Salisbury Steak Dinner with Mushroom and Onion Gravy

Salisbury Steak

This is the first time I’ve made this dinner. Salisbury Steak had always reminded me of those ubiquitous frozen dinners from my childhood and could never get past the “taste” in my mind of the awful frozen patty in the equally awful gravy and shriveled peas.

But then I ran across the recipe for it from Libby at her Lemony Thyme foodie blog, and her beautiful photos and descriptions compelled me to overcome my distaste of the meal. I adapted the recipe a bit based on her encouragement to take the meal where it “makes you and yours complete and comfortable.” So I added lots of thin-sliced sweet onions to the gravy, because in my mind onions can make most anything complete! I typically don’t have any fresh thyme on hand, and I have found the brand of dried thyme I have is very overpowering even in small amounts. I have some beautifully fragrant sweet dried oregano, and decided it would complement the gravy quite nicely and used that instead of thyme.

The other thing that made this dish complete and comfortable was a wonderfully rich, homemade beef broth, fresh-made that day! Homemade broth/stock is unparalleled to the store-bought variety.

Simmering Beef Broth

And it makes your house smell so cozy all day! Yes, it takes a lot of time to make, but not much hands on time at all. I upped the ante on flavor for this batch by basting the beef bones with tomato paste halfway through the roasting time, and deglazing the roasting pan with a 1/4 cup of red wine and adding it to the stock pot. I also let it simmer for a full 6 hours. Yowza, what a tasty batch of beef broth! You can read my original method here: How to Make Homemade Beef Broth. I also used the rest of my frozen pearl onions I used in the Coq Au Vin recipe instead of regular onions. I wasn’t sure when I’d use pearl onions again, so this seemed a good time to finish off that bag.

I highly encourage you to use the tomato paste and red wine method. If you use that method, don’t use a roasting bag as instructed but place the bones directly in a roasting pan and then deglaze with wine or broth/water. You can refrigerate the broth overnight and discard any fat grease that solidifies at the top, and then freeze in portions in zip-top baggies. I didn’t get any photos in the process of making it this time (except for the final photo), as I was working and had to get it all prepared and on the stove during my lunch break.

Salisbury Steak Dinner

Do you want the recipe already? OK, here it is:

Salisbury Steak Dinner with Mushroom and Onion Gravy
Adapted from this recipe at Lemony Thyme

For the Salisbury Steak:
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs, unseasoned
1 egg, whisked
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Lots of ground black pepper, to taste
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, or salt, to taste
1 tablespoon butter

Salisbury Steak Patty Ingredients

For the Mushroom and Onion Gravy:
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried, crushed oregano
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups homemade or low sodium beef broth
Ground black pepper to taste
Mrs. Dash Table Blend, or salt, to taste

First off, (no ingredient list for this part) get your potatoes peeled and boiling. Make your mashed potatoes as you usually do when the potatoes are cooked through like right in the middle of gravy stirring time. OR, have your partner do all that for you because you shout out out “that you are too busy stirring gravy to finish the potatoes!” – ‘K?

Combine the Salisbury Steak ingredients (except the butter) in a bowl and form into 4 patties. Hey did you notice my glass of fresh parsley in the background in the photo below? I can keep fresh parsley and cilantro in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks that way. Genius! Untie your bunch, add to a glass, add water, then cover in the thin vegetable bag you put it in when you bought it. That parsley you see is seriously almost three weeks old. (Refresh water as needed.) Go do it!

Salisbury Steak Patties and Parsley

I digress. Now melt the 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the patties about 5 minutes on each side until browned. Remove from the skillet to a plate and set aside.

Fried Salisbury Steak Patties

In the same skillet over medium heat, add the other 2 tablespoons of butter, mushrooms, and cook, stirring often, until they start to release their liquid, at least 7 to 10 minutes. Add the oregano (or other herb to taste, fresh or dried).

Mushrooms and Onions

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, stirring and mashing the flour to incorporate. Gradually stir in the beef broth, whisking constantly. You might want to up the heat a tad at this point. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the gravy is fairly thickened, then nestle the beef patties into the gravy. Simmer the patties for about 10 more minutes until cooked through, flipping them over halfway through the simmering process.

Sailsbury Steak Patties in Gravy

Serve each “steak” over mashed potatoes slathered with a generous serving of the mushroom and onion gravy and sprinkled with fresh parsley, and a side vegetable of choice. I used cooked frozen peas, and would have loved to used fresh spring peas but they are not available yet in my area. Just don’t overcook the peas, mind you!

