See, here’s the deal – I was poking through the meat case at our local Target, and came across this chuck steak that was nearing its last sale date, and so had been slapped with a $3 off (!) sticker.
If you’ve followed this site for any time at all, you’ll know that a deal like that is almost irresistible to me, and, I am a huge fan of Target’s chuck roast – it makes one fine pot roast. Thing is, what to do with a chuck steak if I didn’t want the bother of braising with zippy gravy?
A quick search of da Google gave me a decent start – it suggested stirring a can of cream of celery soup that had been mixed with a packet of onion soup mix over the steak, sealing it in a foil packet, and baking the whole thing for an hour at 450º.
Well… (again) if you followed this site for any time, you’ll know I make my own (quite nice, if I do say so) onion dip, so using one of those packets was out, and I just so happened to have come across a recipe for making your own creamed soup base that was just itching to be tried, so I gathered my stuff and set to work.
INGREDIENTS
Steak:
•1 chuck steak
•1 tbsp bacon fat (or butter)
•Sea salt, black pepper, onion powder
Soup/Sauce:
•1/2 cup chopped celery
•6 scallions, white and light green parts only
•3 cloves garlic, minced
•1 cup chicken stock (see note below)
•1 tsp paprika
•1 tsp dried parsley
•1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
•Milk
•3 tbsp butter
•3 tbsp flour
•1/4 tsp seasoned salt
•1 tsp hot sauce
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
•Sour Cream
Heat your oven to 450º.
Season both sides of the chuck steak with salt, pepper, and a bit of onion powder, pressing the seasonings in to each side.
Melt the bacon fat in a large skillet of high heat and add the steak.
Cook for three minutes per side, just until lightly seared, then remove the steak and place it in the center of a large piece of foil in a rimmed baking pan.
Add the chopped celery, scallion, and garlic to the remaining bacon fat and any beef juices in the pan and sauté for five minutes.
Add the chicken stock, scrape up any of those tasty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, and bring to a simmer.
Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and parsley and simmer for five minutes.
Remove the veggies to a small bowl with a slotted spoon, then pour the reduced stock into a measuring cup.
Add enough milk (I used whole milk) to measure one cup, whisk to blend, then set aside while we get set to finish the sauce.
Reduce the heat under your pan to low and add the butter, whisking as it melts.
Add the flour, whisking constantly until it has become incorporated into the butter, is golden brown, and a bit bubbly. My roux was mebbe a bit extra golden brown because of the bacon fat residue in the pan.
Still whisking, add your chicken stock/milk mixture and stir until the sauce is smooth and thick. If it’s too thick, feel free to whisk in a bit more milk and/or chicken stock.
Note: after making this recipe, I would strongly suggest you up your chicken stock to 2 cups before adding to the veggies, then adding milk to the reduced and strained stock to make 2 cups – you’ll want the extra gravy.
Stir in the veggies and the hot sauce and give it a taste.
Nice, but…
I added a bit of Aleppo pepper and let the whole thing sit on the low flame for another minute or so.
Shape the foil around the steak into a packet and pour the sauce over the top – thickly sliced onion would also probably be nice here, but I was fresh out.
Seal the foil into a packet up and over the steak and pop into the oven for one hour.
Remove from the oven, place the steak on a platter and keep warm.
Pour the cooking liquid into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, allow to cool a bit, and stir in 1/4 cup or so of sour cream. Warm over low heat until the sauce is heated through, then serve with the steak.
I went traditional with buttered and poppy seeded egg noodles and a side salad, but this would be fine over parsleyed or mashed potatoes, too. I was happy, and Rich was very happy, so I’m thinking this’ll be a keeper recipe for the next time I find a deal on chuck steak.
By the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t credit, and thank, Home-Ec101.com for her post on making your own ‘cream of’ soup, which started me to thinking about the base for this steak.