Cube Steak & Onion Gravy

I was going to go shopping this morning, but it started snowing and I decided to stay home. The roads are very clear, but not having driven in snowy weather for the better part of the last 23 years, I thought I just wasn't willing to chance it!
So I took a boo into my store cupboard and freezer to see what I had to make myself a meal from. I had some potatoes that had seen better days, but were still good for making mashed potatoes. I had a package of Cube steaks in the freezer, an onion in my cupboard and so I was good to go!

Cube Steak, which is also known as Cubed Steak or Minute Steaks. They are typically made from round steak, which has been cut into thin, smaller portions and then put through a tenderizing machine. The tenderizing machine gives them a rough texture covered with little indentations.
You can also often find pork steaks which have been tenderized in the same way.
They are less expensive than other cuts of meat, which is something that makes them quite welcome these days when we are all watching our pennies, and trying to make our grocery dollar/pound go as far as we can. They are a great way of being able to enjoy a piece of steak without breaking the bank! You can find out more about cube steak here.
Cube Steak & Onion Gravy

I buy mine at Sobey's grocery store. Foodland and Safeway are stores which are associated with Sobey's. They don't always have it so when I see it I always buy a couple of packages (they usually come in packs of two) and then I wrap it tightly at home and freeze it for sometime in the future when I want a cheap steak dinner!
You can also make your own cube/minute steaks very easily. Just buy a piece of round steak, and then pound it with a meat pounder or a serrated knife. Just take care not to cut it all the way through. You only want indentations about 1/8 of an inch into the steak.
Cube Steak & Onion Gravy

They lend themselves to either long slow cooking, or quick flash frying. They are beautiful cooked slowly in the crock pot with some mushroom soup. They are also great flash fried and used for a steak sandwich.
Today I decided to simply flash fry them and serve them with a tasty onion gravy. I was in a gravy kind of a mood. Especially where I had some potatoes I needed to use and knew would make great mashed potatoes. Steak, gravy and mashed potatoes. Food for the God's!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
There is nothing complicated about this. Nothing at all. Simple ingredients done well. Quantities are given for two servings but can easily be multiplied to serve more if need be.
For the steak:

2 cube steaks (each one about 1/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches by 5 inches in size)
salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
plain all purpose flour to dust
1 TBS butter

For the gravy:

1 medium onion, peeled, halved and cut into half moons
1 TBS butter
1 TBS flour
1/2 cup milk (you may need a bit extra to thin the gravy as per your taste)
1/2 cup of beef stock
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
splash of hot sauce
salt and black pepper to taste

You can of course use whatever herbs, etc. you wish to season the steak with. I like onion and garlic powders to use as a seasoning for beef and pork. Just make sure you use the powders not the salts. If you do happen to use salts, then you will not need any more salt for the recipe and do be judicious in its use.
There are many dried herbs which would work well with beef. Rosemary, oregano, tarragon and thyme immediately come to mind.
Cube Steak & Onion Gravy

Any ordinary cooking onion will work well in the gravy. I used a medium sized one, but if you are really fond of onions you can use a larger one. I would not use a red onion as it wouldn't look nice in the gravy, but if you don't care what it looks like, then go right ahead!
For the beef stock I used Knorr Beef Bullion concentrate. I always keep some of that and the chicken one in my refrigerator. They are great for making up small amounts of stocks as needed, or for flavoring gravies, etc. They are concentrated and are easily re-constituted with water.
They also take up a lot less room than traditional cartons of constituted stock. When you live in a small place like I do where storage is at a premium things that don't take up much room just make sense.

HOW TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
This really is quick and easy. So much so that you might want to have the other elements of your meal ready before you start cooking the steak.

First do the steaks. Preheat the oven to 200*F/90*C. Have a small dish ready to hold your steaks to keep them warm while you make the gravy.Dust your steaks all over with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Dust them with the flour patting it into help it adhere.Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Once it begins to foam, add the steaks.Cook until you just see a small amount of liquid collecting on top and then flip over. Fry briefly on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a small dish and pop into the oven to keep warm while you make the gravy.

Turn the burner heat down to medium low. Add the other TBS of butter. Once it melts add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and begun to caramelize.

Add the flour to the skillet. Stir it into the onions.Whisk in the stock and the milk. Cook stirring over medium heat until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Add the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and season with salt and black to taste. (I like lots of black pepper.)Cook for several minutes to cook out any flour taste. If you think the gravy is too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it.Serve the steaks with some of the onion gravy spooned over top and your favorite sides.

Mashed potatoes are also very easy to make. I have to say that I really miss the packages of frozen mashed potatoes that you could buy in the UK. They were really good and to be honest it was cheaper to buy a bag of them than it was to make mash from scratch.
You could usually get a bag of mash for one pound at the shops. There was enough in the bag to feed four people generously.
Mashed potatoes frozen in pellets, ready to shake out into a casserole dish and heat up in the microwave. I used to dress them up with sour cream and spring onions sometimes. I really liked that you could shake out as little or as much as you wanted to use.

They also had very good frozen jacket potatoes over there that I used to buy. You could get packages of four larger ones, or packages of about six smaller ones. For seniors with smaller appetites the smaller ones worked out well.
They made for a very easy supper heated up with a can of baked beans spooned over top, or some tuna mayonnaise, or whatever you wanted on them really. A can of chili was especially nice heated and spooned over top, with some cheese scattered over top.
I don't know why they don't do the frozen mash or baked potatoes here in Canada. Pity that!

I enjoyed my steak and gravy today with some fluffy mashed potatoes, sweet corn and some sliced tomato. Someone brought a couple of big boxes of reject beefsteak tomatoes from the local nursery into church yesterday. I brought home a couple to use and they are lovely.
It was a really delicious dinner, and yes, I sat down and ate it while it was still hot, at my table. I had my favorite music playing in the background and it was lovely.
And now, I have to go and do the dishes! I have enough of everything leftover to make myself another meal tomorrow. Perfect!

I have one other cube steak recipe for two on here that is delicious. Pan Fried Steaks with Parsley Butter. Quick and easy, it also makes for a lovely dinner with mash and veg.

You could also use cube steaks to make Swiss Steak. This is something my mother used to make for us and that I also used to make for my family. It was a real favorite. Tender pieces of steak in a rich tomato gravy.

Yield: 2Author: Marie Rayner