Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak
There is something special and comforting about this dish.  I have tried them in various restaurants, but never made them myself.  A few months ago, I ate a rather poor version of Chicken Fried Steak in a restaurant... and it was a POOR version, combined with the fact that it was really poor service that day and they didn't bring the gravy out with the steak and I had to wait 5 to 10 minutes for them to bring it and by then my steak was less than perfect.. so I went to look for a version I can do myself.  This certainly isn't diet food!  I am on a semi diet though -- so I had a small piece.
I made the mistake of buying two family packs of cube steak there were two huge steaks in each pack, but I could have just purchased one..as I cut them into smaller pieces to make them manageable.  I followed the recipe from allrecipes.com exactly, but seasoned up the gravy with a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to get the taste where I like it.                                        
I also drizzled lemon juice over the steaks for extra flavor, but did not find it to give it much flavor, I think next time I will squeeze some over the steaks after they come out of the cast iron skillet (if you have one, this recipe is perfect for it!)  I served this with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, sorry about the lighting in the picture.  This makes plenty of Gravy!  My husband and I loved it.  The kids preferred it without gravy (I have sick children I know!)

Here is the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Chicken-Fried-Steak/Detail.aspx
The-Best-Chicken-Fried-Steak
4 (1/2 pound) beef cube steaks
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g.
Tabasco™)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable shortening for deep
frying
Gravy:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste (1 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper)
5 dashes of Tabasco (Becky's change)

Pound the steaks to about 1/4-inch thickness. Place 2 cups of flour in a shallow bowl. Stir together the baking powder, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a separate shallow bowl; stir in the buttermilk, egg, Tabasco Sauce, and garlic. Dredge each steak first in the flour, then in the batter, and again in the flour. Pat the flour onto the surface of each steak so they are completely coated with dry flour.

Heat the shortening in a deep cast-iron skillet to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Fry the steaks until evenly golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Place fried steaks on a plate with paper towels to drain. Drain the fat from the skillet, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid and as much of the solid remnants as possible.

Return the skillet to medium-low heat with the reserved oil. Whisk the remaining flour into the oil. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula to release solids into the gravy. Stir in the milk, raise the heat to medium, and bring the gravy to a simmer, cook until thick, 6 to 7 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Spoon the gravy over the steaks to serve.

Recipe Notes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ready in 40 minutes
Serves 4

Becky's NOTES:
After dredging the cube steak in flour and buttermilk and then in flour again it is a pretty gloppy mess!  I stacked my steaks on a plate, but as I got toward the end of frying I didn't know where the steak began to pick it up, next time I will put wax paper between each steak so they don't stick to each other and pull the breading off other steaks.  Will make again!

Herb-Stuffed Yankee Pot Roast with Root Vegetables

I love the cooking magazine: Cuisine at Home.  The recipes always have a nice step by step instructions and illustrations.  This turned out amazing and the house smelled so good!  Enjoy.

Herb-Stuffed Yankee Pot Roast with Root Vegetables - Cuisine at Home
 (Cuisine at Home Issue 79 February 2010  page 39)

FOR THE BEEF:
1 beef chuck pot roast (2 1/2-3 lb)
3 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbsp. sliced garlic cloves
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

FOR THE SAUCE:
2 medium onions, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup flour
1 cup dry red wine

2 cups low sodium beef broth
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf

FOR THE VEGETABLES:
2 cups baby red potatoes
1 medium turnip, peeled and quartered
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 2 inch pieces
2 cups button mushrooms
sprigs of fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Trim exterior fat from roast.  Using kitchen twine, tie roast around its circumference.
Combine Thyme, garlic, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Pat meat dry.  Cut 1 inch deep slits into the meat with a paring knife; stuff with thyme mixture.  Season roast well on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large ovenproof pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Sear roast on all sides until well browned, 8-10 minutes.  Transfer roast to a platter

Saute onions, celery, and died carrots in the pan drippings, stirring often, until onions start to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste; stir until it starts to brown on bottom of the pot.  Stir in flour.

Deglaze the pot with wine, scraping up any browned bits.  Stir in broth; bring liquid to boil return seared roast to the pot.  Cover pot, place in oven, and braise for 2 hours.

