May 18, 2005

Stuffed Steak Recipe

This one will win your carnivore's heart forever! This is one of my hubby's favorite meals, hands down.  I decided to re-post this recipe - it was one of the first recipes I posted on my former blog and a popular one!

Ingredients:

• One 2-lb boneless round steak, tenderized (either by the butcher or by beating the hell out of it...can you guess which I prefer?)
• approximately 4 cups of cubed, herbed stuffing cubes (either homemade - butter bread and sprinkle with your favorite herbs, baking in the oven until toasty, cutting into cubes - or if you don't have the time, the shortcut I use is one bag of Pepperidge Farm cubed, herbed stuffing mix)
• 1 envelope Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
• 1 can beef broth, 14 oz (you may not use all of it)
• 1-2 eggs (I use large sized eggs)
• Your favorite Cajun dry spice (my favorite is a combination of salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, celery salt, mustard, bay leaves, a small amount of ginger for a kick). You can usually pick up a nice concoction at your grocery store, or you can experiment with your own spices! What I shoot for in this recipe is something that has a bold flavor, plus a little bit of a kick.
• a pinch of crushed red pepper (or more, to taste)
• salt (Kosher) and pepper (freshly ground)
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom of cookie sheet with "Release" foil paper and coat the foil with EVOO.

Place the croutons and onion soup mix in a large bowl. Crack 2 eggs into the bowl, and sprinkle Cajun spices, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper to your taste. Pour about a third of the can of beef broth into the bowl and start hand-mixing, adding beef broth until you have reached a very nice, moist consistency (the stuffing sticks together and is moist to the touch...no renegade hard, crunchy croutons should be left).

Lay the round steak flat on a cutting board or on a large piece of wax paper. Sprinkle more Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper on the steak, rubbing it into the surface (this will be what touches the stuffing on the inside of the "roll.") Roll out the stuffing onto the seasoned side of the steak, forming it into a "log" the length of the steak. Wrap the steak around the stuffing. If the steak is large enough, you should be able to overlap each end of the steak, otherwise you can secure with toothpicks. Place the stuffed steak seam down onto the cookie sheet.

Rub the outside of the steak lightly with EVOO and then sprinkle with additional Cajun seasonings, salt and pepper.

Bake your masterpiece in the preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. You want to be sure that you have cooked the steak and the stuffing completely through.

Once cooking is complete, let the steak and stuffing rest for 5 or so minutes. When ready to serve, slice the "roll" which will form wheels of stuffing, surrounded by steak.

What I serve this with: This is essentially your meat and one side rolled into one, so I usually will serve it with a veggie side dish. A nice salad works. One item we love to eat as a side dish is green beans with bacon and onion. I dice 2-3 slices of bacon and cook until crispy, adding one small, finely diced onion (or 1-2 small shallots, diced). I cook until the onion is tender, then I add the green beans (if you cook with fresh green beans you will need to cook them before you add the bacon/onions and will need to leave the liquid in...for frozen, be sure to include the amount of water needed to normally cook them with). We have the luxury to have home canned green beans, which can't be beat with this recipe!