Bakespace Challenge 3 - French Onion Salisbury Steak

It looks like we have a new favorite salisbury steak recipe!!!

Things worked out very well for me and challenge number 3. The idea was to find a recipe that was popular the year you were born or around the year you were born. I looked it up on the internet and I found that Nouveau cuisine was popular. Not something I was too keen on recreating. Then I found a website that mentioned meatloaf and I started to think about some American dishes my mom made when I was growing up in the 80's. Salisbury steak was one that popped up in my mind. It was great for us kids because it was like eating a hamburger with gravy and it was easy for my mom to make when she came home from work. The recipe I found is very different from the traditional salisbury steak I've made or my mom has made. I found it while looking through some old cooking magazines. This is from the April 2005 edition of Cuisine at Home. Great magazine by the way. I should probably renew my subscription.

French Onion Salisbury Steak

Makes 4 Steaks; Total Time: 45 Minutes

1 1/4 lb. ground chuck
1/4 c. fresh minced parsley
2 TBS. scallion, minced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 TBS. all-purpose flour
2 TBS. olive oil
2 cups onions, sliced
1 tsp. sugar
1 TBS. garlic, minced
1 TBS. tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
4 tsp. minced, fresh parsley
4 tsp. Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cheese Toasts
4 slices French bread or baguette, cut diagonally (1/2" thick)
2 TBS. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
Pinch of paprika
1/4 cup Swiss cheese, grated
1 TBS. Parmesan cheese, grated

Combine chuck, parsley, scallion, salt and pepper. Divide evenly into 4 portions and shape each into 3/4"-1" thick oval patties. Place 2 TBS. flour in a shallow dish; dredge each patty in flour. Reserve 1 tsp. flour.

Heat 1 TBS. oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add patties and saute 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove from pan.

Add onions and sugar to pan; saute 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and tomato paste; saute 1 minute, or until paste begins to brown. Sprinkle onions with reserved flour; cook 1 minute. Stir in broth and wine, then add the salt and thyme.

Return meat to pan and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Serve steaks on Cheese Toasts with onion soup ladled over. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan.

For the Cheese Toasts

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Place bread on baking sheet.

Combine butter, garlic and paprika and spread on one side of each slice of bread. Combine cheeses and sprinkle evenly over butter. Bake until bread is crisp and cheese is bubbly, 10-15 minutes.

This was the recipe as printed in the magazine. I made a few slight changes. I had to buy two packages of ground beef so that gave me a little over 1 1/2 pounds of meat and I got 5 patties out of it. The scallions at shoprite have been looking pretty funky lately so I substituted red onion. I don't think it changed the flavor at all though. The only other change I made was that I used shredded mozzarella instead of the swiss. I've had french onion soup with both types of cheese so either is good for me! Everything else I did the same and I was very happy with the results. Steve really liked it as well. There are only two slight changes I would make in the future. First I would drain the fat from the patties after they are browned. I usually do this with my ground beef but I thought that the flour would absorb more. Turned out to be a little more greasy than I would have liked. The other thing is that I would use half the amount of dried thyme. It is very strong and too much can be very overpowering. I had to add a little water to try to dilute that. Other than that this recipe was great and I would definitely recommend it!



I forgot to take a picture of the meat mixture so I took a picture of the patty instead.



Patties dredged in flour.



Patties in my favorite all clad pan. (I'm such a kitchen label whore! lol)



Sliced onions and tomato paste.



Broth and patties returned to the pan.



Voila! Doesn't that look yummy?

It's not too late to join in the latest bakespace challenge! I believe it runs until August 15th! If you don't want to do the challenge but you are curious about bakespace come check it out at www.bakespace.com. You will find me there in the forums!