My entire family devoured every morsel of this meal off their plate. I will never pooh-pooh Salisbury Steak dinner again! And please, don’t forget I have a handy-dandy printable recipe below if you click on the PDF image!

Salisbury Steak Meal

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine)

Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine)

After feeding our foreign exchange student a healthy (or unhealthy you might say) dose of American food, I decided to surprise her one night with a traditional French dish. She walked into the kitchen and I motioned her over to the crock pot. I lifted the lid and said, “Tah Da! I made you Coq au Vin!” She had a very puzzled look on her face. I said it again nice and slow, like this: “COKE UHH VEEEEEN.” Blank look. “You know, chicken in wine!”

“Ohhhh, yes, yes. It’s Coh ah Vah,” she replied. There is barely a hint of the k and n sound, but I could not seem to quite get that part right and we had a few giggles at my poor attempts. So after I thoroughly corrupted the French pronunciation, I was hoping I didn’t do the same to the meal. For one, I couldn’t find a true Burgundy wine at the store, so settled on a Pinot Noir. I also knew my daughter wouldn’t eat the mushrooms in it, so added some baby carrots. I did, however, ask Caroline what the French typically served the dish over — potatoes or noodles? She said potatoes, so then I asked her if they were boiled or mashed? Another puzzled look from her then had me pantomiming round circles for boiled and banging my fist on the table to simulate mashing. Ahh, the second one, mashed potatoes!

Browning the Chicken

After her bowl was filled twice and mopped dry with thick slices of French bread, I can say that the meal was a success! This dish is typically made with skin-on chicken thighs and legs, but all I had were large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. So I lopped them in half, and hoped they wouldn’t come out too dry. I think using a slow cooker helped retain some of the juiciness but I think next time I would cook them only about 3 hours on high instead of 4 hours. But I was very satisfied with the results, and now I know how to properly pronounce this lovely meal even if I can’t actually say it right.

Mushrooms and Pearl Onions

Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine)

4 slices of bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken, skin on or skinless
1/4 cup flour, divided
Ground black pepper, to taste
Mrs. Dash or salt, to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
8 ounces frozen pearl onions, thawed
8 ounces small button mushrooms
2 cups whole baby carrots
1 1/2 cups red wine
1/2 cup homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
Fresh parsley, chopped
Mashed potatoes and French bread, for serving

Vegetable Medley

Cook the bacon in a large skillet, remove from heat, and drain bacon on paper towels. Leave about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease in the skillet, or if you used lean bacon then add some vegetable oil to make up for it. Season the chicken with pepper and Mrs. Dash or salt, to taste. Dust the chicken pieces with 1/8 cup flour, reserving the rest, and add the chicken to the skillet over medium high heat. Brown the chicken for several minutes on each side. Remove and set aside on a plate.

Chicken, Vegetables, and Bacon

Add the tablespoon of oil to the skillet over medium heat, stir in the rest of the flour, then add in the pearl onions and mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker, add the baby carrots, then return skillet to heat. Deglaze the pan with the wine and chicken broth, scraping up all the yummy brown bits.

Wine Mixture

Whisk in the tomato paste, garlic, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves. Cook and stir for about 5 more minutes and turn off heat. Place the chicken over the vegetables in the crock pot, add the bacon on top, then pour the wine mixture over all. Cover and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours, or low 6 to 8 hours.

Coq au Vin Ready to Cook

Make your mashed potatoes in the last half hour or so of cooking and keep over low heat until ready to serve. Spoon mashed potatoes into bowls, top with the chicken and vegetables plus juices, and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Have lots of thick-sliced French bread for sopping up all the savory juices. Enjoy!

Oh and I almost forgot. The wonderful organization that brought Caroline and my family together are now looking for more hosting families for this spring. Please, if you have any doubt about how wonderful an experience hosting is, go to the Andeo website and learn how you can sign up to host a student. You will not regret the experience! Here is a link to their website: www.andeo.org.

Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine)

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Texas Chicken-Fried Steak with all the Fixin’s

Chicken Fried Steak with all the Fixin’s

We are hosting a foreign exchange student (Caroline) from France for three weeks, so my blogging has been (and will be) a bit spotty as we try to entertain her and introduce her to the “American” style of living. And part of that experience includes food, of course! So far I’ve made crock-pot beef stew (which I have yet to ever blog about), my Garlicky Parmesan Chicken Tenders, and my hubby made her Huevos Motuleños. She’s also experienced the All-American hot dog and fries (Nathan’s All-Beef Jumbo, of course).

