One of the options we offer when processing beef at our plant, The Fatted Calf is pre-made hamburger patties. When people see that option, most of the time they envision a typical hamburger. While there is nothing wrong with a delicious burger, there are many other options for using your patties.
tonight, I made hamburger steaks, smothered in mushroom gravy and served with home made mashed potatoes (my sister’s specialty.)
I’ve done my best to convert my recipe, which I made for 16 people, into a recipe using only 4 pre made hamburger patties.
How many can say they cook for 16 to 20 people on a normal basis? That’s a typical evening around the Nicolai farm. My parents envisioned a smaller grocery bill, and a cleaner house after their kids grew up. God laughed.
All three of us kids live and work on or near the farm, and we come with a dozen grand babies that Grammy and Papa get to play with almost daily.
For this recipe, you will want to fully thaw your patties before getting started. This makes them really soak up the flavor of the seasonings. The patties might try to fall apart when being handled. If they do, just squish them back together. No harm done.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
4 pre made 1/3 lb. hamburger patties
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp. Minced garlic
1 tsp. paprika
Salt
Pepper
1/2 tbsp. Montreal steak seasoning
1/2 tbsp. Olive oil
1/4 stick butter
4 oz. fresh, cut mushrooms
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. Flour
1.5 cups beef bone broth
1 tbsp. Worsterschire sauce
DIRECTIONS
Thaw your patties ahead of time, so they are ready to use.
Mix 1/2 a diced onion, garlic, paprika, salt & pepper (use your judgement here), steak seasoning & olive oil in a bowl, making a rub/ marinade for the ‘steaks.’
Rub your steak patties down with the mixture.
Cook your steaks in a pan on the stove top. I like to cook mine until there is a little caramelization starting to show on the outside. Don’t burn them though!
Take your steaks off the pan and set aside.
Sauté your mushroom, peppers and remaining onion, thinly sliced, with the butter. Just until they start to get soft and the mushrooms turn slightly brown and the onions start to get translucent. (You don’t want them to be mushy.)
Turn your heat down.
Now, to make your gravy. Don’t be scared. Follow these directions and it will turn out beautifully!
Stir in the flour at this point. Be sure and coat all your veggies throughly.
Then, start adding in your broth. Whisk this around as throughly as you can, making sure that all the floured veggies are getting soaked and agitated.
Bring your gravy to a boil, stirring and scraping the bottom so nothing sticks or burns.
As soon as you get a good boil going, turn it to simmer and let it sit for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Place your steaks back into the gravy.
Serve with any side of your choosing. The gravy is excellent with mashed potatoes.
For our family, we left half the steaks out of the gravy, and let people put it on their plate as desired. That worked out really well for us with all the kids.
