My mother always told me (at a young and tender age) that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Decades later, Bless her Soul, my mother was so right! Hang on to your bottle of Lipitor, and don't even bother to calculate how many Weight Watcher Points are in this dinner-- it's off the charts, I can assure you. My husband, being a Midwestern Boy, loves and appreciates his comfort food. Chicken Fried steak is all about comfort and calories, and I can assure you that this is one of the hardest posts I've had to edit. Just looking at the photos I took, makes my mouth water for this sinfully (and very easy) Man-Pleasing Dinner.
I found Ree Drummond's recipe on page 142 of her Debut Cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Ha! This is one recipe that can't be found on her very successful blog "The Pioneer Woman Cooks." I've never made this recipe before, so I did a research on several versions before I started to make this. I really liked the recipe from Cook's Illustrated., which uses buttermilk and adds baking powder and baking soda. There were a few cooking tips from trust friends at Cook's Illustrated that I incorporated into making this dish. So, let's begin:
I am not about to tenderize my own steaks, because I'm lazy about that, so I buy cube steaks from my trusted butcher shop. They are very inexpensive, too. I adapted this recipe to make four steaks. To make the batter, you need to prep:
Measure flour, salt, black pepper, and cayenne into a large shallow dish. In a second large shallow dish, beat the egg, baking powder, and baking soda; stir in the buttermilk (the mixture will bubble and foam). Drop the steaks into the flour and shake the pan to coat. Shake excess flour from each steak, then, using tongs, dip the steaks into the egg mixture, turning to coat well and allowing the excess to drip off.
Coat the steaks with flour again, shake off the excess, and place them on the wire rack.
TIP: I dip the meat with only one hand, which leaves the other one clean. See? This part can be a little messy. It's time to fry, so here's a tip from Cook's Illustrated: Getting the initial oil temperature to 375 degrees is key to the success of this recipe. An instant-read thermometer with a high upper range is perfect for checking the temperature; a clip-on candy/deep-fry thermometer is also fine. If your Dutch oven measures 11 inches across, you will need to fry the steaks in two batches.
Place the steaks (do in two batches, rather than crowding the pan) in the oil and fry, turning once, until deep golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes (oil temperature will drop to around 335 degrees).
These turned out great, if I do say so myself! Now, Ree doesn't tell you this tip, but Cook's Illustrated does-- keep these warm on a wire rack, set atop a baking sheet in a 200F oven. That way, air circulates and it won't turn the crust soggy, while you make the gravy. I don't make gravy often-- in fact, pretty much only at Thanksgiving. But Chicken Fried Steak needs gravy. Like the Pioneer Women often says, "It's the right thing to do." I did use P-Dub's gravy recipe, from her cookbook. I like to strain the drippings. To me, it's easier to catch those tasty bits, but you don't have to dirty your fine sieve if you don't want to.
Without cleaning the pan, return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add ¼ cup drippings back to the pan; allow the fat to heat up. Sprinkle about ⅓ cup flour evenly over the fat. Using a whisk, mix the flour with the fat, creating a golden brown paste. This is knows as a "roux", and you want the roux to attain a deep, rich color. If the paste seems more oily the pasty, sprinkle in another tablespoon of flour. Whisk again and check the consistency. After a couple of minutes, the paste will start to turn golden brown. That's when it's ready for the next step. Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups milk*. NOTE: *I used part 1% milk and part half 'n half, because I didn't have whole milk. It still works!
Whisk to combine, then let the gravy thicken gradually. If it seems too thick at first, at splashes of milk, as needed—whisking to combine. As you cook and thicken the gravy, be prepared to splash in more milk* if it becomes overly thick. NOTE: *I used some chicken stock, in place of additional milk. I think it gives the gravy more depth of flavor. The total cooking process should take 5–10 minutes. Generously season the gravy with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, tasting it as you go along. According to the Pioneer Woman, under seasoned gravy is one of life's great sacrileges.
Now, about those mashed potatoes... I recently discovered a new way to make mashed potatoes that is super easy and clever. I won't tell you where, or what other tasty version I made-- it's going to be posted very soon, I promise. I've just been relaxing on vacation! But, here's how I made garlic mashed potatoes:
I used Russet potatoes, this time (Yukon Golds are my favorite spud of all time). I also added 2 peeled whole cloves of garlic to the milk; we love garlic taters. Peel the potatoes, wash them... and rather than cooking them in water.... cook them right in milk (or cream)! Here's, I'm using half 1% milk and some half 'n half. I don't measure, so here's a visual:
I lightly season the potatoes with kosher salt and pepper-- I'll be adding more seasoning later on. Cook the potatoes, covered, on medium heat, until fork tender. Now, this is important... remove some of the cooking liquid and set it aside.
