Open-Faced Hot Roast Beef Sandwich

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb thinly sliced roast beef
• 8 slices soft white sandwich bread
• 2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup whole milk, warm
• 4 tbsp salted butter
• 4 tbsp beef drippings or butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Before you cook

• Peel and chunk the potatoes and put them in a pot of cold salted water.
• Warm the milk in a small saucepan or the microwave.
• Chop the parsley.

Steps

1. Bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat and cook them for 18 minutes, until a knife slides through with no resistance.
2. Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot dry pot for 30 seconds to steam off surface moisture.
3. Mash the potatoes with the 4 tablespoons of butter and the warm milk, then season them with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and cover the pot.
4. Melt the beef drippings in a saucepan over medium heat.
5. Whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the roux turns the color of peanut butter.
6. Pour in the beef broth in a slow stream, whisking hard so no lumps form.
7. Add the Worcestershire, onion powder, remaining salt, and pepper, then simmer the gravy for 6 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon.
8. Slide the sliced roast beef into the simmering gravy and heat it for 3 minutes, just until hot through.
9. Lay two slices of bread side by side on each dinner plate.
10. Lift the beef out of the gravy with tongs and drape it over the bread.
11. Add a large scoop of mashed potatoes to one side of each plate.
12. Ladle gravy generously over the beef, the bread, and the potatoes, then scatter parsley over the top and serve with a fork and knife.