Salisbury Steak and Mushroom Gravy

If you are tired of the same ol' meat dish try this. It is a twist on my meatloaf patties recipe. So good my husband licked the pan. Yep, he sure did! (See photo at the bottom.)

Check out the freezer friendly and gluten free options too.

Salisbury Steak and Mushroom Gravy                                               Printable Recipe

Salisbury Steak ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup fine diced onion (or equivalent grated)
3-1/2 Tablespoons quinoa flakes (or bread crumbs)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Gravy ingredients:
1 to 1-1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2-3 Tablespoons flour (use higher amount if you like it thicker) (use oat flour for GF)
2 cups beef broth (or chicken with 1/2 teaspoon Kitchen bouquet (aff link))
salt and pepper to taste

Schnitzel and Jäger Sauce

My family lived in Germany (called West Germany at the time we were there in the late 70s) when my dad was in the Army.  My mom learned to cook quite a few German dishes.  This plate of schnitzel and jäger sauce is one of our favorites.  

Traditionally made with pork or veal (Wiener-Schnitzel,)  she was introduced to it as chicken once and that is how we always eat ours now. The name for the chicken version is Hänchen-Schnitzel but we just call it schnitzel. Served with the sauce it is called Jäger-Schnitzel and if you put a slice of cheese on it, Käse-Schnitzel.  Sometimes we do both sauce and cheese so I laughed and asked if we were technically eating Jäger-Käse-Hänchen-Schnitzel?  Maybe so, but we'll keep it simple and say schnitzel and know that all will be available when served at our houses. 

Schnitzel and Jäger Sauce

For Jäger sauce:
One slice of bacon,cut up
8 ounce can of mushrooms, undrained
2 med onions, sliced thin
3-4 cups of water (or use beef broth and leave out bouillon cubes)
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 Tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet (aff link on Amazon)
cornstarch

For schnitzel:
boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 per person)
flour *
eggs, lightly beaten*
container bread crumbs*
canola oil

SPAETZLE Noodles recipe 

JÄGER SAUCE:
Add bacon to saucepan and cook until brown. Careful not to burn.

Add mushrooms with their juice, 

the sliced onions,

water, bouillon cubes (or beef broth) 

and lastly the Kitchen Bouquet.  

Boil until the onions are as soft as you like them.  Make a slurry out of cornstarch and water. Start with 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch and enough water to make it runny.  Add, while stirring, to the pan a little at a time. It should thicken up quickly. You may not need it all or you may need to make more slurry.  Each batch is different.

SCHNITZEL:
Dump some flour in a shallow dish or paper plate.

Add beaten eggs to a shallow dish and add some bread crumbs to a separate shallow dish or dump onto large sheet of waxed paper.

Coat the chicken with flour.

Then coat the chicken in the eggs. 

Coat the chicken with the bread crumbs.  If you use the waxed paper you can use the paper to push the bread crumbs up on the chicken to keep your hands clean.

Coat all your chicken while heating the oil.  

The oil should be heated in a large skillet.  You should have enough oil to cover about half of the chicken when it is placed in the pan.  Maybe 1/2 to 1".  You can test your oil by putting the end of a wooden spoon in your oil and it should bubble around it or if you are brave like me I sprinkle in a little bit of water and it bubbles.  Fry on one side until golden brown and then the other.  Approximately 3-4 minutes per side. 

Serve with spaetzle noodles.  Growing up I did not like the gravy as it was full of onions and mushrooms.  I ate my schnitzel with a drizzle of lemon juice which is another traditional way of enjoying in. 

* Start with 2-3 eggs for 6-8 pieces of chicken.  Flour and bread crumbs can be added to your dishes as you coat your chicken and find yourself running out.

Jager

Egg Gravy

This is something my husband's family grew up eating. Great way to use up hardboiled eggs.

Egg Gravy

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2-1/2 cups milk
7-8 hardboiled eggs (sliced 2-3 times in slicer depending on how you'd like your chunks)
toast

Heat butter in saucepan, add flour and cook for 1 minute, add milk and heat until thick.
Add eggs and stir.
Serve over toast.

This one is not my cup of tea but if you are from my husband's family you grew up on it!

Sausage Gravy

Sausage Gravy

1 pound ground pork (or you can get ground sausage and skip the seasonings)
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup flour (or 1/3 cup oat flour for a GF version)
2 cups milk

Cook pork with sage, black pepper, cayenne, salt and water.  Drain some of the fat off. Add the flour, stir to incorporate and cook for about 1 minute. Add milk slowly so not to cause lumps.  Cook until thickened. Serve over biscuits, homemade or whopped*.



* Whopped means the kind from the store. After you peel off the paper from the package you then 'whop' it on the counter to break the seal.


Also great over a Breakfast Slam

and used in the Chuckwagon Breakast

Mushroom Gravy

Mushroom Gravy 

2 Tablespoons butter
8 ounces sliced/cleaned mushrooms
few dashes of salt
2 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken or beef broth or milk (for cream of mushroom)
Dash or two of dried thyme


Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.


Add mushrooms and salt.
Stirring occasionally, cook for approximately 15 minutes or until soft. The salt will make them left off their juice and then it will evaporate. Allow to brown a little in the pan.

Add flour and mix well. Cook for about 1 minute.

Add broth a little at a time to incorporate without lumps. Add thyme.

Cook for another 15-20 minutes until thickened and everything is cooked through.

Serve over hamburgers, steak, potatoes. Anything your heart desires!  You can also use it to make tater tot casserole.