Remove pot from the oven.  Transfer roast to a platter,  Strain sauce, discarding the vegetables.  Stir Worcestershire, Dijon mustard and bay leaf into sauce.  Return sauce and roast to the pot.

Add potatoes, turnip and carrot pieces to the pot.  Cover the pot; return roast to the oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender.

Add the mushrooms to the pot during the final 10 minutes of cooking.  Transfer the roast and vegetables to a platter; using a fork, break meat into pieces.  Bring sauce to a simmer; skim off and discard fat.  Season sauce with salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon sauce over pot roast and vegetables; garnish with a sprig of thyme.

Serves 4
2 1/2 cups sauce
Total time: about 4 1/2 hours.

CUISINE AT HOME NOTES:
A beef Roast Classic:
Pot roast has been a tradition in New England since colonial times.  Interestingly enough, Yankee  Pot Roast isn't restricted to a well-defined list of ingredients, but this one-pot meal invariably includes a selection of root vegetables.
We used potatoes, carrots and turnips in this pot roast, but similarly sized chunks of rutabaga or even celery also would taste good.  Since the meat needs a longer time to cook, add the vegetables to the pot a couple of hours and starting to braise.


BECKY'S NOTES:
It had good flavor.  I will probably eliminate the turnip and increase the carrots in this recipe.  I may also not use the red wine, though it gives it a nice flavor, I am not positive that my kids like it as much.  Perhaps I will cut it by half and increase the broth by a 1/2 cup.  It took a long time to cook and the smells were amazing, but made us hungry much earlier in the day!  I guess that is a good thing!  I love mushrooms the kids don't care for it as much.  I removed the root veggies before adding the mushrooms at the end, that way I could easily separate what the kids liked rather than having the mushrooms scattered throughout.  Delicious!  Will make again a great comfort food.  I may use the leftover meat to make my Shepherd's Pie again.  (in this blog)


Here is the pot roast with the herbs tucked into the meat and seasoned with salt and pepper before searing it. I had trimmed it of almost all fat and tied it together with twine (which came completely apart after searing it.. oh well)

Nice and browned on every side.











Diced onion, celery and carrots for the sauce.







Sauteed vegetables until softened










Add tomato paste

Add flour and stir into vegetables.

Add red wine and beef broth







Cooked roast after two hours.

Strain the sauce and discard the vegetables at this point.

Add Worcestershire and Dijon to the reserved sauce and pour back into the pot with the pot roast.

Add the vegetables (red potatoes, turnip and carrots) and cook for another 1- 1 1/2 hours.

Add the mushrooms to the last 10 minutes of cooking time.  I had sliced on hand that looked fresher than the button ones in the recipe, so I used those.

Serve and enjoy with the sauce.

It's Chili Cook-off Time

No, before you think I enter these big National cook-offs-- I don't-- it's just some friendly rivalry between good friends.  I don't always win, but no matter what, the time of hanging out and talking with friends is great.  Today I am trying a new recipe.  I usually make Chili with beans -- this recipe did enter a real cook-off and won some nice change.  I found the recipe at:
http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/best-chili-recipe.html
Here is the original recipe:
Best Chili
(Their Title, not mine-- we shall see)
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
2 1/2 lb. lean chuck, ground
1 lb. lean pork, ground
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped onion
8 oz. hunt's tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can beer (12 oz.)
3 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons instant beef bouillon (or 6 cubes)
2 Tablespoons cumin, ground
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons oregano leaves
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon coriander, ground
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon louisiana hot sauce
1 teaspoon cornmeal
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon warm water
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan brown 1 1/4 pounds of the ground meat (the beef and the pork), drain the fat.
2. Remove meat (the beef and the pork). Brown the rest of the ground meat, drain all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
3. Add the garlic and onion, cook and stir until tender.
4. Add the other half of the meat and the tomato sauce, water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano, sugar, coriander, cocoa, and hot sauce. Mix well.
5. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered , for 2 hours.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the cornmeal and flour, then add the warm water and mix well.
7. Stir into chili and cook, covered, for an additional 20 minutes.

