Dusty's Diner Favorite Steak & Potato Recipes

Great-Aunt Carrie's Steak Smothered with Onions


1 large t-bone or porterhouse steak

1 large Bermuda or Spanish onion, sliced

3 TBLS butter or margarine

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp black pepper


In a hot skillet, melt butter. Place onions in skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onions are slightly browned. While onions are cooking, grill steak to desired doneness, or about 10 minutes per side for medium to medium-rare. depending on thickness. Cover steak completely with hot onions and serve. If desired, add some mushrooms to this. Serves 2.


Nancy’s Steak Saratoga


2 boneless, very thin, petite sirloin or round steaks

2 TBLS butter or margarine

1 TBLS chives, chopped

3 TBLS Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dry mustard

2 TBLS butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs

1/2 small ripe tomato, diced

1 TBLS parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste


In a large skillet, brown steaks in butter. In bowl, combine chives, melted butter, Worcestershire, and dry mustard together. Spread on both sides of steak. Dip steaks in bread crumbs and return steaks to pan. Continue to cook on both sides until bread crumbs are dark golden brown. Top each steak with diced tomato and chopped parsley. Serves 2.


Nancy's Grilled New Yorker Steaks

6 Well marbled New York strip steaks
1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
1 TBLS sea salt or sea salt-garlic blend
1 TBLS black pepper


Never place cold steaks on the grill. Steaks cook best when they are at room temperature. When charcoal has been heating for at least 30 minutes--gas grill on high for 20 min. w/lid down, lightly brush both sides of steak with oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of steak, to your own taste. Use a clean, lightly oiled cooking grate.

Place meat on the grill. About a quarter of the way through, turn the meat at a slant...about a 45 degree angle. This will give it its distictive cross hatch grill marks. Continue grilling another quarter of the way though, before turning the meat over, and repeating this process. Remove to warm platter and rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve plain, or with your favorite steak sauce, or some herbed matre'd hotel butter. Serves 6.

GRILLING TIMES FOR STRIP STEAK:

3 min. per side for rare
4 to 5 min. per side for med-rare
6 to 7 min. per side for well done.


Nancy's Favorite BBQ Steak w/ Cowboy Sauce

one 2 pound boneless sirloin steak
Cowboy sauce

Place steaks in a resealable bag or container. Pour 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bag. Retain remainging sauce for later. Marinate steaks in refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes. Remove and allow to come to room temperature. Grill steaks approx. 6 to 7 minutes per side for medium-rare, or until desired doneness. Allow remaining sauce to come to room temperature, and serve "on the side" with steak.


NANCY'S ORIGINAL COWBOY SAUCE

2 1/2 cups original ("classic" or "fat") Coca-Cola
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon each, salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic (or garlic powder)
2 Tablespoons sweet or yellow onion, very finely minced
Few drops bottled Tabasco (hot red pepper) sauce (this is strictly optional!)

Place all ingredients in a blender (or place in a sealed container and throughly shake), until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use. Will keep for up to 2 weeks in fridge.


Nancy's Cannon City Cube Steaks


4 small cubed steaks

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

2 TBLS vegetable oil

2 cups sweet or yellow onion, sliced

2 cups green bell pepper, sliced

1/4 cup butter or margarine

salt and pepper, to taste


Season flour with 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Dredge meat in flour. In a skillet, brown both sides of meat and turn off heat. Meanwhile, heat butter in a very large skillet. Add peppers and onions. Season with desired amount of salt and pepper, and cook until vegetables begin to soften. Transfer meat to pan with onions and peppers, cooking about 5 minutes per side. Peppers should be soft and onions transparent. Serve meat smothered in peppers and onions. This dish goes very well with fresh corn and a baked (jacketed) potato. Serves 2 to 4.




POTATO RECIPES
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Nancy's Texas Totties


4 large baking potatoes, cut into wedges
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
1/2 cup dried grated parmesan cheese
1 cup lightly salted potato chips (crisps), very finely crushed (or, substitute dried instant mashed potato flakes)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teapoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Non-stick cooking apray
Blue cheese or ranch salad dressing (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 450 Fahrenheit degrees

In a bowl, mix together crushed potato chips or potato flakes, cheese, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. Heat a pot of boiling, salted water. Blanche potatoes 1 to 2 minutes. Do NOT place in ice water to stop cooking! While potatoes are still hot, toss with the vegetable oil, and immediately coat with bread crumb mixture. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray, and arrange potoatoes on pan in a single, even layer. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until browned. If desired, serve with bleu cheese or ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.


