Recipe: Donnelly Swiss Steak

Donnelly Swiss Steak over buttered noodles.

I snagged this Swiss Steak recipe from neighbor and Facebook friend Jackie Donnelly. She spends much of her time studying microflora in the nearby forests, so I suspected that anything which would lure her indoors had to be pretty exceptional. Serves 4 with lots of gravy to be mopped up. (Note: because the meat will cook fall-apart tender, you won’t end up with discrete flats of steak as in the traditional recipe using tenderized beef.)

Ingredients:
1 ½ lb or more beef chuck steak, with most fat trimmed
½ c all purpose flour
1 t Kosher salt
1 t granulated garlic or garlic powder
½ t ground black pepper
2 T olive oil
½ c red wine
1 can Campbell’s French Onion Soup
1 can Ro-Tel stewed tomatoes with chiles (original version preferred)
5-6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

Method: season flour with salt, garlic powder and pepper and mix. Dredge steak in this flour to coat all sides. Heat oil in a pot (like the inner pot of an Instant Pot on Sauté setting) and brown meat on all sides. Pour over wine and simmer briefly. Add soup (undiluted) and tomatoes, mix in, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Scatter garlic slices on top and cover; reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until meat is fall-apart tender (3-4 hours OR 45 minutes in Instant Pot with natural release).

The flavor reminded me of Chicago Beef, so I couldn’t resist

Thicken the gravy: remove meat to a separate bowl with a slotted spoon; reserve. Add seasoned flour to the liquid in the pan in sprinkles, stirring constantly. Continue to add flour and stir until the liquid becomes viscous with fat bubbles. Return meat to the pan and stir to combine with gravy. Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.