Oriental Style Cheese Hoagies with Soy Slaw Topping

Pairs well with:

White Merlot

Imagine sipping a lighter Merlot. This fresh, pale-pink wine is a nice change from traditional red or white wines.

America is a melting pot of cultures and right now, there is a heavy influence from Chinese, Thai & other Asian cultures.This can be witnessed by surfing TV channels and seeing food programs featuring Asian style cooking, visiting local restaurants featuring Asian cuisines and walking through aisles in your local grocery store. This, including my love of Chinese food, heavily influence this recipe and I hope people’s visual, olfactory and taste palette will welcome this addition.

Ingredients:

6 hoagie rolls, halved lengthwise
2 1/2 lbs 85% ground chuck
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp chives, finely minced
1 large egg
2 tbsp corn starch
9 slices provolone
2 tbsp butter, softened

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pad Thai sauce
1/4 tsp sugar

Soy Slaw topping
1 cup Napa cabbage, julienne
1 medium onion, julienne
1 large red bell pepper, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 4-oz can mushroom, drained
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tbsp sesame oil
Marinade (use what is leftover after meat finishes marinating)

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine ground beef, salt, 2 tbsp of chives, egg. Mix well. Then, slowly incorporate corn starch into meat mixture.

In a large dish with rimmed edges, add soy sauce, pad thai sauce and sugar. Mix till sugar dissolves into liquid.

Shape patties, a little larger than the shape of the hoagie rolls, and marinate in soy/pad Thai marinade for 7 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine butter and remaining 1 tbsp chives. Spread butter on both cut sides of each hoagie roll.

Grill patties on gas grill @ 400 F for 4 minutes on each side. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, grill buns. Finally, during the last minute of grilling, add 1 1/2 slices of provolone cheese to each patty.

Soy Slaw topping
In a mixing bowl, combine: Napa cabbage, onions, bell pepper, mushrooms and pepper flakes. Mix well. Place cast iron pan on grill. In the heated pan, add sesame oil. Flash fry garlic about 30 seconds, then add vegetables mixture. Fry & toss about 3 minutes. Add marinade used for meat patties and cook another 4 minutes.

To serve:
Plate layers as follows: Bottom of hoagie roll, grilled patty w/cheese, soy slaw topping, top of hoagie roll.