Mash away, baby! Season, taste, add a little more liquid if necessary. We like ours creamy...a few lumps are okay with us. Now, why would you reserve some liquid? Well, I can make these taters before starting the rest of my dishes. Right before serving these, I simply add the reserved liquid to freshen up the potatoes, make them super creamy... and they are really great!
There has to be a little "green" on the plate, don't you think? Green beans would be great, but I only had broccoli in the fridge.
VERDICT: I think Cook's Illustrated's addition of the baking soda and powder really helped to make this crust become crunchy and perfect. I used peanut oil, but vegetable oil would work fine. Flavor-wise, my husband loved this dinner, and I definitely made his stomach and heart feel very loved and happy. I'm not big on gravy, but I have to say that this was very flavorful. I think the chicken stock was a good addition. While my husband doesn't burn off a lot of calories by working cattle on a ranch, he gets enough of a workout pushing the lawn mower up our very steep and grassy hill! This is definitely a man-pleasing dinner and I highly recommend it. I give kudos to The Pioneer Woman's gravy, -- and little bit of my own improvs on adding chicken stock to the gravy and potatoes.
I'm linking this post to my sister blog "Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman", where bloggers are invited to submit their own recipes from Pioneer Woman's vast collection of tasty dishes. I hope you'll join us, as we'll be posting the next roundup on Monday, April 9th. You have till noon PST, Sunday, to submit your photo and link. The printable recipe is at the very bottom of this post. Now that I've seen all of these photos, excuse me while I go peel another orange and take a walk up a steep hill...
When I first discovered The Pioneer Woman Cook's blog-- around October 2008, I was hooked. Little did I know that a couple of months later, I would start my own food blog. I think what I found so intriguing about Ree's style of photographing step-by-step photos, is that she makes things look downright irresistible. At least, that's the effect that Ree Drummond has on me. (She's also funny and talented.) For that reason, when P-Dub posted "Grandma Iny's Prune Cake", I didn't crinkle my nose and dismiss the idea that this cake could possible be one of her Top Five favorites. Instead, I looked at her photo and read the ingredients:
Allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. It spells F-A-L-L. It also spells M-U-S-T M-A-K-E. Months went by, and I forgot all about this recipe. I was organizing my piles of printed recipes and I found a faded copy of this recipe that I had printed months ago-- I paused, and decided that today was the day. I was going to make this right now!
Ah, yes, the Old Prune. Poor thing. Why is it that prunes make us think of-- well, old people? We immediately think that these are eaten by old folks, who need to stay, um... well, they don't want to be. Never mind. I had flashbacks to my childhood, when my mother (who was probably younger than I am at this time in my life) kept a bottle of prune juice in the fridge. One day, I was thirsty. Really thirsty. So I drank a big glass of prune juice. It was sweet! I liked it. Unfortunately, that night, my mother had to deal with the effects on an eight year old girl who drank almost an entire bottle of prune juice. Ugh. But, now, I guess I'm right up there with my mom. OK, I admit it. I buy prunes. I like prunes. Am I old? It depends whom you ask. But let's get on with it-- what's in this cake? Ordinary ingredients, pretty much pantry staples. Sugar. Canola Oil. Eggs. Vanilla. Buttermilk. Yes, I always keep Buttermilk on hand. I love it's thick, tangy flavor in mashed potatoes, or pancakes, or muffins. It lasts a long while, actually. Otherwise, you can do the lemon juice and milk trick. But it still doesn't match real Buttermilk.
Obviously, you need Prunes. I cup of them, which is about 18 prunes. I added water and softened them in the microwave, then drained them.
Mashing hot and softened prunes is sticky business. But, that's what ya gotta do. Set them aside. Preheat the oven to 300F. No, not 350F. 300F. It's not a mistake.
The dry ingredients are whisked together and are ready to meet the wet stuff. You don't need to use a cake mixer, which I soon realized. That's because you mix the sugar and oil, then add the eggs . Simple. Quick.
Ree points out that you don't want to over mix the batter-- so I realized that this is similar to making pancake batter. After adding the buttermilk and vanilla, I removed the batter bowl and manually mixed the batter, until it just combined.
It's time to fold in the mashed prunes. Don't laugh. Prunes are good! I promise. Pour it into a buttered baking pan (I used a 9x13). Bake this for 35 minutes, the recipe says. I set my timer for 30 minutes. It's how I make sure to not over bake cakes. I don't like dry cakes. It's good insurance. While the cake is baking, it's important to get the icing ingredients ready. Hide your bathroom scale. Calm your pancreas down. We're going on a sugar trip.
