Salisbury Steak

When most of us think of Salisbury Steak, a bland frozen dinner comes to mind. The version I grew up with was essentially an oval hamburger patty topped with brown gravy and served with mashed potatoes. It wasn't exactly something I craved, and probably contained 150% of my recommended sodium allowance for the day.

As a result, I can't really say that I've grown up with a strong affinity for the dish, but it is something I made with ground turkey when I first started cooking. Ground beef isn't quite as versatile as chicken, in my opinion, so I often wind up making the same handful of meals when I cook it. Meatballs or meat sauce, enchiladas, beef stroganoff, hamburgers, and chili are a few of my most common choices. I really wasn't in the mood for any of those when I was cooking that night, but decided on trying to kick salisbury steak up a notch as an alternative.

Things fell into place rather beautifully; I had portobello mushrooms in the fridge and beef bone broth. While neither of those are in the standard salisbury recipe, I had a feeling those with some caramelized onions would do the trick.

I didn't have any potatoes to mash, but I remembered a little side item a family member used to make: buttery egg noodles. It sounds so simple, but they're really great. She used to make them with little chicken nugget bites and the pair was flawless. When thinking of what would go with salisbury steak, that definitely felt like the right fit.

It's pretty simple to make. You mix ground beef with some bread crumbs and an egg, then form them into patties. I cooked them in the skillet first, then set them aside on a plate and added some thinly sliced onions.

I wanted to get the onions good and caramelized, so I let them cook on low heat in a little avocado oil for about 25 minutes. After making French Onion Soup, I couldn't turn back. While the onion cooked down, I chopped my portobello into cubes and once the onion were ready, tossed them in the pan with some garlic. I sautéed them for 2-3 minutes, until the mushrooms began to soften.

Next, I added my bone broth and let everything simmer.

The last step was getting the sauce to thicken, and I did this by stirring some flour dissolved in water into the sauce.

I added the meat patties back in and we were ready to go.

Served over those lightly buttered noodles, I have to admit this dish looked pretty perfect.

Delightful is the word I'd say best describes this meal. The bone broth brought a rich flavor and a fantastic punch of protein. The portobellos took the mushroom accent to the next level. This was definitely not the salisbury steak you're used to, and adds a new way to cook up a pound of ground beef to my cookbook. I've no doubt that the addition of any one or two of my modifications (bone broth, portobello, or caramelized onions) would make homemade salisbury steak a perfect weeknight dinner.

Salisbury Steak Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef 
1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cooking oil (I used avocado)
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 Serrano pepper, finely chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 portobello mushroom cap, sliced
2 cups beef bone broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

Instructions:

Combine beef, egg, bread crumbs, and Worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Form beef mixture into 5-6 patties, then add to the saucepan. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side, then remove from pan and set aside. Add oil to pan then add onions. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions darken in color to a golden brown. When onions have reached desired color, add garlic and Serrano pepper and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add mushroom and stir, then mix in bone broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire, and tomato paste and stir. Heat to a simmer then lower heat and cook for 5 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in water, then add to saucepan and continue cooking 2-3 more minutes, until sauce has thickened to desired consistency. Add more cornstarch and water if sauce is too thin. Return meat patties to pan, cook for 5 minutes, then serve over pasta or mashed potatoes.

adapted from salisbury steak