I'm completely off of cold cuts. Except for the really dry, salt cured stuff like prosciutto, salami, soppressata. The listeriosis scare did it. Well, for us it was a scare, but people died. How sad. My favourite sangwich* meat is cooked ham. Prosciutto cotto was my replacement until I got a rank batch from Valoroso's last month. I don't blame them, but I'm off the cotto forever, for sure. Unfortunately all ham freaks me out now. Unless it's smoked and boiled in Coca-Cola.

I make my own sangwich meats now:

ham in coca cola
meatballs in tomato sauce
mini meatloaf in brown pan gravy
roast beef
roast chicken

After always being afraid of roast beef... my father had instilled in me a fear of failure and tough roast beef so I never I gave it a try, I digress. Well, let me share with you one of the most awesome discoveries I've made in a while.

I scored some pretty inexpensive top sirloin roasts at my organic grocer. I literally paid $5 a piece for two-pound roasts. I anoint the roast with some good extra virgin olive oil. then I sprinkle it all around with Mesquite spice. Crank the oven to 500 degrees F and when the oven is screaming hot, place the roast uncovered on the center rack for 7 minutes per lb. Then shut the oven off and don't, I repeat DON'T open the oven for 2.5 hours. What you get is perfect, tender, medium rare (leave it in longer if you like it pink but not bloody) roast beef. Wrap in aluminum foil and store in the fridge not longer than 3 days. It's much easier to slice cold. Mmmmmm... beefy goodness.