Sauerbraten with Homemade Egg Noodles

Okay I must confess that this is not one of my mothers, grandmothers or anyone in my family's recipe.  However, my fiancee Frank and I bought round steak on sale the last time we went grocery shopping.

In my search for something new to make with round steak other than the typical pepper steak or chicken fried steak recipes, I found this German recipe and made homemade egg noodles.

 My son Rane and I both liked it very well, however, Frank not so much. This recipe has a bit of a sweet and sour taste to the gravy that is very different from anything I have made before.  So you will either love this recipe or you will hate it.

So I encourage you to try something new...go out on a limb.  You might like it.

1 1/2 pounds Round steak sliced into strips

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1 onion sliced

2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

small bay leaf

1/2 cup water

1 Tbs flour

2 garlic cloves minced

In a large skillet heat the oil and saute onions and garlic, add sliced round steak and sprinkle 1/2 tsp sale and fresh cracked pepper. Saute meat until almost done, add 1 Tbs flour to pan and stir to cover meat and brown, add 2 tbs red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup water to pan stirring and scraping up bits of meat and flour off the bottom of the pan.  Add brown sugar, worcestershire sauce and small bay leaf to pan stirring to thicken gravy.  Add more water as necessary to get consistency of gravy where you want it.  Simmer meat and gravy on low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours covered.

Meanwhile make the noodles.  I will never buy frozen or dried egg noodles ever again.  These are so easy to make and are the perfect accompaniment to this meal.

Egg Noodles

2 cups flour
3 egg yolks
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt
1/4-1/2 cup water

Directions:Measure flour into bowl; make a well in the center and add egg yolks, whole egg and salt.

With hands, thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.(Add only enough water to form dough into a ball.).Turn dough onto well-floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll dough, 1 part at a time, into paper-thin rectangle, keeping remaining dough covered. Roll rectangle around rolling pin; slip out rolling pin. Cut dough cross-wise into 1/8-inch strips for narrow noodles and 1/4-inch for wide noodles. Shake out strips and place on towel to dry, about 2 hours. Cook in 3 quarts boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt) (We use chicken broth.) 12 to 15 minutes or until tender. Noodles will float to top of water when they are done.Take noodles from boiling water and put directly into meat and sauce, finish cooking noodles in gravy and meat.  

Sprinkle with chopped flat leaf parsley or green onions.

Aunt Poodies Chicken & Dumplings

This recipe takes me back to my  Aunt Poodie's house.  Her real name was Luella and she was my dad's sister.  I have no idea why they called her Poodie, not sure I want to know why! They grew up during the depression.  My Aunt Poodie made the best chicken and dumplings and I remember watching her in the kitchen and she would tell me not to take the lid off the pot or stir the dumplings.  This recipe is as close to what she used to make that I have found and of course I have put my special spin on it as well by adding green peas.

I always make my own homemade chicken stock by cooking the bones of a leftover rotisserie chicken with onion, garlic, lemon and whatever else I might have in the fridge. Using your own homemade stock gives a better depth of flavor to any recipe.

Saute 1 onion, 1 celery stock and 3 cloves of minced garlic in butter until soft, add 1/4 cup of flour and cook stirring into the butter and vegetables and add approximately 8 cups of chicken stock to pot stirring until all flour has dissolved.  Add 3-4 pounds of shredded chicken, 1 Tbs salt, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 Tbs fresh ground pepper, 1 Tbs poultry seasoning, 1tsp dried Rosemary, 1 tsp dried Thyme.  Bring to simmer stirring occasionally.

Dumplings:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tbs shortening

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add dried parsley.  Combine beaten egg, buttermilk and melted shortening  and add to dry ingredients.  Mix until moist.  Flour your counter and roll dumplings out. You don't want your dumplings to thick or thin, about 1/8 inch is good.  I cut my dumplings so they are about 2"x2".  You can also drop these dumplings by the spoonful into the pot if you prefer.  I also typically double this dumpling recipe because I like a lot of dumplings in my stew.  So you might want to double the above recipe.  Now drop dumplings into simmering broth, one by one, do not stir. Once you have all your dumplings in the pot. Put the lid on the pot and let the dumplings steam for 12-15 minutes.

