Showing posts sorted by date for query sandwich. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query sandwich. Sort by relevance Show all posts
I was going to go shopping this morning, but it started snowing and I decided to stay home. The roads are very clear, but not having driven in snowy weather for the better part of the last 23 years, I thought I just wasn't willing to chance it!
So I took a boo into my store cupboard and freezer to see what I had to make myself a meal from. I had some potatoes that had seen better days, but were still good for making mashed potatoes. I had a package of Cube steaks in the freezer, an onion in my cupboard and so I was good to go!
Cube Steak, which is also known as Cubed Steak or Minute Steaks. They are typically made from round steak, which has been cut into thin, smaller portions and then put through a tenderizing machine. The tenderizing machine gives them a rough texture covered with little indentations.
You can also often find pork steaks which have been tenderized in the same way.
They are less expensive than other cuts of meat, which is something that makes them quite welcome these days when we are all watching our pennies, and trying to make our grocery dollar/pound go as far as we can. They are a great way of being able to enjoy a piece of steak without breaking the bank! You can find out more about cube steak here.
I buy mine at Sobey's grocery store. Foodland and Safeway are stores which are associated with Sobey's. They don't always have it so when I see it I always buy a couple of packages (they usually come in packs of two) and then I wrap it tightly at home and freeze it for sometime in the future when I want a cheap steak dinner!
You can also make your own cube/minute steaks very easily. Just buy a piece of round steak, and then pound it with a meat pounder or a serrated knife. Just take care not to cut it all the way through. You only want indentations about 1/8 of an inch into the steak.
They lend themselves to either long slow cooking, or quick flash frying. They are beautiful cooked slowly in the crock pot with some mushroom soup. They are also great flash fried and used for a steak sandwich.
Today I decided to simply flash fry them and serve them with a tasty onion gravy. I was in a gravy kind of a mood. Especially where I had some potatoes I needed to use and knew would make great mashed potatoes. Steak, gravy and mashed potatoes. Food for the God's!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
There is nothing complicated about this. Nothing at all. Simple ingredients done well. Quantities are given for two servings but can easily be multiplied to serve more if need be.
For the steak:
- 2 cube steaks (each one about 1/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches by 5 inches in size)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- plain all purpose flour to dust
- 1 TBS butter
For the gravy:
- 1 medium onion, peeled, halved and cut into half moons
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 cup milk (you may need a bit extra to thin the gravy as per your taste)
- 1/2 cup of beef stock
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- splash of hot sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
You can of course use whatever herbs, etc. you wish to season the steak with. I like onion and garlic powders to use as a seasoning for beef and pork. Just make sure you use the powders not the salts. If you do happen to use salts, then you will not need any more salt for the recipe and do be judicious in its use.
There are many dried herbs which would work well with beef. Rosemary, oregano, tarragon and thyme immediately come to mind.
Any ordinary cooking onion will work well in the gravy. I used a medium sized one, but if you are really fond of onions you can use a larger one. I would not use a red onion as it wouldn't look nice in the gravy, but if you don't care what it looks like, then go right ahead!
For the beef stock I used Knorr Beef Bullion concentrate. I always keep some of that and the chicken one in my refrigerator. They are great for making up small amounts of stocks as needed, or for flavoring gravies, etc. They are concentrated and are easily re-constituted with water.
They also take up a lot less room than traditional cartons of constituted stock. When you live in a small place like I do where storage is at a premium things that don't take up much room just make sense.
HOW TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
This really is quick and easy. So much so that you might want to have the other elements of your meal ready before you start cooking the steak.
First do the steaks. Preheat the oven to 200*F/90*C. Have a small dish ready to hold your steaks to keep them warm while you make the gravy.
Dust your steaks all over with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Dust them with the flour patting it into help it adhere.
Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Once it begins to foam, add the steaks.
Cook until you just see a small amount of liquid collecting on top and then flip over. Fry briefly on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a small dish and pop into the oven to keep warm while you make the gravy.
Turn the burner heat down to medium low. Add the other TBS of butter. Once it melts add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and begun to caramelize.
Add the flour to the skillet. Stir it into the onions.
Whisk in the stock and the milk. Cook stirring over medium heat until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Add the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and season with salt and black to taste. (I like lots of black pepper.)
Cook for several minutes to cook out any flour taste. If you think the gravy is too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it.
Serve the steaks with some of the onion gravy spooned over top and your favorite sides.
Mashed potatoes are also very easy to make. I have to say that I really miss the packages of frozen mashed potatoes that you could buy in the UK. They were really good and to be honest it was cheaper to buy a bag of them than it was to make mash from scratch.
You could usually get a bag of mash for one pound at the shops. There was enough in the bag to feed four people generously.
