BBQ Beef Open-Faced Sandwiches - No Grill Required! (gluten-free and grain-free options)

It is over 100 degrees outside here, and at this time of year I avoid using the oven or slow cooker because I don't want to heat up the kitchen too much.  This recipe for BBQ Beef Open-Faced Sandwiches cooks up in less than 30 minutes, and my family loves it!  We prefer to eat these open-faced, with just one piece of bread each, so we eat this meal with forks and knives.

Most of us eat this BBQ Beef on toasted, buttered sourdough bread; since my daughter still does best avoiding gluten most of the time, I serve hers on top of a homemade gluten-free freezer waffle. (I now leave the vanilla extract out of the waffle recipe so that I can use waffles as an all-purpose bread substitute for my daughter.) For a grain-free alternative, grain-free sandwich bread could be used.

BBQ Beef Open-Faced Sandwiches
Serves 6-8

• one small white onion, diced
• 2 Tb butter, preferably from grassfed cows
• 1&1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably from locally raised grassfed cows
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• BBQ Sauce (loosely based on Steven Raichlen's recipe):
• 1 cup ketchup*
• 1 Tb blackstrap molasses
• 2 Tb apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tb Dijon mustard
• 2 Tb sucanat or brown sugar
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 2 Tb gluten-free soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp dried celery seed
• 1/4 tsp dried cayenne
• 3/4 tsp dried paprika
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• celtic sea salt and pepper
• shredded cheddar cheese, to garnish
• bread, such as sourdough, homemade gluten-free freezer waffle, or grain-free sandwich bread
• butter for bread

1. Melt  2Tb butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion, sprinkle with salt, and saute for 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent. 
2. In the meantime, combine the BBQ Sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
3. Crumble the ground beef into the skillet with the onion. Brown the meat for several minutes, stirring occasionally. It is not necessary to fully cook the meat at this time.
4. Add the minced garlic and saute about 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
5. Pour the BBQ Sauce over the meat in the skillet and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat a bit, just to maintain the simmer. Loosely cover the skillet and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. In the meantime, toast the bread and lightly butter it. Shred the cheddar cheese.
7. Take the lid off the meat, and allow to cook a couple minutes uncovered to allow some of the moisture to evaporate. Taste the meat for seasoning and add salt/pepper as needed. When it is done cooking, the sauce will have thickened, but will still be very moist. Turn off heat.
8. Arrange the toasted, buttered bread on plates. Top it with the BBQ Beef and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.  Crispy fried potatoes and a side salad make great accompaniments! Or to keep it simple, you could just serve these sandwiches with some organic Kettle chips. 

*Since the probiotics in fermented ketchup would be destroyed by cooking, I use storebought Annie's organic ketchup in this recipe.

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