White sugar, buttermilk, corn syrup, vanilla and 1/2 stick of butter. Heaven. I'm 15 minutes from the cake being ready... you need to start the icing.
The easy part is dumping all the ingredients together, then bringing them to a boil. The directions say that you don't want to get the icing to caramelize too much. Hmmm... I decided to use a candy thermometer. This was off to a rolling boil, and I was guessing/gauging what the right color should be. Ding! The cake is ready to come out of the oven...
At 30 minutes, the cake was "done". It didn't jiggle and the toothpick came out clean. The directions say to immediately pour the frosting over the cake. Do you see a potential problem? No? Look at the color...
On the lower left photo, I saw watery butter and the color was to light. This didn't seem right. Guess what? I poured the frosting right back into the pot-- I was in 9-1-1 mode.
Take Two. I returned the pot on high, and waited a minute or tow. It's now a darker color, and reached 220F on the thermometer. You're welcome. Now see how the icing was thicker? So, I lost some of it-- and it soaked into the cake. I wasn't too upset.
If you like sticky, gooey-- come to Mama! The smell is amazing! It's evil. It's Pioneer Woman.
The icing is starting to cool-- and harden. My pulse rate it going up. Ree says to serve it warm. I don't want to argue with that.
The cake is oh-so-tender, and warm...and the fragrance of the spices. It's intoxicating, I tell you!
It's a tough job, but in the interesting of my blogger family, I must tell you if it tastes good. Ready? OMG! P-Dub did it again. I think these are her "other" cinnamon rolls-- which I think is her admitted signature recipe. It reminds me of Sticky Toffee Pudding. This so easy to make. 15 minutes of prep-- 35-ish minutes of baking. This is perfect to serve as a brunch type treat. This is going to my office tomorrow. I cannot let this pan of goodness stay in my house. It will corrupt me. I will want to eat it all.
Are you ready to give prunes another chance? This is not for old people. This is for people who love the flavor of spice, all wrapped in warm and moist goodness. By the way, Ree says this cake does NOT have that, um, "effect" on you that prune juice will. It's a good thing, otherwise I'd relive my childhood experience. Ree has a sweet story on how she got this recipe. You can read it here:
I am linking this recipe to my sister blog, Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. I started this blog as a place where fellow fans of Ree Drummond. PW's blog is so hugely popular, that my comments feel like they are lost among the thousands. Come join us, as we are an intimate family of foodies who cannot resist her recipes. You don't have to ask to join. Just send me a recipe from PW's cookbook or blog. That's it! The next roundup will post tomorrow, Monday morning. I post on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month.
Enjoy! It's good to indulge in desserts, once in a while! This one is a keeper,
This morning, I was making a bowl of Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, sweetened with pure maple syrup, for breakfast. I noticed an unopened carton of Quick-Oats, and it triggered memories of an oatmeal cookie recipe that I've been making for years. I originally found it in a book "Best of Country Cookies". I remember when my son was around 10 years old, I'd whip up a batch of these cookies, and his friends were so impressed. This is a cookie recipe that is about as perfect as you could ask for. While it's still hot, it's crispy on the outside, and chewy in the middle. They bake perfectly round, and they just make you look like a baking expert!
Now that my son is all grown up, I had forgotten about this recipe. My cooking styles have changed a lot, since then. For one, I try to avoid using shortening and I've permanently banished products like fake whipped cream, from the freezer section-- whose Brand Name shall remain nameless). Living in California, where Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are all over the place-- it's so convenient for me to buy better alternatives. When I re-read the recipe, I realized that it calls for all shortening, and I paused. I used to buy Crisco Butter-Flavored shortening-- though I admit the product has improved and isn't so bad anymore. Crisco does work really well for this recipe, so if you like it-- then go for it! I pondered a bit, and then I decided to go half butter and half shortening. Using all butter doesn't really work for this cookie recipe-- unless you like rock cookies. If that's your case, use all butter. As usual, let me show you:
The ingredients are, most likely already in your pantry-- brown sugar, white sugar, all-purpose flour, butter, eggs, vanilla and Quick Oats. Old-Fashioned Oats don't work as well with this recipe. I'm speaking from experience. TIP: The reason my eggs are soaking in hot water, is to bring them to room temperature. Whenever I bake, I find I get much better results when my butter and eggs aren't ice cold, from the fridge.
This is my first time using this product. I bought it a while ago, with the intention of using it to make pie crusts.
This shortening is a little harder to work with, by the way. Pun intended.
