So tonight's dinner was a classic: a no-advance-planning, lets-see-what's-in-the-fridge, maybe-we-should-just-order-pizza kind of dinner. But there was a bag that I thought was leftover potatoes that turned out to be meat. And there were fresh-ish buns (from the Gesundheit Bakery no less, yet), and there was a can of beef broth. Sounds to me like beef dip.

Recipe:

• Preheat the pan to medium (half as far as the dial goes - do not "turn it to eleven", Nigel Tufnel!)
• Cut up an onion into strips, not tiny little pieces (use a normal, supermarket sized onion—smaller than a grapefruit, bigger than a golf ball)
• Put butter in your hot pan (less butter than a golfball, but not by much)
• Stir to cover the onions with butter and let cook 5-8 minutes (or until "golden brown" as they say on the cooking shows ;-)

Meanwhile...

• Cut the roast beef up into the thinnest slices you can manage, but don't worry too much about size—you're not competing with Arby's here yet.
• Once the onions are brownish and softish, add the meat—stir again.
• Once the pan recovers some of the heat it lost from the meat, add a can or two of beef broth.
• Salt and pepper—or just do your own later if your kids like it milder.
• Add a splash of soy sauce (maybe 1/4 of a shot glass) and/or Worcestershire if you have either on hand.
• Turn up the heat a bit to speed the boiling down of the broth. If you like dipping things (mmm, mushy bread—someday I'll do a whole series on mushy bread recipes), add more broth to make it a little juicier.

Meanwhile...

• Toast the buns, get the kids to set the table, open a can of veggies, make a salad ... or don't do any of these things.

Finally...

• Strain the beef/onion/broth mix into a bowl. Put the beef back into the pan to keep it warm. Pour the broth into small bowls. Add a slice of cheese or put mayo or butter on the buns if your kids are too skinny—not so much if they're not.
•  Enjoy, cause that's a MANwich.