' Cheesesteak
serves 4

3 small bell peppers, sliced
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup salsa
1/2 brick cream cheese
300g deli cooked beef
pinch of salt and pepper
loaf of french bread (or individual baguettes)
4 slices of cheese of choice (I used Havarti)

• in a large skillet saute the peppers and onion in a little olive oil over medium to high heat, until softened.
• add the salsa and cream cheese and heat until the cream cheese has melted and the sauce is creamy.
• cut the deli beef up into strips and add to the pan;  mix, reduce heat and simmer until the beef is heated through and the sauce has thickened slightly - 5 minutes.
• cut the french loaf into four pieces and slice each piece in half for the sandwich (today I actually used a 'half-baked' baguette that I had in the freezer).
• heap some of the beef mixture onto the bottom of each baguette piece and place a slice of cheese on the top.
• place under a broiler to melt the cheese or if you've been cooking something in the oven (as I was) pop it inside for a couple of minutes just until the cheese is soft and gooey - yum!!

 Southwest 'Philly' Cheesesteak ingredients.

in a large skillet saute the peppers and onion.

add the salsa and cream cheese.

reduce the heat and simmer until the cream cheese has melted - sorry about the steam making the photo 'misty' :o)

cut the deli beef into pieces - and of course, nobody will blame you if you sneak a little piece - purely for taste test reasons!!

add the beef to the sauce, mix and heat through.

heap some beef mixture onto the bottoms of the baguette and cover with cheese - this was just before I popped it into the oven to melt the cheese.

we had ours today with some sweet potato discs and chive sour cream.