Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak

Last week I was hit with the flu, and when I say hit, I mean like a hammer. Wow! Apparently, my darling little grandchildren were the carriers of this vile bug.  They gave it to me and their mother (fortunately my son was spared), as well as succumbing themselves, when we all got together here (and had a marvelous time, I might add) for breakfast on Palm Sunday. I’d set a darling little table with them in mind, that I’d hoped to share with you in detail, but, well, the moment has passed. I’m glad that was such a good day, because two days later there were no good days for any of us.

Because I felt so low, naturally, I did not feel at all like cooking, so was grateful to have filled up the freezer with single serving containers of soups and casseroles earlier in the year.

It’s very important to eat and stay hydrated while fighting an ailment. The first couple of days I lived on Chicken Noodle Soup. I’d like to say that it tasted as delicious frozen as it had when fresh, but I really couldn’t taste anything, so I am no judge. I will say that it was warm and soothing.

I also came up with a nutritious, throat-cooling, flu-fighting smoothie that was fabulous! The recipe is coming, but meanwhile, pack your freezer with banana chunks, strawberries, and pieces of mango. You’ll thank me later.

One thing that turned out to be a big hit with both me and dad was this easy-to-assemble, slow cooker version of Salisbury Steak. There is no greater need for comfort than when struck down by the flu.

Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak

 Adapted from Spend With Pennies

6 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1 medium yellow onion, sliced

Sauce ingredients:
1-14.5 ounce can low-sodium beef broth
1 1-ounce package brown gravy mix
2 tablespoons catsup
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Beef patties:
1-1/2 pounds ground chuck
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/3 cup Panko crumbs
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning

2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water

Spray slow cooker with Pam; line bottom with mushrooms and onions.

Combine beef patty ingredients and form into six patties. Place 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil into a 10" skillet and heat until oil starts to shimmer. Brown patties over medium-high heat about three minutes per side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels and allow draining for a moment or two. Place the beef patties on top of the mushrooms and onions in the slow cooker. Combine sauce ingredients, and pour over beef patties. Cook on the low setting for 5 hours.

Remove patties to a warm plate; set aside. Turn slow cooker to high, combine cold water and cornstarch, and stir into the sauce. Allow to cook a few minutes until thickened, and then return beef patties to the sauce. Let heat through, about 5 to 10 additional minutes. Serve over mashed potatoes or alongside rice.

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Brandied Mushroom Sauce

“Meat with the burnt top,” is how my oldest son, then ten, used to refer to one of his favorite meals. It was my simple version of Salisbury Steak that was, essentially, seasoned ground chuck, formed into patties, and lightly breaded using an egg wash and Italian breadcrumbs. From there I would sear them on each side for about five minutes until the breading got very crisp, and then partially cover the pan with a lid to allow them to cook through. The topping would be a simple gravy, usually leftover from a previous night's roast beef dinner that I would pull from the freezer, thaw and heat.

This young man turns 31 today (Happy Birthday, Christopher!), so in his honor I give you a more sophisticated version with this elegant but easy Brandied Mushroom Sauce as the topper. The recently picky Mr. O-P declared it delicious, and he was right. It has been years since I last made this dish, and I was struck by how tasty it was and how quickly it came together.

Both patties and sauce can be made the day ahead. In fact I find the patties benefit from being in the fridge for 30-60 minutes prior to cooking anyway. They'll sizzle when you first drop them into the hot pan (in which you have melted a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil), but the advance chilling allows them to hold onto their breading and their shape.

The sauce is a combination of various recipes I've tried over the years and I think this is perfection. Any cut of beef will benefit from this lovely addition.

Brandied Mushroom Sauce

1 slice lean bacon

1 medium clove garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

6-8 large button mushrooms, sliced

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons Brandy

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon Jameson beef soup base

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely minced

In small sauté pan, cook bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble, and set aside.

Add butter and garlic to skillet with drippings.  Sauté for one minute, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning..  

Add mushrooms and pepper, and simmer until mushroom liquid begins to evaporate.  Add brandy and continue simmering until almost evaporated.  Stir in water, lemon juice, Worcestershire, and soup base, and boil until thickened slightly.  Pour in cream and stir to blend.  Add reserved bacon and parsley.  Serve atop your favorite slice of beef.

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Foodie Friday

Scenic Salisbury Steak - Route 66 Postcard Recipe

I love food and I love to travel, so it's only natural that as a seasoned veteran I've learned to travel light going, and not weigh myself down with souvenirs returning; such items that will only end up stored away and forgotten over the course of time.  So, collecting recipe postcards satisfies my curiosity about local cuisines, provides me with an excellent remembrance of my trip, and a way to recreate the tastier part of it to share with friends once I get home.

Click on this recipe to enlarge it and make it readable.  The only change I made was to add a packet of dry onion soup mix to the sauce in order to give it a more complex, richer flavor.

Today's dinner came from a Route 66 postcard from a collection that I acquired locally at the Missouri History Museum.  I've made this any number of times and each time we've throughly enjoyed this tasty meal of comfort food, and a bit of local history.

Served on an Inca Restaurantware (something else I collect) grill plate to be extra authentic.

I have a bit of a funny story about this recipe.  When I was recovering from an illness, my husband offered to make dinner.  Now he is an excellent chef, so something simple like this would normally pose no problem.  But, he is also a scholar and professor emeritus, who is constantly involved in one project or other and, well to be blunt, is the typical absent-minded professor.  When it came time to serve the meal he put before me the biggest piece of Salisbury steak I'd ever seen. I looked at him and said, "Oh, you made meat loaf!  I can't eat a whole meatloaf." He denied this and said it was the Salisbury steak recipe that I'd given him. Ummm, no, I'd made it before and it never looked anything like this rather challenging mound of meat.

I looked in the baking dish and asked where the other patties were.  "Others?" he asked.  "There were no others, the recipe said to 'form in 2 patties'."

I stared at him, mouth agape.  "No," I said, in my most diplomatic voice.  "You would not turn one and a half pounds of ground beef into two patties.  No."

He continued to insist, so I pulled out the recipe and as I read it a smile crossed my face.  The recipe read "form into patties."  INTO not TWO.  But knowing my dear husband as I do I'm sure he was involved in a number things at the time he read the recipe, his thoughts elsewhere.  And as he was working, repeated to himself "form into patties...form into pattie...form in two patties" and that's how he ended up with Salisbury meat loaves instead of Salisbury steak.

We laugh about this to this day.  As it turned out, the meatloaf thing wasn't half bad.  We froze one and split the other and both meals were equally delicious.

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