Shortcut Cubed Steak Stew

Growing up, my Dad would make cubed steak the same way, every time. Until today, I've never eaten cubed steak except sauteed in a pan with onions, and a gravy of ketchup, mustard and worcestershire sauce. I've made it for Johnny a few times, and while he likes the overall flavor, he's not a big fan of cubed steak in general.

I'm still a fan of its price, though. So, a dilemma was born. Being the Googler that I am, I got to work fixing this little problem. Apparently, cubed steak goes well with mushrooms and Campbell's "cream of" soups. I loathe mushrooms and Campbell's is the world's biggest supporter of whey, making sure it graces practically all of their products, especially the "cream of" soups. Eliminating those two ingredients unfortunately eliminated about 99.98% of recipes I read. Until, I stumbled across a little something called "Shortcut Cubed Steak Stew."

Think: beef stew. Just cubed steak instead of chunked up hunks of quality beef. The recipe is as follows, but I moderated so I'll explain the actual cooking process below it.

4 beef cubed steak, cut in strips
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp shortening
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 medium potatoes, cut in eighths
2 (16 oz.) tomato cans
1 (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen green peas
1/2 medium green pepper, cut in strips

Combine the flour, salt, pepper. Coat the cubed steak with the flour mixture. In a large skillet, melt the shortening over medium heat. Gently shake off the excess coating before dropping it in the skillet. Repeat this process for each of the steak. Cook the steaks for at least three minutes on each side, or until it is golden brown. Add the onion, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally. Add the peas, and the green pepper. Continue cooking for ten more minutes. To achieve a thicker stew shake 1/3 cup water and 2 Tbsp flour in a sealed container. Add to the stew and cook until the sauce is thickened.

I'm not a huge fan of messing around with things in my stew, soup, salad or pasta dishes once they are completed. I want things bite sized and I don't want to be fishing around to rip off shrimp tails, etc. That sort of thing. Once it hits my plate, I want eating to just be a relaxing experience, uninterrupted.

With that said, I cut my cubed steak into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I dredged this in the flour, salt and pepper mixture and into the shortening. This is the first time I cooked with shortening, save for baking, but it was only a small amount so I thought no harm would come of it. Besides, they always use shortening in southern cooking and who am I to argue with southern cooking?

Next, I added in the onion, garlic and potatoes, which I also cut into bite-sized pieces, not eighths. Instead of the recommended tomatoes and tomato sauce, I added one giant can (28 oz.) of plum tomatoes from Trader Joe's. I poured some of the liquid from the can in first, and then used a potato masher to reduce the whole tomatoes down to liquidy mush, as I'm not a big fan of huge tomato chunks in anything.

I let this simmer awhile and then tasted it. I could have been tasting water, there was no flavor whatsoever. So, I got to work seasoning it up. I added a bouillon cube and a small amount of water to account for it. About 2 more teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper and generous sprinklings of onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and sage. Last, I threw in about a tablespoon of parsley and a teaspoon of Gravy Master, and by the time I tasted it again, I was very happy. It was like a rustic, minestrone type flavor and I could tell the main components were coming together and cooking along.

I let this simmer until the potatoes were al dente. I then threw in the green peppers, which I diced, instead of having in strips, and half of a bag of mixed frozen vegetables. We had peas on hand, but I thought that would be kind of one note, and the mixed vegetables also includes peas - so why not?

As the soup was coming up to temperature again, I mixed up a bowl of Bisquick with milk to make drop biscuits. Little spoonfuls were dalloped around the top of the pot, the lid was put on and I set the timer for 10 minutes. The soup continued simmering away, cooking the potatoes the rest of the way and steaming the dumplings. The next time I opened the pot, this is what I saw:


We couldn't wait to dig in!!! Two huge bowls were served up and we ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore. There's also a huge container of leftovers that would probably serve another three bowls. Delicious!!! And all from a $4 package of cubed steaks, canned tomatoes, potatoes and some frozen veggies we had on hand!