Mashed potatoes frozen in pellets, ready to shake out into a casserole dish and heat up in the microwave. I used to dress them up with sour cream and spring onions sometimes. I really liked that you could shake out as little or as much as you wanted to use.
They also had very good frozen jacket potatoes over there that I used to buy. You could get packages of four larger ones, or packages of about six smaller ones. For seniors with smaller appetites the smaller ones worked out well.
They made for a very easy supper heated up with a can of baked beans spooned over top, or some tuna mayonnaise, or whatever you wanted on them really. A can of chili was especially nice heated and spooned over top, with some cheese scattered over top.
I don't know why they don't do the frozen mash or baked potatoes here in Canada. Pity that!
I enjoyed my steak and gravy today with some fluffy mashed potatoes, sweet corn and some sliced tomato. Someone brought a couple of big boxes of reject beefsteak tomatoes from the local nursery into church yesterday. I brought home a couple to use and they are lovely.
It was a really delicious dinner, and yes, I sat down and ate it while it was still hot, at my table. I had my favorite music playing in the background and it was lovely.
And now, I have to go and do the dishes! I have enough of everything leftover to make myself another meal tomorrow. Perfect!
I have one other cube steak recipe for two on here that is delicious. Pan Fried Steaks with Parsley Butter. Quick and easy, it also makes for a lovely dinner with mash and veg.
You could also use cube steaks to make Swiss Steak. This is something my mother used to make for us and that I also used to make for my family. It was a real favorite. Tender pieces of steak in a rich tomato gravy.
Yield: 2
Cube Steak & Onion Gravy
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
Tender juicy cube steaks, served with a lush beef and onion gravy. Quick, easy and delicious.
Ingredients
For the steak:
- 2 cube steaks (each one about 1/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches by 5 inches in size)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- plain all purpose flour to dust
- 1 TBS butter
For the gravy:
- 1 medium onion, peeled, halved and cut into half moons
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 cup milk (you may need a bit extra to thin the gravy as per your taste)
- 1/2 cup of beef stock
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- splash of hot sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- First do the steaks. Preheat the oven to 200*F/90*C. Have a small dish ready to hold your steaks to keep them warm while you make the gravy.
- Dust your steaks all over with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Dust them with the flour patting it into help it adhere.
- Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Once it begins to foam, add the steaks.
- Cook until you just see liquid collecting on top and then flip over. Fry briefly on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a small dish and pop into the oven to keep warm while you make the gravy.
- Turn the burner heat down to medium low. Add the other TBS of butter. Once it melts add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and begun to caramelize.
- Add the flour to the skillet. Stir it into the onions.
- Whisk in the stock and the milk. Cook stirring over medium heat until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Add the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and season with salt and black to taste. (I like lots of black pepper.)
- Cook for several minutes to cook out any flour taste. If you think the gravy is too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it.
- Serve the steaks with some of the onion gravy spooned over top and your favorite sides.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
Today I baked us another sheet pan recipe for our tea. Sheet Pan Macaroni and Cheese. It was a recipe that I had saved by Amanda Hesser on Food52. If you have never perused that site, I highly recommend you join it. It is a veritable cornucopia of delicious recipes and meal ideas.
As soon as I saw this recipe for Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese I bookmarked it as something I wanted to make. I love mac and cheese and I love sheet pan suppers. The idea that you could combine those two ideas was really appealing to me.
Macaroni and Cheese is one of my absolute favorite things to eat. I try not to have it very often because really, its quite high in fat and not that good for you, but every now and then I cannot help myself.
It is not something that my mother ever made for us when I was growing up. I am not sure why.
We did have macaroni, on occasion, but it was always served plain, mixed with tomatoes and ground beef as a sort of goulash. Never with cheese. The closest we ever came to mac and cheese was the occasional treat of the blue boxed mac and cheese. That was a very rare treat.
To be honest, I was rather fussy when it came to cheese when I was growing up. I didn't mind processed cheese, but I was too afraid to get stuck into "real" cheese. Mom would buy some cracker barrel at Christmas, but I could never be tempted to eat it.
It wasn't until I got married that I started to sometimes cook with "real" cheese and came to enjoy it. And, of course, when I moved over to the UK and got to taste really GOOD cheese, I fell in love with it.
I remember when I first moved to the UK, I would go to the Chester City Market to shop. They had all sorts of stalls in there. Meat/butchers, fish mongers, green grocers, bakers, and a beautiful cheese shop. They would sell sandwich sized bags of crumbled cheese ends for 50 pence. You never really knew what kind of cheese it was. It was just marked cheese.
It was a really good price really and I always picked up a few bags that I would then bring home and make us some mac and cheese, or cheese on toast or cheese filled omelets with. So good.
You can't live in a country that produces the best cheddar in the world and not fall in love with it! Then when I cooked at the Manor, I used to be responsible for putting together cheese trays to close their Dinner Parties with. You had to know what you were eating in order to put together a tasty tray.
