Serves: 2

Matty Matheson’s new cookbook Soups, Salads, Sandwiches is a must-have cookbook.

There isn’t a thing in it I wouldn’t cook.

Four recipes in, each has been a blockbuster.

The book is full of obtainable, super tasty food with a few fancy touches here and there; the Sichuan Chilli Oil Smashed Cucumber Salad and Soy-Cured Egg is just one example: a beautiful, sophisticated yet obtainable Asian salad.

The photos – and there are plenty – of Matty and his family are just fun.

And the stories are fucking fun. (He swears a lot.)

This taco sub isn’t sophisticated though is damn excellent.

This is a Saturday night, tequila time dinner.

As Matty says introducing this recipe:

To this day, my favourite restaurant is Robo Marty a small gas station und the Peace Bridge on the Niagara River. They used to have a taco sub that was so insane it worked, and it made me happy. Cheesy Mexican pickled jalapeño beef. Texy mexy beefy. Cheesy sexy texy mixy mexy jalapeño beef. After a few minutes it would relax you, and if you were like me and in high school on a BMX bike eating this in the woods, then you do what you gotta do. Life is not a straight line, but it is not fair if you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too. The taco sub is that for me. It’s a double-edged sword and double entendre, but it’s always worth the fight.

Ingredients

500gm ground beef
1 c water
Two 30gm packets spicy taco seasoning
1/2 c pickled jalapeños
6 slices American cheese
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 submarine buns
1 white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced
1 c Wedge Salad Dressing
Frank’s RedHot sauce (available in Australia)

Method

1. The biggest thing is making this beef. It’s so important. Get a large skillet really hot with no oil. Take the ground beef out of the pack and put it into the hot pan. Sear it like one big cheeseburger patty and let it fry up, about 10 minutes. Once it is a little smoky, using a flat wooden spatula, scrape the beef off the pan and chop it all up and break it down. Keep chopping with your spatula while it browns and cooks, about 5 minutes.
2. When the beef is completely browned, deglaze the pan with water. Stir that in with the beef. Real quick. Dump in the magic powder (taco seasoning) and pickled jalapeños. Keep stirring until your entire house smells like magic and cook it out for 5 minutes max. Throw in the American cheese and stir until the cheese melts and is incorporated, about 2 minutes. It will become stinky cheesy texy mexy beefy, Turn off the beef heat, The residual heat will melt the cheese.
3. Take the bun. Don’t toast it. Slice it open. Take a big spoonful of cheesy beef and throw three clumps of it into the soft bun. Throw half the onions, tomatoes, and lettuce on top, then drizzle with the dressing. Squirt some hot sauce all over it. Take your knife and squish it all in. Wrap it in parchment paper. Repeat with the other sub.
4. Slice the sub down the middle, then peel it back and take a bite.
5. I told you how bloody good this was.