Once dumplings are done and no longer doughy inside, then you can stir the pot and the dumplings will begin to take on some of the broth and the liquid should be thickening to almost a gravy thickness and they will begin to sink into the liquid.  Its at this time that I stir in my frozen vegetables.  I usually just add green peas, sometimes green peas and carrots.  Or sometimes I don't add vegetables at all.  Let your dumplings continue to cook in the broth and once it has gotten as thick as you want it you can turn the heat off.

These chicken and dumplings are so good.  You will definitely want to 

make extra so you have some for leftovers the next day.  These are even better the next day.

Crunchiest Crunchy Crunchy Onion Rings

Today our recipe of the week is Crunchiest Crunchy Crunchy Onion Rings.  The reason I named it that is because they are super crunchy and I love all things crunchy!  Here in Oklahoma the standard of crunchy onion rings, at least my favorite, has always been from Johnnies Charcoal Broiler.  They are so good! However, this recipe comes as close as I have gotten to mimicking the crunchy Johnnies crunchy goodness.

Crunchiest Crunchy Crunchy Onion Rings
1 good size yellow onion sliced into 1/4 inch rings
1/2 cup flour

Wet dredge
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbs Hot Sauce
1/2 cup flour
(should be consistency of pancake batter, not to thick not to thin)

Dry dredge
1 cup flour
1 sleeve of crushed soda crackers
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbs chili powder

heat your deep fryer to 350 degrees, if you don't have a deep fryer you can use a dutch oven and fill it half way with vegetable oil and use a thermometer to make sure your oil is hot enough.  After slicing your onions put them in a bowl and dust in flour.

Mix ingredients for Wet dredge, wisk these together real good.  And combine ingredients for your dry dredge.

So you will have 3 bowls, one for onions dusted in flour, one for your wet dredge and one for your dry dredge.  Have these near your deep fryer so you can drop them in your oil as you work.  So once you have dusted your onions with flour, drop a few into your wet dredge and let some of the wet dredge drop off and then put in your dry dredge.  Make sure they are all covered real good in your dry dredge and then drop in your deep fryer. Make sure you don't over crowd your fryer. If you put to many into fry at once it will drop the temperature of your oil and your rings will become greasy.  Once they are golden brown, cool on a baking sheet with wire racks so any grease will drop to the bottom of the pan instead of soaking into your rings. Hit them again with a little dusting of seasoned salt to finish them off.

Now all to do is eat.  Of course I like to serve these with cheeseburgers and lots of ketchup for dipping.
I usually double this recipe since I have a family of 4 teenagers.  I don't usually have any leftovers but on the occasion that I do, I take the left over onion rings and chop them up finely and refrigerate.  They are great to use in salads, green beans, soups, etc.

The Best Buttermilk Biscuits

I have tried many different recipes of buttermilk biscuits over the last year.  I have finally came up with this recipe which I think you will find is easy to make and very good.  The combination of butter and shortening in this recipe gives just the right amount of butter flavor while still giving you a nice fluffy texture. My family and friends love these biscuits! Slather butter and honey on them....oh my, oh my so good!

Buttermilk Biscuits
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup shortening or lard
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375.  First sift your flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl.  Cut up butter into pieces and cut into flour with a pastry blender, add your half cup of shortening and cut into flour with pastry cutter.  Flour should have little pea looking consistency.  Make a well in the middle of your flour mixture and add buttermilk.  Now take your spoon and begin to build flour into the buttermilk until it looks somewhat combined.  The most important part of making good buttermilk biscuits is not to over work your mixture.  You want it to come together, but if you over handle it the biscuits will become tough. Once it looks combined take your hands and combine until you can make into a ball.  Flour your work surface and turn dough on to work surface.  I just used my hands to pat dough down to about 1 1/2 inches thick and use a biscuit cutter or juice glass to cut your biscuits out.  Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet, I like to use a baking stone, and place them where the sides of the biscuits are barely touching.  Brush the tops of biscuits with butter and bake for about 8-10 minutes until tops of biscuits are slightly browned and the middle is not doughy.