Swiss steak, garlic mashed potatoes, oven roast veggies, poached pears – Serves 4

Swiss Steak

2 lb chuck steak
Salt and pepper as required
Flour as required
1 tablespoon oil

Cut the steaks into 8 even pieces. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Dust with flour.

Heat the oil in a pan large enough to hold the steaks in a single layer. Add the oil and heat the pan over high heat. As soon as the oil is hot add half of the steaks and sear well on both sides. Remove the steaks and repeat with the remaining steaks. Remove the steaks from the pan. Do not wash the pan.

1 tsp oil
1 small onion cut into rings

Add the oil to the pan and add the onions. Cook just until the onions are starting to brown. Add the steaks and any accumulated juices back to the pan and add:

2 cups good quality beef broth
1 carrot roughly chopped
½ cup tomato sauce

Bring the mixture just to a simmer. Cover with a lid and place in the oven at 300°F. Roast for 3 hours or just until the meat is very tender. Remove the steaks from the braising liquid and keep warm.

Remove any excess fat from the top of the braising liquid. Process the braising liquid so that it is smooth and then return to the pan. Reduce until the liquid is the consistency of gravy. Pour some of the sauce over the meat and pass the remainder with the meal.

Garlic mashed potatoes

4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into even pieces
4 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
½ tsp salt
Water to cover

Place the above in a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the potatoes just until they are soft. Drain the potatoes and garlic well. Mash the potatoes and garlic together.

Add 1 tsp butter and ¼ cup whole milk. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve alongside the Swiss steaks.

Roast veggies

6 cups of seasonal veggies cut into even sized pieces (Note: if you are choosing a combination of soft and hard veggies such as peppers and carrots and squashes, you will need to add the softer veggies later in the cooking time)

1 tsp good quality olive oil
Salt and pepper as required

Toss everything together and place in a 400°F oven. Roast just until all of the vegetables are cooked through, approximately 15 minutes.

Serve the veggies alongside the potatoes and Swiss steak.

Poached pears

4 firm pears, peeled but with stems still attached
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup red wine
Peel from 1 lemon
½ cup sugar

Cut a small round off the bottom of the pears so that they will stand up. Using a melon baller remove the core from the pears without damaging the pears.

Place the pears and the remaining ingredients above in a small not reactive pan just large enough to hold the pears. Add water if required to bring the level of the liquid to the top of the pears. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the pears just until they are soft enough to put a knife through them easily but still holding their shape. The time will depend upon the type of pear chosen.

Remove the pears and let them cool. Reduce the poaching liquid until it is syrupy. Strain the liquid and set aside.

4 rounds of puff pastry
Milk as required
Raw sugar as required

Cut puff pastry into rounds twice the diameter of the pears. Place on a sheet tray, brush with the milk and sprinkle with the sugar. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven just until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the sheet tray and cool.

Vanilla custard cream filling

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tsp flour

Place the eggs, sugar and flour in a small bowl and whisk together just until the eggs are lighter in colour.

¾ cup milk

Heat the milk in a small pan over medium low heat just until the milk is hot. Do not let it boil.

While whisking, slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture. Be sure to add the hot milk slowly as this will temper the eggs and prevent them from scrambling. Once half the milk has been added to the egg mixture, whisk the egg mixture back into the remaining milk.

Clean the bowl that had the egg mixture and then place a small sieve over the bowl. Return the pan with the milk mixture to the stove and place over medium high heat. Stirring with a heat resistant spatula heat the mixture just until it has thickened and just come to the boil. Immediately pour the mixture into the sieve to stop the cooking and to ensure you have a smooth custard sauce. Add ½ tsp vanilla extract to the sauce and stir in well. Press plastic wrap into the top of the custard and refrigerate until ready for use. The sauce will keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.

All of the above can be done several days in advance.

To assemble the dessert, place a puff pastry round on a plate. Cut the pears starting approximately 1 inch down from the stems. Cut thinly all the way down. Gently press the pears so that they fan out nicely. Place a prepared pear on each pastry round. Drizzle the custard sauce over the pear and then the poaching syrup over top of that. Garnish with a rosette of whipped sweetened cream and serve immediately.

To get this meal to the table easily:

• Up to 3 days in advance:
  • Make the vanilla custard cream being sure the plastic wrap is pressed into the surface of the cream
  • Poach the pears but do not cut them
• Earlier in the day
  • Bake off the puff pastry rounds and store at room temperature
  • Start the steaks
  • Prep the potatoes and veggies

Cathie Hamilton
Certified Culinary Scientist
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