But the grand-daddy of an All-American meal (in my book) is good old-fashioned Texas Chicken-Fried Steak with all the fixin’s. (Meaning, mashed potatoes, peppery cream gravy, and green beans.) I posted my recipe for this over two years ago, then reblogged it later but never took a new photo, so figured it was a good time to dust it off, upgrade the photos and add a little more detail to the ingredients and steps. And the bonus to this is I instructed Caroline on how to make all this and she did it all herself (with some guided supervision). She did great! And we all cleaned up our plates and she absolutely loved this meal. I think you would too! I’ve included quite a few photos with this one, as it was fun being able to photograph someone else doing the work. 🙂

Chicken-Fried Steak with all the Fixin’s

4 to 6 russet potatoes, 3 tablespoons butter, and milk as needed
4 to 6 cubed steaks, or round steaks, tenderized
3/4 cup flour
Generous amounts of ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Salt, to taste
2 eggs with splash of milk
1 1/2 cups milk
Reserved flour (about 2 tablespoons)
Vegetable oil for skillet
Fresh green beans

First peel those potatoes and get them boiling in a pot of water and cook for about 20 minutes. Go off and do something else during this time.

Peeling the Potatoes

When you get back from whatever you just did, keep the potatoes boiling. Mix together the flour and the seasonings to taste on a plate. I had Caroline add a lot of black pepper. Beat the eggs with the milk in a bowl.

Preparing Egg and Milk Wash

Whisking the Eggs and Milk

Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture until coated, then dip in the egg mixture to coat. Dredge the steaks once again in the flour until coated well  (your fingers will get nice and clumpy at this part) and set aside on another plate or rack. Reserve the extra flour mixture for the gravy.

Dredging the Cubed Steaks

Check your potatoes at this point, and if done, go ahead and drain them, return to pot and whip them up with the butter and enough milk to make them creamy. Cover and put over lowest heat setting possible.

Double-Dredged Cubed Steaks

Whipping the Potatoes

Next, heat about an eighth- to quarter-inch of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, preferably cast iron, until hot, but not smoking. I used two cast iron skillets so we could cook six steaks all at once, but you could also do this in batches in one skillet. Very carefully set each steak in the hot oil with a spatula.

Let the steaks sizzle in the oil for about four or five minutes, until you see red juice bubbling out of the top. Carefully slide the spatula under each steak and gently flip them over. Fry for about another five minutes until crispy brown, turning down heat if needed to prevent burning. Remove the steaks from the skillet and drain on paper towels. Turn heat off of skillet. This is a good time to start cooking your green beans, too, however you prefer to make them.

Frying the Cubed Steaks

For the cream gravy, pour all but about two tablespoons of oil out of the skillet (or one of them if using two) and make sure the crispy bits stay in the pan. Add the reserved seasoned flour into a jar, then add the milk. Cover, and shake, shake, shake that baby until all the flour is completely incorporated.

Adding Milk to Flour for Gravy

Turn the heat back on to medium high under the skillet with the oil, then slowly add the milk, whisking constantly, until the gravy starts to thicken. Add lots and lots of more pepper at this point, and salt to taste. Continue whisking until the gravy is the consistency you want, adding more milk or water if it gets too thick.

Whisking the Cream Gravy

Put the chicken fried steaks on each plate, pour a generous amount of cream gravy over them, and serve with mashed potatoes and more cream gravy, and fresh steamed green beans with butter (or vegetable of choice). Crazy Texas Good!

Chicken Fried Steak with all the Fixin’s

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Texas Chicken Fried Steak

YUM! Here is what we had for dinner tonight. I posted this over a year and a half ago, and I think I’ve only made it once or twice since then. Indulgent, but oh so satisfying! Here is the recipe in case you weren’t a follower that long ago:

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy, Yumm!

Amazingly, my daughter announced last night she would be glad to help make dinner tonight. My plan was to teach her how to make some good old-fashioned chicken fried steak with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I even bought some cubed steaks a couple of days ago because I was craving some good Texas food.  (I haven’t tenderized a round steak in years for this. It doesn’t help that the head of my cheap wooden tenderizer flies off every time I use it. My mom has this fantastic solid metal one, which I’m sure she got from her mother.)

The recipe came from my mind, because any true Texan just “knows” how to make it. Since my daughter was born and raised in Oregon, I guess this osmosis effect never transferred this particular ability to her. Unfortunately, when I told her it was time to make dinner, her idea of “helping” to make dinner was to peel the potatoes and put them in the pot to boil. I practically had to force her to watch me bread the steaks, and off she went on her iPod Touch to chat with her friends. No matter, she’ll come around eventually.  This recipe is for two, but it is easily multiplied. This is an “eyeball” recipe, as amounts really depend on how many steaks you are cooking and how much gravy you want to go with them.

