Braised Steak with Onions and Mushrooms

 

It's about to be quite cold here in North Alabama and I'm turning to comfort foods.  I'm also trying to low carb our meal as much as possible for a bit.  

I picked up two packages of Eye of Round Steak at Food City.  Both packages totaled about 1.5 pounds.  Eye of Round Steak is a lean and flavorful cut of meat, but it needs to be braised to become tender.  After simmering in a red wine and beef consommé mixture, these steaks were fork tender.  

For this dish, I used my Le Creuset braiser.  If you're unfamiliar with this particular cooking vessel, a braiser is a shallow, wide cooking pan with sloped sides, best suited for browning and braising large cuts of meat with a small amount of liquid, while a Dutch oven is deeper and taller, ideal for simmering soups, stews, and cooking large quantities of food with more liquid due to its greater capacity.

Here's the recipe:

2 T. olive oil

2 medium yellow onions, halved and then thinly sliced

6 - 8 white mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 t. dried thyme

1.5 - 2 lb. eye of round steaks

Kinder's French Onion Seasoning

1 cup sweet red wine

1 can beef consommé

Over low heat, heat the olive oil.  Add the onions and mushrooms and let the vegetables begin to soften, stirring occasionally.  Next, add in the garlic and dried thyme and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so.

At this point, remove the onions and mushrooms to a plate and set aside.  

Season the steaks with the Kinder's seasoning and place in the skillet.  Let each side brown and then remove from skillet and place on the plate with the vegetables.

Increase the heat to medium high and pour in the wine, scrapping up the browned bits on the bottom of your braiser.

Now pour in the beef consommé and reduce the heat to low so the liquid is at a simmer.

Gently place the steaks, along with the vegetables, back into the braiser along with any juices on the plate.

Cover and let simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours on the lowest heat setting.  Stir occasionally.

If you want a thicker gravy, mix 1 t. of cornstarch with 1 t. cold water in a small bowl and then pour it into the simmering liquid.  It will thicken nicely.

You can now serve over rice, noodles, or riced cauliflower.  Top with minced parsley if you'd like.  I served ours with steamed green beans and buttered carrots.