So if you couldn't tell, last week was a hot mess. I was working at a cotton seed gin/mill/oil place in the Delta. On top of that I was staying with my grandparents. Those two things put together, plus two hours of travel to and from work daily, made for an extremely long week. As in I needed a stiff drink by like Thursday at four. So on Friday when Justin asked what I wanted to do this weekend, I had a straight answer. I wanted to sit around on a raft in cool water with a cold drink in my hand and play fetch with Beaux. Well, besides going to the beach really, there's only one other place to go. So Friday night at around seven, we made our way to Franklinton to see Justin's parent's.
It was a great weekend. Really just what we needed. Ate good food, hung out with friends, wadded around, drank, and I even shot my first full round of skeet. It was an experience, but at least this time my shoulder didn't bruise. (Guess I've gotten tougher since the last time). We even got some wedding stuff taken care of, and found buckets for our sparklers.
After being out at the skeet club basically all afternoon, by the time we got home we were starving. So making a quick pit stop at Winn-Dixie, we went home to cook dinner (his parents were at a birthday party so we had to fend for ourselves). I made a cheesy sausage rotel to eat right away (which consisted of cooked sausage, block of cream cheese, and already made cheese dip), which was easy and good as sin, but the main course Justin cooked and it was so fine I decided to share.
Round/Hamburger Steak (I think that's what he called it) and Gravy
everyone has their own version of this, but this is what Justin came up with on the fly
Ingredients:
- 80/20 Ground beef, about a pound can make four patties/"steaks" (technically, if you made round steak, you'd use that type of meat, not ground beef)
- Breadcrumbs (about a cup or so)
- 1 egg
- Salt / Pepper / Miscellaneous seasonings
- Minced garlic (about two tablespoons, depending on the amount of meat and if you'll be kissing anyone that night)
- Minced onion (we used dehydrated onion because it's so easy, probably about half a cup)
- Gravy mix, enough to fill like a 12 inch saucepan (unless you're Martha Stewart, in which case by all means make it from scratch)
- Mushrooms, chopped (this is optional, but we used this as the base for our gravy and it was delicious)
- Red wine, 1/4th cup
- Butter, two tablespoons or so
Quite the list. I don't think I missed anything.
So start out by spraying your saucepan with non-stick spray and adding your mushrooms and butter once your pan is at about medium heat (you could use onions, roughly diced, in place of mushrooms and that would make a more traditional hamburger steak). Cook those, stirring occasionally until they begin to turn that yummy darker brown color. While those are working, turn your attention to the meat.
Go ahead and dump the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Add your egg and seasonings then mix with hands (yes, it's yucky, but to be honest, a spoon just won't cut it). Once that's combined, go ahead and add your onion and breadcrumbs. I must warn you, adding breadcrumbs is tricky, because you want just enough to make sure the patties stay together, but too much and they won't be moist and yummy. Go ahead and form your "steaks" and set aside.
After you wash your hands, go back to make sure you haven't burnt your mushrooms (or onions) and then add your red wine to deglaze the pan. Once that's finished, go ahead and add your gravy mix (or make it from scratch), following the instructions it gives. For more flavor, if it calls for water, use chicken or beef stock. You won't be able to truly tell, but you'll know that the gravy has a strong, more flavorful taste to it. Once your gravy is made, let it simmer on the back burner while you brown your steaks.
For that, get another saucepan out (one big enough for however many steaks, unless you're doing like twelve) and spray that pan. Once it's gotten quite hot, put your patties and leave em. Go wash your hands, make a drink, and then come back and flip them. Just once. Once the second side is browned, go ahead and transfer the steaks into the gravy, nesting them at the bottom. Justin went ahead and used either a fork or a knife to poke holes in the patties in order for the gravy to really soak in. Once you've safely tucked them in the gravy, leave them simmering for about 15 to 20 minutes. In the meantime, clean up the mess you've made (trust me, there will be a mess), make another drink, and wait.
It's not exactly a simple recipes as it has a good many steps and requires a lot more dishes than I like, but it's so down home yummy that it doesn't matter. Serve it over mashed potatoes with green beans and you've got yourself dinner that Granny would be proud of. This was probably one of my favorite things Justin has cooked so far. Give it a try!
Shoot, that was a long recipe. I'll be back soon for some exciting news! Until then, tell me what you're favorite down-home recipe is!
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