I think the reason that cooks say they don't like to bake, is that it's precise. Eliminating or substituting dry ingredients is risky-- and you need to measure! Here are a few tips that make baking more efficient for me. Mis en place, is essential! That is, organizing all of your ingredients in advance is key. There's nothing worse than running out of an important ingredient! I like to measure all of my dry ingredients (flour, leaveners like baking powder or soda, salt, spices etc.) and then I whisk them all together. The dry ingredients, for this recipe, are all-purpose flour (I use unbleached), salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. TIP: This might seem like a hassle, but I've developed a habit of separating my eggs in a single bowl, and then adding them into one bowl. Why? Look closely at the bottom right photo. That's an egg shell. It's easier to fish out. It's never happened to me, but it's also a way of catching a "bad egg" before it contaminates the rest. You can smell a bad egg, right away. Ew.
Some people like to mix cookie batter by hand. My hat's off to you! My stand mixer is my worker bee. First step is to cream the butter/shortening (or all shortening, if you wish), with the sugar. This took about 3 minutes to become really creamy. The eggs are added, one at a time. Now, it's time to add vanilla. I added one more ingredient-- "Buttery Sweet Dough Emulsion" is a product that I used to make "Perfect Pound Cake". I read that this extract/emulsion is great for cookies, so I added a scant teaspoon. (This later, proved to work beautifully. I love this stuff!)
There's a lot of cookie batter, because I doubled the recipe. You'll see why, in a moment. I have a "guard" for my stand mixer bowl, so that flour doesn't fly everywhere. Ha! I recently learned a cool trick-- when I dump all of the flour (as opposed to a little at a time) into the bowl, then I pulse the machine a few times. This does a nice pre-mix of flour and I don't end up having to vacuum the mess from the floor. It so works! I transferred the batter (which is quite soft) and blended in the oatmeal.
GADGET TIP: I have an assortment of scoops. These make cookie baking so much easier. This one is about 2" wide. I have a smaller one, but I tend to grab this size the most.
I have Silpat mats, but lately I find that I prefer parchment paper. Either way, they make life a whole lot easier-- especially with clean up. These go into 350F for about 11-13 minutes. You want them to look golden, but a little gooey in the very middle is fine-- if you like chewy. Otherwise, add another minute or two, to the baking time.
It's hard to resist, but you need to let these cook for a minimum of five minutes. Otherwise, they can fall apart. These are so delicious-- the flavor of the cinnamon and nutmeg work in harmony. They don't overpower the cookie, but give it a special "mmmmmmmmmm" factor.
All I can say is, "yummy!" If you don't like nutmeg, that's a shame. I didn't, at one time. The nutmeg, I think, is what makes the overall flavor so incredibly good. I stored half of the plain dough in a bucket and put it into the refrigerator. Now, let's get creative and make these my way! One version I like is to add raisins, sometimes chocolate chips, and walnuts. My son hates these ingredients. As for me, I'm a big fan of pecans. Caramel or butterscotch makes me weak at the knees. Here I go:
I hoard baking chips. I don't know why, but I can't resist buying different flavors. I decided to experiment with butterscotch morsels. I added about 1 cup of morsels (half a bag, for a double recipe) and about one cup of chopped pecans. My pulse rate was going up, in anticipation...
Pretty...
I wasn't kidding! These cookies are fool-proof, if you follow the directions. They smell amazing!
This cookie fell apart, because I didn't let it quite cool enough. I call these "mine"!
Can you see the butterscotch bits?
I'm telling you the truth... these rock my world. They really do.
These will be in my lunch box tomorrow-- guaranteed.The beauty is, I have a lot of unbaked dough. I like to scoop out cookie-size dough, freeze them, and then store them in the freezer. That way, I can bake just enough cookies, at a time, without the temptation of eating them all. The dough is plain, so I can add any combo of extras that I want. Next time, raisins!
I was surprised to see that The Pioneer Woman has posted the same recipe, as Marlboro Man's favorite cookie. For that reason, I will include this is my recipe roundup on Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman, that I will post tomorrow. Ree's technique is very different, where she rolls the dough into a log and then slices. it I find the batter is plenty creamy enough, where it easily scoops onto a cookie sheet. I wonder where P-Dub originally found that recipe....
. Ha! This is one recipe that can't be found on her very successful blog "The Pioneer Woman Cooks." I've never made this recipe before, so I did a research on several versions before I started to make this. I really liked the recipe from Cook's Illustrated., which uses buttermilk and adds baking powder and baking soda. There were a few cooking tips from trust friends at Cook's Illustrated that I incorporated into making this dish. So, let's begin:
