Redondo Chuck Swiss Steak



Granddaughter Emma on the threshold of a new discovery.

What we lack often goads us to serendipitous delights.



I bought a pound and a half of chuck steak on sale at Ralph's yesterday, but I failed to buy beef broth, which I usually use in any pot roast type of dish.

I did find some boxed beef stock in the cupboard, but the date code indicated it should have been used six months earlier, so I tossed it out.  I found some canned diced tomatoes with green peppers, which triggered fond memories of my Mom's Swiss Steak (though I don't know that she used that ingredient), but I knew Julie disdains any trace of peppers.

I decided to instead use fresh Roma tomatoes and mushrooms, which I had in the vegetable crisper drawer, and with some seasonings, this became a new favorite recipe.

Start by mixing about a half cup of flour with a tablespoon of seasoned salt and a tablespoon of pepper, and spread the mixture out on a large piece of wax paper.

That Can-Do Attitude demonstrated by Amy.

Most likely your chuck steak will come in a Styrofoam tray, which works well as a disposable area for trimming the chuck steak.  Remove as much fat as you can, including the thin ribbons along the edges. This is time consuming but worth it, because chuck steak fat is inedible as far as most people are concerned. There are veins of fat marbling chuck steak, so this will result in several smaller pieces, and it might not even be a bad idea to cut the larger pieces down to smaller ones, based on how Julie and I preferred the smaller pieces.  By the time it is trimmed, you will have a little over a pound of steak left, which is perfect for two carnivores.

Put the trimmed pieces of steak one at a time into the flour mix to coat both sides. 

With the stovetop burner set to medium, heat two table spoons of olive oil in a deep pan or pot.  Mom used to use one of those seasoned cast-iron pans, which she could stick in the oven, but I just use a Teflon-coated pot that had almost exactly the right surface area for a pound of trimmed chuck steak.

Once all the beef is sizzling, sprinkle the top generously with onion flakes.  Most chefs would cook a couple of diced onions instead of dried flakes, and that would be delicious, but living in a small condo, Julie (and most likely our neighbors) wouldn't appreciate the lingering aroma. 

Also lightly sprinkle on cinnamon, which in addition to adding a sweetness and complexity to meat flavors enhances health.


Jay and Wes fishing for a compliment?

After about five minutes, turn the meat over and repeat sprinkling on onion flakes and cinnamon for that side.

While the meat is braising, line a glass baking dish with pan lining paper and preheat the oven to 225 degrees (or if you use a convection oven, 200 degrees). 

Dice three Roma tomatoes (about 2 cups), and slice six to eight mushrooms (about 1 cup).  I don't actually use a measuring cup, and you will find that dicing tomatoes on a cutting board makes a mess.  Instead, just cut the vegetables up in a bowl big enough to hold them all.  This also saves the tomato juice, which you can pour onto the steak, and cleaning the bowl is easy.

Put the braised steak into the lined baking dish.  Cover the steak with diced tomatoes, and then put sliced mushrooms on top of that.  Sprinkle with garlic salt.  Then, put aluminum foil on top as  a lid so that steam is kept in the dish.

Bake for an hour and a half at 225 degrees (80 minutes at 200 degrees for convection oven).

Wes and Gina ready to welcome guests.

Admittedly, when this came out it didn't look much like Swiss Steak, so I probably should call it Redondo Chuck or something, but it did turn out to be delicious.

 

While cleaning the braising pan could be avoided by simply roasting this dish, braising adds so much flavor that it is worth it.  At least you can wash that pan long before the meal is served, so that after throwing away the wax paper on which you floured the steak your kitchen isn't a mess for the afternoon.  By the way, you can braise the meat and assemble the dish a couple of hours before actually cooking it.

 

You can wrap any leftovers in the foil you used to top the dish, but in any case, final clean up is as simple as throwing away the pan liner and washing your plates.