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy

2 cubed steaks, or round steaks tenderized
Flour
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Salt to taste
1 egg
Milk
Oil for skillet

On a plate or in a bowl, mix together about a half cup of flour and the seasonings to taste. I liberally add a lot of black pepper. Since my no-salt hubby is gone, I added a little bit of salt tonight! Beat the egg with some milk in a bowl. Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture until coated, then dip in the egg mixture to coat. Dredge the steaks once again in the flour until coated well  (your fingers will get nice and clumpy at this part) and set aside on another plate. Reserve the extra flour mixture for the gravy. Heat about a quarter- to half-inch of oil in a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, until hot, but not smoking. Very carefully set each steak in the hot oil with a spatula.  It will splatter, so watch out!

Let the steaks sizzle in the oil for about four or five minutes, until you see red juice bubbling out of the top. Carefully slide the spatula under each steak and gently flip them over. Fry for about another five minutes until crispy brown. Remove the steaks from the skillet and drain on paper towels.

Sizzling Steaks

For the cream gravy, pour all but about two tablespoons of oil out of the skillet and make sure the crispy bits stay in the pan. Add about two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to the skillet and stir and mash it down to remove lumps until just starting to brown. Slowly add about a cup of milk, stirring constantly, until the gravy starts to thicken. Add lots and lots of more pepper at this point, and salt to taste. Continue stirring until the gravy is the consistency you want, adding more milk or water if it gets too thick.

Put the chicken fried steaks on each plate, pour a generous amount of cream gravy over them, and serve with mashed potatoes and more cream gravy, and a vegetable of choice. I’ve always enjoyed green beans with this meal. Now that’s a taste of Texas, isn’t it?

Texas Chicken Fried Steak, as Promised

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy, Yumm!

Amazingly, my daughter announced last night she would be glad to help make dinner tonight. My plan was to teach her how to make some good old-fashioned chicken fried steak with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I even bought some cubed steaks a couple of days ago because I was craving some good Texas food.  (I haven’t tenderized a round steak in years for this. It doesn’t help that the head of my cheap wooden tenderizer flies off every time I use it. My mom has this fantastic solid metal one, which I’m sure she got from her mother.)

The recipe came from my mind, because any true Texan just “knows” how to make it. Since my daughter was born and raised in Oregon, I guess this osmosis effect never transferred this particular ability to her. Unfortunately, when I told her it was time to make dinner, her idea of “helping” to make dinner was to peel the potatoes and put them in the pot to boil. I practically had to force her to watch me bread the steaks, and off she went on her iPod Touch to chat with her friends. No matter, she’ll come around eventually.  This recipe is for two, but it is easily multiplied. This is an “eyeball” recipe, as amounts really depend on how many steaks you are cooking and how much gravy you want to go with them.

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy

2 cubed steaks, or round steaks tenderized
Flour
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Salt to taste
1 egg
Milk
Oil for skillet

On a plate or in a bowl, mix together about a half cup of flour and the seasonings to taste. I liberally add a lot of black pepper. Since my no-salt hubby is gone, I added a little bit of salt tonight! Beat the egg with some milk in a bowl. Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture until coated, then dip in the egg mixture to coat. Dredge the steaks once again in the flour until coated well  (your fingers will get nice and clumpy at this part) and set aside on another plate. Reserve the extra flour mixture for the gravy. Heat about a quarter- to half-inch of oil in a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, until hot, but not smoking. Very carefully set each steak in the hot oil with a spatula.  It will splatter, so watch out!

Let the steaks sizzle in the oil for about four or five minutes, until you see red juice bubbling out of the top. Carefully slide the spatula under each steak and gently flip them over. Fry for about another five minutes until crispy brown. Remove the steaks from the skillet and drain on paper towels.

Sizzling Steaks

For the cream gravy, pour all but about two tablespoons of oil out of the skillet and make sure the crispy bits stay in the pan. Add about two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to the skillet and stir and mash it down to remove lumps until just starting to brown. Slowly add about a cup of milk, stirring constantly, until the gravy starts to thicken. Add lots and lots of more pepper at this point, and salt to taste. Continue stirring until the gravy is the consistency you want, adding more milk or water if it gets too thick.

Put the chicken fried steaks on each plate, pour a generous amount of cream gravy over them, and serve with mashed potatoes and more cream gravy, and a vegetable of choice. I’ve always enjoyed green beans with this meal. Now that’s a taste of Texas, isn’t it?