Hamburger Steak And Ratatouille

This meal is what happens when the real cook in this family takes over the kitchen and it was built to use stuff we had on hand.  Our summer garden is in full swing and we are giving away lots of produce, especially about a half bushel of zucchini before eating any ourselves, until this meal. 

Bev decided she wanted to make two things from the burger and veggies we had on hand  – Salisbury Steak and Ratatouille, which I decided I really liked after the Hoffer boys made it for us on Memorial Day.  We didn’t have any mushrooms for the steak dish and Bev decided it was really the meat recipe she liked and we could just top it with the ratatouille – similar to tomato sauce or ketchup on meatloaf.  We used the same recipe as the two previous times.

Hamburger Steak from Lynda's Recipe Box

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

2 teaspoons oil 
1 1/4 pound ground beef chuck-80/20 blend

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (homemade from Garlic Tuscan Bread – Sam’s)
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, or can use steak sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

The recipe calls for caramelizing the onions, but Bev just mixed everything together and we shaped it into four 7 oz steaks.

Ratatouille from American Profile.com (we halved and adapted it to get the following)
Original recipe from the Duluth Grill, Duluth, Minn

Vegetables:

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1¼ cups bell peppers, coarsely chopped
2 cups zucchini, coarsely chopped
2 cups eggplant, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon pepper  

Sauce:
3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tomato (14 oz), peeled and pureed
6 oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh basil
20 basil leaves, chiffonade
Leaves from 5 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/2 cup Kalamata olives
To taste crumbled feta cheese

Instructions:  The recipe calls for baking the veggies but we decided to grill them.

To prepare the sauce, add the tomatoes to boiling water for about a minute, remove and drop into cold water.  Peel the tomatoes, chop three, and puree one.

Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a large Dutch oven.  Add the garlic and sauté over medium heat until golden and add the pureed tomato, tomato paste, and bay leaf – cook about 10 minutes.  Add chopped tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cook 10 minutes (At this point Bev turned off the heat while we cooked the veggies, but they can be done at the same time).

Preheat grill on high heat.

To prepare vegetables, toss onion, bell pepper, zucchini and eggplant on a jelly roll pan (or a bowl) with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.

Cook over high heat on the grill in whatever pan works for you until they are getting tender and caramelized. (I cooked them in three batches so they would be in a single layer in the pan).

When veggies are ready, add to the sauce along with the olives and the herbs and simmer about 15 minutes – adjust salt and pepper.

While the sauce cooks, grill the meat over medium high heat to your desired level of doneness.

Plate the meat, top with the ratatouille, and add feta cheese and basil chiffonade.

In our house there are the basic everyday meals, the good everyday meals, the company quality meals, and the I-could-make-money-on–this-in-a-restaurant meals.  This one was the latter, and not only were the meat and ratatouille each very good alone, we both thought they worked outstandingly together.  I may never go into the kitchen again and just let Bev work her magic.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Leftover Eggplant For Breakfast

Two years ago: Grilled Chicken With BBQ Sauce

Larry

7/09/12 meal date