Who knew 5 ingredients and a little time could lead to such delicious results? Make this Sandwich Steak and Onions recipe for a dinner the whole family will love!
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Life Lately: Family Photos = Pandemonium
(or skip right to the Sandwich Steak and Onions)
Ahhhhh, the plight of the family who wants professional photos of their young kids. Our photographers are Northglow Photography- we love them so much and if you're local to Rochester, check them out. Chelse has been our family photograph since J and I got married and has also become a friend!
So when they offered Christmas mini sessions I jumped at the chance. It seemed perfect since any parent knows that toddlers don't tolerate anything for extended periods of time, especially photo sessions. So a quick 30 minutes in their Sunday best and we'd be on our way to the next Saturday morning activy. Easy peasy, right?
HA! Not so much. The weather around here has gone from lovely autumn weather (for all 30 seconds that we actually had "fall" in these part- strange weather year indeed!) to all out Winter is Coming. Woof.
Luckily it was in the 40's whereas the past few days were about 10 degrees colder with winds that burned your cheeks. But still cold enough to make the girls grouchy and totally not into it.
Additionally they both went into one of their give-me-daddy-and-no-one-else moments and wanted nothing to do with me (this doesn't happen too much anymore but it's always a bummer when it does). While I generally don't believe in bribing kids, I live by the rules that all bets are off for certain events like shots, road trips and professional photos. So I brought some dried cranberries, which helped a tad but weren't as effective as last time.
Overall it went fine and Chelse and Paul were so patient and completely helpful and kind to us and our girls. On a side note I'm always amazed by people who photograph other humans. Food is hard enough to capture, I can't image capturing photos of living, moving things!
I'll definitely look forward to seeing how they turn out. They always manage to capture some great shots, even when the shoot itself falls apart (hello toddler life!).
Sandwich Steak and Onions:
I don't have a special story to go with this recipe. I'm not even sure why we call them sandwich steaks, because I've never actually eaten them in a sandwich (though I bet that would be amazing!). I vaguely remember my Grandma once referring to them as Pepper Steaks, but I can't be completely sure she was actually referring to this recipe.
At the end of the day, it's all about keeping it simple. Just taking a couple basic ingredients and combining them in a way that creates the most amazing flavors!
In truth, I haven't always had the best of luck with these. Don't get me wrong, the flavor is consistently on point and incredibly delicious. I used to have a hard time believing you could get so much flavor from so few ingredients!
You'll want to let these simmer for a while and keep reducing the juices to build that flavor. My grandma used to have them done in under an hour and they were fall-apart tender. In the past when I've made them, they were simply not tender enough at that one hour mark so I let them go a little longer. They were still delicious even when they weren't falling apart, but it's that incredible tender texture that really takes them over the top.
But I tried these in a similar way to one of my other popular posts, Drunken Pork Chops and kept them simmering over medium heat while keeping the skillet covered and they came out pretty tender and still super flavorful.
I bet these would also be excellent in the slow cooker after browning everything- I may actually try that someday. But for today, give yourself a bit of extra time (the first 10 minutes are really the only labor-intensive part).
My mom has also been known to make these with garlic and bell papers instead of onions. Maybe that is where this Pepper Steak memory is coming from, though I can't remember ever tasting it prepared that way. I'm sure it would be delicious though.
Sandwich Steak and Onions Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds thinly sliced steaks
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add the onions and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Sweat the onions for a couple minutes, stirring often until they soften- you don't want them to brown, just to soften.
- Remove from the pan and set aside.
- While the onions are cooking, pat dry and season both sides of your steaks with salt and pepper to taste. If they're too big, cut them down a bit (keep in mind that they shrink, mine usually start around 3" - 4" inches each way).
- Once the onions have been removed from the pan, brown the steaks on each side. Make sure you only do a few at a time because if you have too many in the pan at once they will steam and not brown.
- As each group of steak browns on each side pull them out of the pan and keep them to the side with the onions.
- Once all steaks are browned on each side, add everything back into the pan.
- Cover with water and bring to a boil.
- Simmer and reduce for about an hour, maybe a bit more, or until they are tender and almost falling apart. Serve immediately.
Notes
- When it;'s done the onions will almost have disintegrated and you'll have a sauce that is perfect for dipping bread into.
- This will last up to 3 days covered in the refrigerator and reheats well in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Nutrition
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