Grandma's Swiss Steak Recipe
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Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 2 to 2-1/2 lbs. of round or top round steak, about 1" thick
2 T. flour
Salt and pepper
3 T. canola or extra virgin olive oil (G'ma used lard)
1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 c. pureed tomatoes (either fresh or canned)
2 t. each of fresh thyme, sage and marjoram, or 1/2 t. each. if herbs are dried (no herbs in my Iowa G'ma's time...she thought paprika was exotic!)
Optional: Veggies such as potatoes, carrots, or green beans
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Directions: |
Directions:Rub flour into both sides of the steak. (My Grandmother used to pound it in using a wooden mallet, the side with diamond-like points.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a wide, shallow covered pan to medium high heat. Add 2 T. of oil to coat the pan. Place steak in the pan and cook for approximately 10 minutes on each side--enough to brown the steak.
Remove steak from pan and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the pan and 1 T. of oil. Cook onions and garlic for 3 - 5 minutes, using metal spatula to scrape up any steak drippings, mixing them in with the onions. Add half of the herbs to the onions. Return the steak to the pan, placing it on top of the onions. Crowd the onions around and on top of the steak. Sprinkle rest of the herbs on top of the steak. Add 2 c. of pureed tomatoes to the pan.
Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. Bring the steak in the tomato puree to a simmer and then lower the heat to the lowest heat possible to maintain a low simmer.
Cook for 1-1/2 hours. While the steak is cooking, if you are using the optional vegetables, slightly precook them, steaming them for about 5 - 10 minutes. After 1-1/2 hours of cooking time for the steak, uncover the pan, turn the steak over, add the potatoes, carrots and beans, cover the pan and cook the steak and vegetables for another 30 minutes, still at the lowest possible heat.
The steak should be done after a total cooking time of 2 hours. To check it, test with fork. Meat should be quite tender. To serve, remove the steak and slice it on a carving board, then place on individual serving plates or on a platter, and cover with the sauce, and arrange vegetables around. |
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Number Of
Servings:4 - 6 |
Personal
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Personal
Notes: When I was little, it was rare that my family had "meat you could chew". Mostly we ate ground meat, or canned meat--so when we got Swiss steak, I thought we were really living it up! Many of our friends did not add the tomatoes to the Swiss steak, so I don't know if that was a regional preference or just one from the Hays side of the family. (It was always served with fresh corn on the cob. G'ma would go out to the corn patch in the back yard, pick the corn, and literally run to the kitchen with her apron full of the ears. She'd shuck them and have them in the boiling kettle within 5 minutes of picking.)
Today I imagine the Swiss steak could be made easily in a slow cooker, 'though I haven't tried it.
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