This is so delicious, and you can use the excess coating mixture both to thicken and season your gravy, and the excess buttermilk mixture as part of your gravy for no waste. I like to serve biscuits and a vegetable and fruit with this to make a meal. In the summer, I serve sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, or fresh corn, whatever is fresh from the garden or farmers' market.

3 pounds cube steak
2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
8 cloves garlic

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion granules

oil, for frying

cream gravy to serve

Mix egg and buttermilk in a large, shallow pan to combine well. Whisk in crushed garlic. Soak meat in this mixture for at least an hour.

Combine the dry ingredients in another large, shallow pan for coating the steaks.

Prepare a baking sheet with a cooling rack over it to place the meat to drain while the other steaks are frying. If your oven has a warming setting, this is a perfect place to put the pan, so the steaks stay hot while you cook all of them.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat (or to 375˚F in an electric skillet). You will not be deep frying, but shallow frying - about 1/2 an inch or so.

As the oil heats, dip the steaks in the flour mixture, turning to coat well. When the oil is ready (a pinch of the flour mixture dropped in will sizzle immediately), carefully place the steaks, one at a time, into the oil. You don't want to overlap any meat, but you want to crowd them a little. This will keep them from burning, and will allow them to cook fully and brown well. Cook until golden brown on one side, then turn over and do the same for the other side. Work in batches, placing the meat on the rack on the prepared pan as it cooks.

When all the steaks are fried, use the pan you fried them in to make your gravy.

Cream Gravy

You can use the oil that remains from frying to make your gravy, simply remember to skim off any burnt bits that might be in it. If I have more than enough of the leftovers, I scale this recipe up and use it all, because it is good on toast or biscuits another day.

oil from frying plus butter (if necessary) to equal 1/3 cup
flour mixture remaining from steak coating plus enough pastry or all purpose flour to equal 1/3 cup
buttermilk and egg mixture plus milk to equal 6 cups
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 teaspoon paprika
salt to taste

Heat oil over medium heat. Sprinkle flour mixture over oil, stir in and cook for a minute or two. Slowly pour in the buttermilk mixture, stirring well. Add pepper and paprika and cook, stirring frequently until gravy is thickened to your liking. Taste for salt and season if necessary.

Tender Crisp Chicken with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil

Like many recipes, this started with one I found elsewhere. It has disappeared off the internet, but we still make it. It is delicious and so simple to make. People love it, and it only takes a few minutes of hands on work, which makes it great dinner party fare. This is what we served at Alexander and Autumn's wedding. You can use a couple whole cut up chickens, if you like, but the dark meat really is better. It has more flavor and is juicier. I prefer to make this with all chicken thighs, but if drumsticks are what we can get, I use those. The whole legs are perfect, though, because then everyone gets a drumstick and thigh, both. The original recipe leaves the garlic in the papers, so you can squeeze the soft garlic out onto bread, but this creates more of a mess than I love with kids, so I peel them completely, unless it is a small amount or for only adults.

8 whole chicken legs (drum and thigh together), or 16 drumsticks or thighs
kosher salt and pepper, to taste (I tend to use 1 teaspoon salt per pound of meat on this, because the tomatoes and garlic sweeten it so much, rather than about 3/4 teaspoon salt per pound of meat I normally use)
two big bunches of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
4 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (or use plum tomatoes quartered or a mixture of both - if I use grape tomatoes, I don't bother cutting them at all)
2 whole bulbs of garlic, broken up into cloves
2 fresh red chiles, finely chopped
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and place them in two large oven-proof pan in one layer. Throw in all the basil stalks as well as the tomatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chiles and drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil. Mix around a bit, pushing the tomatoes underneath the chicken.

Place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone. Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the top with the chopped fresh basil leaves to serve.

We serve this with crusty Italian bread, to soak up all the juices, or lemon parsley rice, or pasta with garlic and parmesan.

Three Hearts Salad

We made this salad for the wedding, also, keeping the dressing separate until we were ready to serve. I often make this for our anniversary or Valentine's dinners when we eat at home. This makes enough for 12 people as a small side salad.

4 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 14-ounce cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
2 14-ounce cans hearts of palm, drained and sliced into rounds
4 hearts of Romaine
24 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Whisk together lemon juice, mustard and garlic in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add artichoke hearts and hearts of palm and allow to marinate at room temperature at least 20 minutes, up to four hours, giving them a stir every now and then.

At serving time, tear your lettuce into a large salad bowl and toss with the tomato halves. Spoon dressing mixture over the top and gently toss to dress the salad. Serve.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Special Diet, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:12 AM