Thursday, January 01, 2015

Salisbury Steak

Salisbury Steak
For Christmas dinner this year we had Salisbury Steak for a main dish. In our family, we can tolerate turkey and ham only once a year, for Thanksgiving, and beef seemed like a viable option for Christmas dinner. 

The butcher had blade steaks already flattened and 'cubed' meaning chopped without cutting all the way through the steak. This tenderizes the steak so that it's quick and easy to cook. When I defrosted the steaks a couple of days later I found that the butcher had, very considerately, placed a slip of parchment paper between each steak to make them easy to separate.

This can be made with hamburger patties, but cubed steaks taste better. We had these with several vegetable sides and everything had to be kept simple and palatable to suit the taste of our three grandsons, two aged 7 and one 8. They cringe at the sight of onions so I blended the French onion soup to make the gravy.

2015 Christmas Dinner
Ingredients:
8 cubed steaks
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 (10 oz.) Campbell's French Onion Soup, blended
1 (8 oz.) cup chicken broth or water
1 Tbsp. tomato ketchup

Directions:
  1. Season flour with salt, pepper and garlic, and place on a plate.
  2. Add one steak at a time to the seasoned flour, shake until completely coated and transfer to a clean plate.
  3. In a frying pan over medium-high heat, cook 2 steaks at a time in oil for 5-6 minutes on each side until browned.
  4. Transfer browned steaks to a paper-towel lined plate to drain. 
  5. Add any leftover seasoned flour to oil in which steaks were browned and toast to a golden brown.
  6. Add soup, broth and ketchup to toasted flour, stir well and bring to a boil. 
  7. Lower heat to low and add steaks to simmering gravy.
  8. Cover and cook steaks on low heat for 20 minutes or until tender.
Serve over cooked egg noodles with a side of mashed or baked potatoes.