Yorkshire Pudding Roast Beef Sandwich

A few weeks ago I was perusing Angela's blog and came across something that stopped me in my tracks.  It was a twist on a classic roast dinner, a roast dinner sandwich if you will.   However this was no normal looking sandwich.  On closer inspection something was rather different about this particular option.  There was no bread....or bap...or roll....or bun...or indeed any other type of breaded product that you would normally associate with a sandwich (did anyone else just have the toaster sequence from Red Dwarf flash though their heads or am I on my own with that one?)
What you had instead was thick cut slices of beautifully rare roast beef layered with peppery rocket and sweet caramelised onions.  In between humongous slices of Yorkshire pudding.  This looked like heaven and I had to try it.
Steve happened to agree with me as I discovered when I got a text message from him asking for it for dinner soon after seeing it on my twitter feed.  It's quite rare for Steve to request something in particular so when he does, I know he is keen!
This was a double whammy recipe for me as well as the leftovers gave me an excuse to try out something I have only ever drooled over the idea of on the television before, but more of that later.
This would work with a hot or cold roasted meat joint but you want to start cooking the Yorkshire pudding and the caramelised red onions about 10 minutes before the beef is ready to come out of the oven and 30 minutes before you want to eat.
Once you have your timings worked out and your beef is merrily cooking as you want it to, you can get cracking on the Yorkshire pudding.  I've tweaked Angela's measurements slightly to work for the type of pan I wanted to use.
170g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
5 eggs
230ml semi-skimmed milk
Enough vegetable oil to cover the base of your baking tray to a depth of about half a centimeter.  Anymore than this and you won't just get a soggy bottom on your Yorkshire, you will get one that is full of oil which is rather unpleasant to eat!
So, mix all your ingredients together and whisk until really smooth and full of air (about 3 minutes).  Stick the mixture in the fridge to chill.
In the meantime put the baking pan with oil into the oven to heat up.  Turn the oven up to 230C (this is why you need to take the beef out now).  Wrap your beef up tight in tin foil and clean tea towels like a toddler and leave it somewhere to catch its breath and rest.  After 10 minutes the oil should be scalding hot.
Work very, very carefully here.  Take the baking dish out of the oven, pour the chilled batter into the dish (it may spit) and put it back in the oven for 20 minutes to cook.  Do not open the oven door during this process.

You will end up with a monster Yorkshire pudding.
 While the Yorkshire pudding is cooking and the beef is resting, get to work on the caramalised onions.
1 red onion, peeled and sliced finely
1 glass red wine
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 glass water
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4-5 springs of fresh thyme
Knob of butter
In a large shallow pan, fry the onions in the butter until soft, then add the glass of red wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Add the sugar, balsamic vinegar, water and thyme and turn the heat up to high to bring it to a furious boil and let the onions reduce until you have a sticky, syrupy mixture.
Once everything is cooked, you are ready to assemble!
Carve your Yorkshire pudding into large squares (quarters makes sense) and then layer the beef and caramalised onions with fresh rocket.  Carefully fold the Yorkshire pudding in half and voila, a sandwich is born! 
I had quite a lot of Yorkshire pudding left over and so I tried out something I have only ever seen Nigella do on television.  I heated up some leftover pudding when I was peckish and poured cream and golden syrup over them.
Oh my.
This discovery will be dangerous.
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