I got to try and taste an abundance of different cheeses and really good cheeses to be honest. I really did fall in love with all sorts of cheese and have quite an experienced palate now. I love cheese.
One of the nicest ones I got to try was this one that their daughter's In-Laws had brought over from Germany. I think it was called Tete de Moine. It was a semi hard washed rind cheese and was secured on a board with a metal pole running up the centre of the cheese round which was attached to a cheese cutter handle. This tool was called a Girolle. It scraped around the surface of the cheese, paring it into thin rosettes, which greatly resembled carnation flowers. Very yummy.
That is not the cheese used for this very delicious Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese. For this you will want two strengths of a good cheddar cheese. And quite a lot of it. (Yes, it is very naughty!)
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
Other than a good sturdy sheet pan, basically only a very few ingredients.
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Do try to get the best cheddar possible for this, both a strong and an extra strong (Old and Extra Old). You won't regret it. Also don't be tempted to use anything less than a whole milk for this recipe.
Whole milk will give you the rich result that you want. In for a penny in for a pound. You've got all that cheese, why quibble over full fat milk. This is not a recipe you want to be figuring out the calories and fat content of!
It is important that you use the right sized sheet pan for this. You want one where you can spread everything out in a nice thinnish layer so that you can get optimum surface crunch, with more of the macaroni and cheese being exposed to both the hot sheet pan and the hot oven.
If your pan is too small, your macaroni cheese won't get as crunchy. I don't know about you, but cheese crunch is one of my favorite things!
HOW TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
I was amazed at how very easy this was to make. The hardest part is grating all the cheese!
Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
If you are looking for crisp, cheesy decadence, you really can't go wrong with this recipe. Its deliciously indulgent, with a lovely amount of crunchy bits, both on the bottom and the top.
Rich. Rich. Rich.
You probably don't want to know the fat and calorie content. I sent a goodly part of this home with my sister. It was really delicious and I didn't think I could be trusted not to do myself some serious harm with it in the house!
This makes a wonderful, once in a blue moon treat!
If you are looking for something not quite so indulgent, might I suggest the following:
SKINNY MAC & CHEESE - Lower in fat and calories, high in fiber and protein, but not compromised in flavor in any way. If you are wanting to indulge in Mac and Cheese without going over the top, this could be your Mac and Cheese. Its really very good.
BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE - This is a delicious way to indulge your need for mac and cheese and at the same time get in two of your five a day. There is roughly half as much vegetables in this as there is macaroni, which helps to cut back on the carbs. This really is delicious and is one of my favorites!
Yield: 6
Sheet Pan Mac & Cheese
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 30 Min
All I can say is oh my goodness! This is the cheesiest. Decadent.
Ingredients
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
- Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
- Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
- Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
- Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
- Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
I have a bread machine and I have to say I make good use of it. I bake myself one or two loaves of bread in my machine just about every week. Sometimes if I am invited out for supper I will bake a loaf of bread to take with me as a Hostess gift. I can assure you it is always very welcome!
For years and years I struggled with baking a decent loaf of bread from scratch. My ex husband used to make beautiful bread for the family when my children were growing up. With five children we went through a LOT of bread!
He used to make the kitchen table dance across the floor when he was kneading it. Bread making day was always a really popular day in our home. I think the first loaf always got inhaled as soon as it came out of the oven. He would make at least a dozen loaves every week and they all got eaten.
Nobody minded taking homemade bread sandwiches to school either. Yes. It was that good. It was his mother's recipe and a bread he had grown up with. Good. Good. Good.
I was only ever very good at producing door stops. Heavy leaden door stops. It was not until I purchased a bread machine that I started producing really good bread.
My friend Jo inspired me to get one when I was in the UK. I bought for myself a Panasonic bread machine, which is what she had. I can tell you I wore the first one out and had to buy a new one after 18 years of almost daily use. And then I had to leave that one behind when I moved back to Canada in 2020.
I hadn't been going to get another one when I moved back to Canada, but after having to eat the bread available in the shops here for about six months, I decided I couldn't stand it any longer. I just had to buy myself a bread machine and I have baking my own bread ever since.
Once again I purchased myself a Panasonic Bread machine. Model # SD-RD 250. It has been serving me well for over 20 years and I expect that this newer one will also serve me very well. I have had no problems with it thus far. It bakes great bread!
As a Canadian I love Maple Syrup. When I first moved over to the UK I brought a 4-liter can of Maple Syrup with me. This was pre 9/11 and I was able to bring it right onto the aircraft. I was not going to live without my Maple Syrup!
Of course it is widely available there now, but when I first got to the UK it was a very rare find indeed. Hence the 4-liter can! My fingers were quite sore from carrying it through three airports, but it was worth all the effort.
