RCP: Swiss Steak my way

Tuesday evening we went grocery shopping, and brought home a family pack of very nice looking top sirloin steaks. Earlier today I dragged out the slow-cooker, and made my version of Swiss Steak.

I started with about 3 pounds of top sirloin steaks, cut into serving sized pieces. Dredge the meat in flour seasoned with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground smoked paprika. Brown the meat in hot olive oil in two batches, then transfer to the slow cooker. Drizzle a little truffle oil over the meat, along with about a quart of canned crushed tomatoes, 2 cups of red wine, 1/2 oz of dried chanterelle mushrooms (didn't have fresh on hand, so I just rinsed these and dropped them in), a large sweet onion sliced thin, one red and one white bell pepper, sliced thin, basil, oregano, s & p to taste. Cover and cook on high for about 4-5 hours, or until the meat is tender. Serve with jasmine rice.

The aromas from the kitchen drove us all crazy all afternoon, and it tasted delicious. I'll post a picture when I get it uploaded from my Blackberry.

(A) You're going to waste good expensive top sirloin on swiss steak? Chuck steak or bottom round, or to get fancy, maybe top round...
(B) Dinner for a dozen, eh? That's why you use lots of onions - to stretch out the meat.
(C) TOMATO?????
(D) Chanterelles would be great but DAMN they're expensive!


John

(A) You're going to waste good expensive top sirloin on swiss steak? Chuck steak or bottom round, or to get fancy, maybe top round...
(B) Dinner for a dozen, eh? That's why you use lots of onions - to stretch out the meat.
(C) TOMATO?????
(D) Chanterelles would be great but DAMN they're expensive!


John

A- Sirloin - it was on sale, in a family pack, and the price wasn't much more than the round at the time, plus I bought without a firm plan for it. Some was already used in another dish earlier in the week;
B- Four for supper, three with big appetites, leftovers for lunch tomorrow, plus soup base for later in the week;
C- Yes, tomato. what of it? It's good, we all like it, etc etc;
D- It was a 1/2 ounce package of dried that had been in the pantry for about a year, because I really didn't know what to do with dried chanterelles, and bought it on sale.

It was good, all in the house liked it, so what's the problem?

This was all about using what I had on hand.

I'm with you, Robert. I use what's on sale or what's on hand in my freezer or pantry. Coincidentally, I made Swiss steak about a week or so ago, and our recipes are quite similar. I also use tomatoes and I don't understand what the problem is there.

At any rate my Swiss steak was also good. I used potatoes instead of rice, though.

Your Swiss Steak sounds wonderful...and you did it your way...with what you had on hand. I do that all the time and we usually love what comes of it. I

What actually struck me was the top sirloin - for me that usually goes over the mesquite.
Re tomato - what Mom used to make for swiss steak is often called "smothered steak" in recipes I've seen. Pound and flour the round, brown it and chop a whole bunch of onions on it, add a little water, cover and simmer and simmer and simmer.
And I guess i had a hankering to do a little leg-pulling.

John

This is what I think of as comfort food. A huge amount of onions with tomatos in the braise w/wo mushrooms served with a big dump of garlic mashed ......Makes me want to make some soon. Thanks for the reminder.
Like others, I like to get creative with what's a bargain.

Here's a pic, seconds before I began demolishing it with my fork.

swiss-steak.jpg