Slow Cooker Swiss Steak: Easy, Hearty Meal for Busy Times By: Victoria Hamilton

Slow Cooker Swiss Steak: Easy, Hearty Meal for Busy Times

By: Victoria Hamilton

Looking back, I don’t know how she did it; Mom had a husband, kids, an old Victorian house and a full time demanding job as a nurse. And yet she also did most of the cleaning, almost all of the cooking (though she taught me to cook early, and I cooked when she was on evening shift), grocery shopping and meal planning.

Superwoman. Truly!

One of her go-to’s was anything she could put in the slow cooker.

I know she did Swiss Steak, but I don’t remember if it was in the slow cooker or not. However, when I was looking around for easy slow cooker meals, I came across one using blade steak, and inexpensive cut of beef. The recipe wasn’t quite right – it lacked… something – so I modified it and now it is delicious! Served with garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes and garlic green beans – omit the garlic if you’re not a fan! – it makes a wonderful feels-like-the-weekend meal any night of the week. And in the lead-up to the frenzied holidays, who couldn’t use one of those?

Slow Cooker Swiss Steak

*Note: I used a 2 1/1 quart casserole type slow cooker, and I should have used something larger… I’d advise a 4 quart or larger.

Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients:

2 – 3 Tbsp all purpose flour

½ Tsp salt

¼ Tsp fresh ground pepper

2 lbs. boneless blade steak (or any simmering steak) *Note; weight is approximate. You can expand it to feed more; I actually used about a pound and a half, and it fed four.

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium or 2 small onions, cut into ¼ inch slices

2 large garlic cloves

1-2  celery stalk(s), cut into ½ inch slices

1 - 398 ml (14 ounce) can tomato sauce

1  - 540 ml ( 19 ounce) can petite cut tomatoes OR canned Italian tomatoes chopped.

Method

1 – Sauté onion and celery until wilted, and add the minced garlic in the last few minutes. (I do this to get the ‘raw’ taste out of the onions, but the original recipe omitted this step! Your choice.)

2 – Combine flour, salt and pepper in a sealable plastic bag. Cut the steak into serving size pieces and toss them in the flour mixture until they are coated.

3 - Mix the two types of tomato together, then, in the slow cooker, layer, starring with some of the sauce, then some of the floured steak, and repeat, ending with the last of the sauce.

4 – Top with onion, garlic and celery, and turn on high for an hour or two, then to low for at least three to four hours. *NOTE… If you are going to leave the house and don’t have time to do the ‘High’ setting, just put it on low for at least six to eight hours.

5 – Serve with some of the gravy on the meat. I also brought to the table a gravy boat with the extra sauce!

The first time I made this I thought the gravy would be awful on potatoes… tomatoes? On potatoes? But it’s really good, and does not have a pasta sauce feel at all.  

And if you’re in a REAL hurry when you get home from holiday shopping, or work, (Or whatever you’ve done that has left you exhausted and stressed) you can open a can of green beans and make what I call Fake-taters… Idahoan makes awesome instant mashed potatoes that are actually very tasty. Whatever gets a meal on the table quickly!

This recipe is dedicated to my mom and all the women of her generation, those superwomen of the seventies who did, indeed, do it ALL!

 

~::~

GIVEAWAY!

It’s DECEMBER!!

So let’s start the Holiday Season off right with a fun GIVEAWAY!

Comment here to enter to win a prize package including a paperback copy of Cast Iron Alibi, (Vintage Kitchen Mysteries #9 – November 5^th, 2019)  a COOL skull teaspoon (suitable or freaking out your aunt at Christmas as you stir her tea) and bookmarks. Open to US and Canadian readers… contest ends Midnight, December 3^rd. Please leave an email address (yourname (at) yourserver (dot) com) and first name in your comment!

I’m throwing in a bonus because I am so excited about this new holiday collection… I’m adding in a $10 Amazon gift card so the winner can head on over to Amazon and buy the Mistletoe & Murder collection of three full length holiday cozy mysteries including my Breaking the Mould (December 2018) which was Vintage Kitchen Mysteries #8.

About Cast Iron Alibi: In the new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Breaking the Mould, when an over-amorous handyman is found murdered, Jaymie will have to use every tool at her disposal to nab the culprit . . .

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