London Broil, a Nice Supper

London broil is a tasty way to serve up a more modest cut of beef. To make this meal really shine, keep this meat as a side dish to your favorite tasty vegetables.

Start with a top round roast. Supermarkets and butchers might advertise a London Broil as a cut of meat, but it really is a cooking method.

First, the marinade. This is where you can get creative, but the main point of the marinade is the gravy that comes later during the cooking process. This marinade is basically a salad dressing of oil, vinegar and spices. My mother used to whip up a cruet of Good Seasonings-brand Italian dressing. I prefer to make my own. Just a basic red wine vinegar, olive oil vinaigrette with salt, pepper, oregano, and any seasonings you like.

Tenderize the meat by stabbing it all over with a fork. You want to create a lot of pinholes for the marinade to seep into. Place the tenderized meat into a broiling dish and cover with the marinade. (Be sure to put some of the marinade underneath the meat, too.) Cover with cellophane and place in the refrigerator for as long as possible, overnight if you can or at least for a few hours before cooking.

When you are ready to start cooking, prepare your broiler by lowering the rack to the furthest setting away from the flame. Set your broiler on its lowest setting. Remove the cellophane, spoon some of the marinade over the top of the meat and place the dish in the broiler. Leave to cook for 15 minutes on one side.

Now, you can get the potatoes started. This dinner is great with mashed potatoes, French fries or any of your favorite potato recipes. Get creative with the veggies. Put together unusual pairings like peas and broccoli, corn on the cob and green beans, or limas beans with carrots. Choose two or more of your favorites. Go for opposite flavors or colorful combinations.

After 15 minutes, turn the meat over and let the other side cook for 10 minutes or more if you want the meat medium to well done. Watch to see if the marinade is drying out and if so, add a bit of water.

When the meat is cooked to your liking, it is time to take the meat out of the broiler and place it on a warming dish in the regular oven at a very low temperature: 175 degrees F. You don’t want the meat cooking any more and drying out.

Put the marinade and meat juices into a saucepan. Be sure to scrape in all the bits from the broiler plate. (Be careful, the broiler dish will be HOT.)

Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of flour over the beef drippings in a the saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and brown. Gradually stir in a cup of water so that no lumps form. Boil until thickened, (about 10 minutes) stirring constantly until your marinated meat juices become succulent, reduced gravy.

The meat is ready to slice and plate. Slice thinly and place on the side of your supper dish with potatoes and veggies. Spoon the gravy over the meat.

This is a tasty and inexpensive way to feed a lot of people. And you aren’t filling their plates and stomachs with a lot of red meat. The thin slices of beef become part of a balanced meal. Consider the London Broil a side dish to a healthy vegetable dinner.

Serve with a salad.

London Broil is also good served cold the next day as a tasty sandwich.

Music to cook by: Tony Bennett’s Stepping Out

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Swiss Steak For Two Or Ten

Swiss Steak is a recipe my mother used to make to feed ten or more people.  She would buy an inexpensive cut of beef and make almost the entire dinner in one large pan. You can adjust the amount of meat and tomato sauce to your dinner plans, but you need to plan in some cooking time. This may be a meal that prepares quickly and simply, but you need about 4 hours of cooking time to get it to taste right.

Beef Bottom Round cut into small portions. The amount of meat is based on how many you are serving. The more steak in the pan, the more meat juices are created for the gravy.

Heavily salt and pepper the red meat.

Dredge the meat in flour and brown in a large pan using olive oil.

I remove the browned meat onto a warm plate while I cooked the onions (one large onion thinly sliced) in some more olive oil and pad of butter. Salt and pepper the onions to taste. When the onions are sautéed (about five minutes on high heat) return the meat and mix the onions and meat together. Cover the pan and let cook for about ten minutes on a medium heat.

Add one small 15-ounce can of tomato sauce to the pan, covering the meat and onions. At this point you can add some other spices to your taste. I added a small amount of red pepper flakes, marjoram and oregano. (If you want to add some crushed garlic to the dish, do that back when sautéing the onions.)

That is it, except for some patience. Cover the pan and let this mixture cook slowly over very low heat for 4 hours.

Serve it with your favorite vegetable and mashed potatoes. The brownish-red sauce is a tangy combination of the beef gravy juices, onions and tomato sauce. Spoon the sauce over your potatoes and have some bread for dipping and cleaning the plates.

Music to cook by:  This supper always reminds me of the 1970s so Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.

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