Science Meets Art

Or, Swiss Steak ala Kathy. Well. OK, yup, I'm gonna bore you with another recipe. So I like to cook :) Had a pair of huge chuck steaks I didn't know what to do with. No propane for the bbq, and while they're really, really good cooked ala restaurant-style "roasting," I also didn't feel inspired to come up with something else new to use all the leftover steak there'd be later on. So I looked around the house only to find just a few of my favorite ingredients and barely a smattering of stand-bys. Hmmmm.

So here's what you can do when you've got meat, flour, spices, an onion, a couple cans of mushrooms, a couple cans of tomato paste and a stray can of golden mushroom soup:

Thaw the meat. Lay it out on a plate and spice it up, rubbing in the spices on both sides. I used onion salt, pepper, garlic powder and just a wee bit of chili powder. Then dredge the meat in flour. Put some oil (maybe a little more than just covering the bottom) in your heavy duty frying pan (or whatever heavy kettle you have) and heat it to where it's not quite smoking. My frying pan of choice is, of course, an old cast iron workhorse. If little water drops will sprizzle and spurt when you flick 'em into the oil, it's just right. Turn on your exhaust fan ;) Put the steaks in and sear them until nicely browned on both sides. Turn down the heat to mid-way, put the steaks in your oven roaster and set aside. Turn the oven on to 350 or thereabouts. While the meat is searing, drain the mushrooms, and slice the onion. Put these prepared ingredients into the frying pan, covering with a lid. Let them saute awhile, stirring occasionally, 'til the onions are soft-ish. Then pour this mixture over the meat. If there's any oil in this mixture, drain it off first. There shouldn't be any oil, tho.

Get out a bowl and put the golden mushroom soup and a can of water in it. Then add the 2 cans of tomato paste. Mix it up then taste it. Think awhile about what flavor you're looking for. It is on the sweet side, as is. I added beef bullion powder, onion salt, garlic powder, some chives, a bit of basil, a bit of chili powder and some pepper. Since I don't measure much of anything, all I can say is "some" means a little to start, stir it up and taste it, and adjust accordingly :) Too many years of cooking to taste rather than following recipes, I guess :) I did use what looked like about maybe two tablespoons of beef bullion powder. This will be a bit thick, so add some water... maybe equivalent to half a soup can's worth. Pour this over the steaks, cover and bake for an hour. You can bake it for two hours if you want, just turn down the heat a bit and watch it for getting too thick and sticking during the second hour. Clean and foil-wrap a couple nice potatoes and throw them in the oven beside the roaster if you want. Another win with the big appetites sharing the meal :) Does this ol' gal's heart good to know I still have the touch. I'd guesstimate this could serve at least 4 really hungry people, these steaks were each about 8" x 8" and an inch thick. Chucks are fairly tender cuts anyway, so this meal melts in your mouth. People generally cook round steaks in a similar manner to this, because that tough cut will turn out tender. But I want to find something slightly different to do with the rounds I have in the freezer, so chucks it was for tonight.

Leftovers can be frozen for later :) Please pardon my vagueness regarding temperatures and times... my stove doesn't do what the knobs say it's supposed to do, so what might be "hi" for you is probably "medium" for me. I've ruined a few cakes in the process of getting to know my stove, needless to say. My recipes are the place where science meets art... one discipline can step in to balance out a deficit in the other. *grin*