Beef Au Jus

We made a delicious treat with the leftover beef for dinner! *This* was the inspiration for a blog.

Trader Joe's sells and awesome sourdough bread right now. It's perfect on the panini press or simply with bread and butter!
It's their Tuscan Pane "...wonderfully crusty and a soft, chewy texture. Satisfying and hearty, enjoy this bread dipped into your favorite soup, as a base for sandwiches or with a favorite cheese."
Au jus is French for "with its own juice." In America it describes a thin sauce for using with beef. It is not thick like many sauces or gravies. This sauce is sometimes served with (on) the food or placed in a small individual bowl on the side for dipping into. It is sometimes served in a gravy boat, as well.

They also happen to sell a nice mushroon brie (though any brie or cheese is surely good).

We topped the bread with sliced beef, then dabs of brie, then topped with sauteed rings of onion (from the au jus).
Toasted in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Poured the au jus over it- ate with a fork & knife- YUMMY!!!

Ingredients:

Drippings from beef roast (we only used a scant amount of juice that collected in the hunk of beef leftover container). 2 1/2 cups beef stock or brown stock (more like 3/4 cup of leftover low sodium Swanson beef stock, with a splash of sherry added) Salt and pepper to taste (beef is salty and peppered already so we didn't use) 2 1/2 ounces chopped onions (just scale down the amount of veggies)(2 big rings chopped) 1 ounce chopped carrots(2 carrots) 1 ounce chopped celery(1 stalk) Instructions: Drain off all but 1-2 ounces of the fat from the roasting pan being careful to retain any juices in the pan from your roast Add the onions, carrots and celery (we just sauteed in vegetable oil). Set the pan over medium high heat and cook until the vegetables are brown and their moisture has evaporated leaving only fat, vegetables and brown drippings and adjust heat so the mixture does not burn. Pour off excess fat(not necessary) Pour 2/3 cup of the stock into the roasting pan to deglaze it (didn't have one). Stir over heat until brown drippings are dissolved. Pour the deglazing liquid and vegetables into a sauce pan with the remaining stock Simmer until the vegetables are soft and the liquid is reduced by about 1/3. Strain through a sieve lined with cheesecloth (didn't break out the cheesecloth/unnecessary) into a clean sauce pan, skim the fat off and season to taste with salt and pepper Pour savory juices over your yummy cheesy beef toast and enjoy!