Nancy's Grilled Italian Style Baked Potatoes

4 Large baking potatoes, cut in half
4 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp each, salt and pepper
2 Tbls vegetable or olive oil
2/3 tsp oregano
3 tsp dried basil

Combine all ingredients except potatoes. Let stand 1 hr. Boil potatoes for about 15 minutes or until just tender. Brush the seasoned oil on top of the potatoes. Grill potato recipe for about 15 minutes or until slightly charred. Don't cook directly over coals. Serves 4 to 8.

Lovely Liver Recipes

June's Liver & Onions

4 slices (rashers) of bacon.

1 package of 4 slices of fresh or frozen calves' liver

all-purpose flour

salt & pepper, to taste

1 can Campbell’s French Onion Soup

2 heaping TBLS sour cream

1 to 2 TBLS all-purpose flour (optional)


In a hot skillet, fry bacon until very crisp. Set aside. Retain fat in pan. In a shallow bowl, mix salt and pepper with four. Carefully (to avoid thinner cuts of liver from falling apart), dredge all sides of liver with flour, making sure no part is folded over on itself. Cook liver in pan, about 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Turn heat to low. Slowly pour soup into pan, and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes, or until soup is hot. Remove liver. Crumble bacon into pan and gradually stir in sour cream. For thicker gravy, you may stir in 1 to 2 TBLS flour. Simmer, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour sour cream & onion gravy over liver, and serve. Serve 2 to 4.


Low Calorie Liver & Onions


1 lb calves' liver

1 vegetarian bouillon cube

1/2 cup water

2 medium yellow onions, sliced thin

3/4 teaspooon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon thyme, crumbled


Heat water in a large skillet. Stir in bouillon cube until dissolved. Heat until simmering. Add onions and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. If liver is large cut into strips (Some modern companies sell their liver thin and not very big–hence the cheap price.) Stir garlic powder and thyme into bouillon. Add liver to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until liver browns. If needed, add more water to prevent burning. Serves 3 to 4.


Braised Calves' Liver


1 1/2 lbs calf liver
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tabblespoon onion powder or very finely minced onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt

Slice liver in small, thin pieces. Brown the onions in butter. Stir in the paprika onion powder and tomato paste. Add the liver. Cover and simmer over a low flame for 15 minutes, or until the liver is done. Add salt just before serving.


Fried Pork Liver with Onions

6 slices bacon
3 large onions, sliced thin
salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 pound pork liver, sliced thin
1/2 cup flour
2 Tablespoons Crico or butter

Soak liver in milk. Drain thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside. In a shallow bowl, add the flour; sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

In a deep skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Set aside on paper towels to drain, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add onions to the pan, along with desired amount of salt and pepper. Saute onions over medium-high heat, until soft and transparent. Remove onions from pan.

Allow pan to cool slightly, before carefully adding the Crisco or butter to the bacon fat in the pan. Lightly dust the liver in the flour, add to the skillet, and cook liver over medium heat, untill lightly browned on both sides. The liver will brown quickly, be careful not to burn it. Remove cooked liver from the skillet, and set aside on a warm plate.

Add the sliced onions back to the skillet. Place liver ontop of the cooked onions, then top the liver with the bacon slices. Cover skillet with a lid; cook the liver, bacon and onions over low heat (simmer) for exactly 15 minutes. Remove from heat and serve. NOTE: this recipe will work just as well with calves' liver.



Southern Fried Chicken Livers

1 pound chicken livers
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/4 teasoon paprika
scant pinch, cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Rinse the chicken livers in cool water, pat dry, and cut into bite-size pieces. Place livers in a sealable plastic bag, together with flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and, if using, cayenne pepper. Shake thoroughly, until well coated with flour mixture.

Heat the oil in a skillet; when quite hot (drops of water will bounce when flicked into the pan), arrange the livers in the skillet so that they are not touching one another. Fry on one side until lightly browned, about 3 minutes, then turn to brown on the other side. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.