Cooking: Rescued Steak Fail!

Hello I have been busy in the kitchen this week, and busy in life. So of course the writing won't flow. I am going to have lots to write about in the coming weeks so this one should be the least busy on the blog for a while.

This week we were in and out of the house a lot. I pulled a lot of stuff out of the freezer and made plans. Too many plans. I filled the freezer with lots and lots of things to use later. I will talk about those in future posts.

Enter PLAN ONE! The first plan I had was to pull steaks out of the freezer and broil them for a quick hearty lunch before we went out for the day. I pulled out the broiler pan and plopped on the thawed steaks and let them cook for around 8 minutes on a side until they were well colored. I let them rest. After they rested I started cutting one of the steaks into personal portions. It was way underdone inside. I guess I need to read up on and practice my broiler technique!(Oh and using the meat thermometer might have been a good idea). I was flustered and we still needed to eat before we left so I started on quesadillas while I thought about the steak. PLAN ONE:  FAIL.

QUICK TIP: you can avoid using foil for covering resting meat, just use a large metal pot lid instead.

Enter PLAN TWO! While I was flipping quesadillas, I thought, "Hey, why don't I throw the steak into the crock pot, pot roast style and we can eat it when we get home." So I pulled out the crock pot, washed and cubed some potatoes, and carrots, tossed them and the steak in and turned it on high. I also added half an onion for flavor and moisture. Good plan except for one thing, I'm the only one in my house who likes pot roast. So we ate it for supper but most of it was leftover.  PLAN TWO: FAIL.

Enter PLAN THREE! So the pot roast/steak leftovers went into the fridge for a day. I came up with my next plan:  One Pot Stroganoff! For this I used the steak meat and carrots from the leftovers. (Recipe to follow).  It was a hit, someone even had thirds!  The only complaint I got was about the carrots so I will not use them again or include them in the recipe. Unfortunately, I only used about half the leftover steak in this recipe and had a lot of leftover potatoes, so I still needed another plan.  PLAN THREE: WIN!

Enter PLAN FOUR! Now what to do with a crock pot of potatoes and meat.... I made stew. I cut the meat into pieces. Well actually it broke into pieces. Mostly I removed the bones, fat and connective tissue, leaving chunks of shredded beef. I then cleaned dried out edges off the potatoes. I added the cleaned up meat and potatoes to my family stew base along with the pot juices and the onion cut into small pieces. I let this simmer for a while, but it cooked up fast since the veggies and meat were already done. Stew for another lunch and the rest went into the freezer. PLAN FOUR: WIN!

I got to have a kitchen adventure and now I will share the new recipe that saved the day.

One Pot Stroganoff

>1/2 to 1 pound beef shredded if cooked, sliced thin if raw
>1-2 Tablespoons fat
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms sliced
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons ketchup
3-5 cloves garlic
1 quart egg noodles (I use whole wheat)
1 quart water
2 cups plain Greek yogurt

 Melt the fat in a dutch oven or large pan. Brown beef if raw. Add onions and mushrooms cook until slightly brown and soft. Add Worchestershire and ketchup and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add meat, if using cooked beef, and water. Bring to a boil and add the noodles.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes or until noodles are done. Turn off heat and add yogurt. Serve hot.

You can replace all or part of the yogurt with sour cream. You can also add peas or green beans if you like. 


Cascade Factors:

Beef: This recipe can use leftover beef. 
Fat: You can use beef fat skimmed from pan juices or stock to brown the vegetables.
The recipe itself keeps and reheats well. I put some in the freezer but haven't thawed it yet to see how well it survives the process. I will let you know when I do.

  

Well that's all the cooking I'm going to talk about today. I hope my experience helps you to not give up hope when you are faced with a plan that doesn't go according to plan.
Thoughtfuly,
Kristin