This Maple Buttermilk Bread is a truly beautiful loaf of bread. It is slightly sweet from the use of Maple Syrup and has a beautiful tang from the buttermilk. It has a lovely tight crumb as you can see, and a beautiful crisp crust.
I adapted the recipe from a cookbook I have entitled, The Bread Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook, by Beth Hensperger. If you have a bread machine and you don't have this book, I highly recommend it. Every recipe I have baked from it is exceptional!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE MAPLE BUTTERMILK BREAD
There is nothing complicated here.
- 2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast (1 3/4 tsp SAF yeast)
- 3 cups (420g) strong bread flour
- 1/3 cup (82g) buttermilk powder
- 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 TBS maple syrup
- 1 1/2 TBS melted butter
- 1 cup plus 1 TBS cold water (240ml plus 1 TBS)
I am not sure what SAF yeast is. I just always use bread machine yeast. It serves me quite well.
If you cannot find buttermilk powder (I buy mine on Amazon) feel free to replace the water and dry buttermilk powder in the recipe with regular liquid buttermilk. In this case you will need 1 cup plus 1 TBS of buttermilk (240ml plus 1 TBS).
Vital Wheat Gluten is a product that helps to boost the protein content of the bread. It is not absolutely essential, but it does make a much nicer loaf. I buy mine again on Amazon. I store it in the freezer so it will last longer.
Simply follow the instructions for a basic loaf of bread as per your particular model of bread machine.
- Place all of the ingredients into your bread machine according to your bread machine's manufacturers instructions. (Mine puts the dry first and wet last.)
- Set the crust on medium and the program to basic. Press start.
- As soon as the bake cycle ends, remove the bread from the pan and place onto a rack to cool to room temperature prior to slicing.
- Store in an airtight bag or container. You can also freeze it.
HINTS AND TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST BREAD IN THE BREAD MACHINE
Really if you follow the directions on your particular bread machine your bread should work out perfectly, but there are a few things you can do that will give you an even better loaf of bread.
1. Measure by weight and not volume. Weight is a much more precise way to measure. You can't go wrong. I have a set of digital scales that I use. I just pop the bread pan onto them and measure away. My scales measure in grams, Kg, pounds and ounces, milliliters, etc. I started baking by weight when I lived in the UK and I would now never bake any other way.
2. Bread machine loaves work best with bread flour. Bread flour can also be labeled "Best for Bread" or "High Gluten flour."
3. You can use regular flour, but if you do I recommend adding Vital Wheat Gluten to the recipe. This helps to boost the protein content of the bread.
4. Measure very carefully. If you don't add enough flour, no matter the type of flour you use, the bread will collapse and is often uncooked in the center. If you add too much flour, you will end up with a dense, hard heavy ball.
5. I add Vital Wheat Gluten to all of my recipes for bread making in a bread machine. You can purchase it online. It helps to yield a much better loaf, helping the loaf to rise higher with a nicer texture than without.
Vital wheat gluten is best stored in the refrigerator (for up to one year), but you can store it on the counter if you think you will use it up within two months (highly unlikely for the home baker.)
This truly is a beautiful loaf of bread. A new favorite here. I used some today to make my favorite grilled cheese sandwich to serve with a cup of hot tomato soup. Is there anything more comforting than tomato soup and a grilled cheese? I think not!! This is the ultimate comfort food meal!!
This bread made an excellent grilled cheese. Yes, I am a total glutton. I like to melt a pat of butter on the top of my tomato soup. It has been ever so!
BREAD MACHINE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS - These are beautiful rolls and well deserving of being served at your holiday meal, or at any meal for that matter. Using the Bread Machine makes them quick and very simple to make.
BUTTERMILK WHOLEWHEAT BREAD - With a mixture of both whole wheat and white bread flours, and sweetened with maple syrup. Then there is the addition of buttermilk. Together these things make for a really delicious wholesome loaf of bread.
Yield: 1 medium loaf
Maple Buttermilk Bread
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 4 HourTotal time: 4 H & 10 M
This is a basic white bread recipe that is a delicious combination of the sweetness of Maple syrup and tangy buttermilk. It makes for lovely sandwiches and toast.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast (1 3/4 tsp SAF yeast)
- 3 cups (420g) strong bread flour
- 1/3 cup (82g) buttermilk powder
- 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 TBS maple syrup
- 1 1/2 TBS melted butter
- 1 cup plus 1 TBS cold water (240ml plus 1 TBS)
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into your bread machine according to your bread machine's manufacturers instructions. (Mine puts the dry first and wet last.)
- Set the crust on medium and the program to basic. Press start.
- As soon as the bake cycle ends, remove the bread from the pan and place onto a rack to cool to room temperature prior to slicing.
- Store in an airtight bag or container.
Thank you so much for visiting! Do come again!
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