Brown Food is Yummy!

Yes, I know this goes against conventional thinking for someone who loves vegetables as much as I do.  But being a Texas girl at my core, sometimes the only food for me is some good 'ol fried food.  One of my all time favorites is chicken fried steak!  I remember chicken fried steak days back in elementary school.  The lunch ladies would so lovingly make a little nest in my mashed potatoes before filling it with green peas and topping it off with gravy. Mmmmmm...now that's comfort food!


Honestly, I don't know what "cube steak" is or why it makes the perfect chicken fried steak, but it does.  Quite frankly, if I'm hankerin' cfs, then I don't really care what it is because at this point, it's not about the nutritional value.  It's all about fried, crispy crusted beef with some heart stoppin' gravy on top.  Oh man, it makes my mouth water and takes me back to Caldwell Elementary at just the thought of it.  I'm sure my man Jamie Oliver wouldn't have approved of it - and I do LOVE Jamie. (He's my very favorite chef.)  Most days my mom made my lunch, but the chicken fried steak days were all about the cafeteria.  


So guess what we had for dinner last night?  I was bummed I had no peas to go with it, but I did have tater's. I didn't bother to have a healthy salad or anything with it.  Straight up meat and potatoes. 

First - a glass of carbernet!


OK, so I have 4 cube steaks which I've seasoned with salt & pepper and left to sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to take some of the chill off of them.  While they sit, mix up 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne & thyme in a flat container. I think a pie pan works perfectly for this purpose.  In a second pie plate, mix up 2 eggs & a cup of cream (that's right - good old fat laden cream).


About the time you need a refill on the carbernet, take your meat and put it in the flour mixture. Drag it through really good, filling all the crevices with flour. Tap it a bit, dredge it through the cream & egg mixture on both sides before putting it back into the flour mix. Now really get in all those lovely spots.  Set aside while you heat up a skillet with about an inch of oil.  I use canola for this.  Once you've got all pieces perfectly coated, dredged and coated again and the oil is beginnng to move around a little on it's own, CAREFULLY slip one steak at a time into the oil.
Let it cook about 6 minutes before CAREFULLY turning it over and cooking the other side.

It will be done in about 15 minutes total.  I like my crust to be nice and brown and crispy.  After removing, set it aside on a platter with paper towel to drain off the extra fat.

I'm sorry to let you down on photos of the gravy process, but it happens rather quickly and when it was done, I think I poured myself a glass of it and sat down!   Just kidding.  But seriously, I did for get pictures.


Get a heat proof container (I use my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and CAREFULLY pour off the oil from your skillet.  Leave the brown bits!  They make gravy fabulous! Put the pan back on a med-low flame and add a heaping spoon of flour to it, whisking it quickly to keep it from burning. Have on hand a Tbsp of butter to add to it.  This should brown quickly for the beginnings of your gravy roux.  Slowly add 2 cups of milk - a couple Tbsps at first whisking all the while to keep things smooth and creamy. Got some of that beef broth we made last week on hand? YAY!  Add a cup of that to it too and turn the heat up a bit more until it begins to bubble and thicken.


When it's the consistency you like, you're done!  Take it off the heat, plate your steak & potatoes, give yourself a generous portion of gravy and dive in!  Mmmmm....


Feed the ones you love!  (Then the next day be sure to load 'em up on veggies to erase the damage you did today!!)