I always tinker with recipes and make them mine.  I made a few minor changes.  I used 2 1/2 lbs of Beef Chuck Thin Sliced, trimmed them of most of the fat and cut them into 1/4 inch cubes.  Since I used ground pork, I wanted the texture of the beef to be different, so I cut the Thin Sliced Chuck into small cubes (smaller than bite size)
I used 5 cloves of garlic because the measurement of meat was slightly more than the recipe called for.  I love garlic. The onion I used was also slightly larger than the yield of 1 cup (probably close to 1 1/2 cups)  I used Gebharts Chili powder, because I like the flavor and I reduced the Louisiana Hot sauce to 1/4 tsp instead of 1/2 because I was not sure how hot the chili would be and my children will be eating it later for dinner and I didn't want them to not be able to eat it.

This is a departure from how I usually make chili- I typically make it with beans. I know, in cook offs that are on the National level, this is almost sacrilegious!  To finish them off, I top them with crisp bacon bits (not from the bottle!!), cheese and have sour cream on the side to cut the heat if it is too spicy.  I also bought some avocados to top the chili this time.  I love living in Southern California, avocados are easy to find and of great quality.  Another key point is to make the chili ahead a day or even two days ahead  of an event if you do not have to cook it on site.  This mellows the seasonings out.  Yum Yum.

Sorry about the soft focus on this one.  This is the trimmed, cubed Chuck Beef that I had purchased thin sliced.

I cooked the ground pork and beef in two batches and drained them well after cooking.






Browned beef- drain well.











Add chopped onions (1 to 1 1/2 cups)

Add 5 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Add 1 1/2 cups beer, 1 cup of water and 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

Add the seasonings (sugar not shown in this picture)

I added half of the Louisiana Hot Sauce that it called for because you can never remove the heat you can always add it though.

Here is a picture of the seasonings before I stirred it into the meat mixture.

The chili before I put the lid on it and reduced the heat to low, simmering for 2 hours.

After it has simmered it will be this beautiful color.  The aroma is great at this point, but there is still the thickening step to this recipe.

Combine 1 teaspoon cornmeal and 1 teaspoon flour with a few teaspoons of warm water.  I actually ladled some of the chili into the bowl and stirred it so that all the thickening agent would end up in the chili, then returned it to the pot of chili.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes longer

I ladled the finished chili into a bowl and topped with my favorite toppings.

Avocado
Crisply cooked bacon
Shredded Mexican style cheddar jack cheese

It was quite good. I do think I will use this recipe.  I will have to double it to serve the crowd.  I hope to reserve enough of this tonight so I can see how it tastes tomorrow.

I enjoyed this recipe and I am sure you will as well.

Tasty Meat Pie

I watched "Julie and Julia" yesterday with my husband. It was an enjoyable movie I thought - then I thought about my much neglected blog. Of course, I have not set up a challenge such as the "Julie Julia Project", where I am cooking through a cookbook. That is an undertaking I cannot imagine fitting into my schedule -- As a busy mother of three children, I always strive to make meals that the whole family enjoys but does not take a ton of preparation. When I first married, I subscribed to Taste of Home Magazine and I have a collection of my favorites from that publication and some of the sister publications. The recipe in this post for Tasty Meat Pie is one of those comfort food recipes that the whole family enjoys!


Tasty Meat Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can Campbell's Beef with Vegetable and Barley Soup
1 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Double Pie Crust (I buy the pre-made Pillsbury brand it makes it easier)

Preparation:
In a skillet, cook beef and onion unti meat is no longer pink; drain off fat. Add the soups, vegetables, and seasonings. Cook in skillet for 15-20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Line a deep dish pie pan (I like my Pampered Chef one because it really is deep and holds all the filling) Pour meat filling into the pie crust and cover with remaining pie dough. Cut slits into the crust to vent. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. (I put a cookie sheet under the pie dish to catch drips in case it bubbles over) Remove from oven and let stand on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy. Serves 6-8

Slow Cooker Salibury Steak

I made a Salisbury Steak recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I think it is one of my favorite web-sources for recipes. What I love about the site is the fact that there are member reviews and changes people made to make it better.

I pretty closely followed the recipe (though I did almost double the recipe) I was not a huge fan of the steak patties, but the sauce was really very good. I did "tweak" it a little in flavor, mostly because I did not have an exact ingredient at home. It still was good though. I will make it again, but next time alter the patties to our own personal taste. As usual, the recipe is at the bottom of this post.


Start off with pan frying to brown the patties. I used a non stick skillet and tried not to crowd them. 4-5 minutes on each side over medium high heat works fine.






Layer the patties in the bottom of your crockpot. I have a nice large oval crock pot so I could place a lot in. The actual recipe will yield about half that (8-10 patties) depending on how large you form them.





The sauce consists mostly of cream of chicken (or mushroom soup) plus other ingredients.










Pour sauce over the Salisbury steak patties and cook on low.





Serve with cooked pasta, mashed potatoes or rice -- would be great with any of those.

The china plate I used was a pattern by Wedgewood - Pattern name: Oberon -- usually around 130 a place setting. I happened upon it at a Bed Bath and Beyond on their clearance table and snatched it up for 27 dollars! Woohoo!



Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
Serves 6-8
source: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (1 ounce) packet dry au jus mix
3/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, and milk using your hands. Shape into 8 patties.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge the patties in flour just to coat, and quickly brown on both sides in the hot skillet. Place browned patties into the slow cooker stacking alternately like a pyramid. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream of chicken soup, au jus mix, and water. Pour over the meat. Cook on the Low setting for 4 or 5 hours, until ground beef is well done.


Changes I made: I doubled the recipe and the only thing I changed was in the gravy that you pour over the Salisbury Steak patties. I only had one package of au jus - so for my second I used Mc Cormick's Mushroom and Herb Gravy Mix for Steak -- it added nice flavor. I also used one can of cream of mushroom rather than cream of chicken soup. I loved just the sauce. I will make again. The kids who are pasta purists (naked pasta) also liked the sauce enough to dip their pasta in it.

Shepherd's Pie

My husband and I recently went to Marie Callendar's Restaurant and ordered their Shepherd's Pie off their Winter Menu. Let me just say: IT WAS OUTSTANDING -- they made theirs with tender roasted beef cubes and the gravy was to die for.
I had to go home and try to replicate this inspiration. This first image is taken from their website to give you their presentation.






I started with onions, celery and carrots and cooked them with butter.





After they had cooked about 5 minutes I added 4 ounces of white mushrooms, a chopped medium zucchini, and 2 teaspoons of garlic and 2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh chives. Seasoned the vegetables with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cooked until tender crisp about 5 minutes. I added 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce to the vegetables.



I am all about shortcuts when a good one exists run with it. I used a 17 oz package of Hormel Beef Tips and gravy. Added them to the vegetables and heated through. I added 1/3 a jar of Heinz Homestyle Savory Beef Gravy because it looked a little thick.






I like mashed potatoes from scratch, but in a pinch (time pressure) I do occasionally grab a package of Potatoes -- this time I used Betty Crocker's Butter and Herb Potatoes. I prepared them in the microwave according to package directions.





After putting the meat and vegetable mixture in a dish I topped them with the potatoes and then sprinkled it all with a little Cheddar Cheese.

I heated the oven to 350 and baked the casserole for 20 minutes.




I have to say that Marie's Shepherd's Pie was better than my end product, but it really was not bad. Next time I will double the meat product.





BECKY'S SHEPHERD'S PIE RECIPE

Serves 4-6

1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 medium carrots, chopped into small cubes
2 tsp minced garlic
4 oz white mushrooms (half a container)
1 medium zucchini, diced
1/2 tsp. salt
2-3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 (17 oz) Hormel Beef Tips and Gravy (next time I will use 2 packages)
1/3 jar Heinz Homestyle Savory Beef Gravy
1 package Betty Crocker Butter and Herb Potatoes (half a box) prepared according to box.
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Cook onion, celery and carrots in 4 Tbsp butter. Cook until onions have softened. Add 2 tsp. minced garlic, mushrooms, Zucchini , salt and chopped chives. Cook 5-7 minutes. Add 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce to the vegetables and cook one more minute. Add Beef Tips and Gravy and heat through mixing until combined. Pour into a casserole. Prepare the potatoes according to directions on box and spoon on top of meat and vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

Now that I think about it - -Marie Callendar's version also had peas and corn in it.. that would make a nice addition.