How to Cook : Swiss Steak

We had our first frost last night, but haven’t yet succumbed to turning on the heat in our house. But I love this time of year when I can run the oven, the crockpot, the stovetop, and whatever other heat-generating appliance my heart desires! So when Becky left a comment the other day, asking for a round steak recipe, I said right out loud, “Thank you! Now I know what to make for supper!” And I immediately dug out my trusty crockpot.

This recipe fits the lazy-cooking-from-scratch style I love so much. It comes together in a hurry (I fixed it during my lunch break), and cooks away while you go off and watch 12 games of volleyball.

Round steak usually comes as a largish slab, with ribbons of fat around the edges and sometimes through the middle. It’s a cut of meat where it’s easy to cut that fat away if you wish. We only have top round cuts made (the bottom round gets ground in with the hamburger, making it leaner) and we always have the locker tenderize ours.

Start with 2 to 3 pounds of steak, and cut it into individual serving sizes. Then mix flour, salt and pepper together and coat the steak pieces with the flour mixture.

Plop it into a pan of melted butter and brown each piece on both sides. Then transfer to your crockpot.

The recipe calls for a can of cream-of-mushroom soup. I didn’t happen to have any on hand, but do you know how easy it is to make your own? Just melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, and whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Then whisk in 1 cup of milk and heat until the mixture is thickened and bubbly. Then dump in a can of mushrooms.

To either the canned or scratch version of your soup, add 1-1/3 cups of beef broth (or 1-1/3 cups water + 1/2 T. beef boullion granules), a couple cloves of minced garlic and a chopped onion. Mix all together until blended and then pour over the round steak in the crockpot. Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours.

Serve the meat and the sauce over pasta. I usually use egg noodles, but I happened to have these curly things in the cupboard and they worked just dandy.

Yum! Hot, beefy, creamy goodness!

Swiss Steak

Trim fat from steak and cut into individually-sized pieces. Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow pan. Coat steak pieces in flour mixture. Brown steak pieces in melted butter. Transfer to crockpot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over steak. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours, or until meat is tender and cooked through.

2 years ago:

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