{ perfect chicken fried steak with homemade cream gravy }

Looking for a fantastic Sunday (or Tuesday, or Friday, or ....) meal?

It's your lucky day: a beautiful, deliciously perfect chicken fried steak recipe has just fallen into your lap. I love how Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) describes this recipe: "There’s nothing special about this dish, except that it’s a total miracle."

I know, I know. Calories galore. But every once in a while, we all deserve to dive into a big ol' heaping helping of sin on a plate, no?

There are several keys to the success of this recipe. The first and foremost is the steak -- cube steak, to be exact -- which is round steak that's been extra, extra tenderized. Another key is the double-dredging process of the milk and flour coating -- it's done twice, making the results extra crispy. The final key ... the gravy. For Heaven's sake. If you make this recipe, you must make the gravy.

Anybody and everybody appreciates a homecooked meal. And this one epitomizes comfort and love. Added bonus: it's super affordable steak.

Do it. You know you want to.

Perfect Chicken Fried Steak with Homemade Cream Gravy
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

3 pounds cube steak (tenderized round steak)

1-1/2 cup whole milk; plus up to 2 cups for gravy

2 whole large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

ground black pepper. Lots.

canola oil, for frying

salt and pepper, for both meat and gravy

Process
Combine flour, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper and desired amount of ground black pepper.

In a separate bowl, add milk and eggs, beaten together with a fork.

Begin with an assembly line of seperate dishes for the meat-dredging process: milk mixed with egg; flour mixed with spices; then have one clean plate at the end to receive the breaded meat.

Work one piece of meat at a time. First season both sides of steak with salt and pepper, then dip in the milk/egg mixture.

Next, place the meat on the plate of seasoned flour. Turn to coat thoroughly. Place the meat back into the milk/egg mixture, turning to coat. Place back in the flour and turn to coat.

wet mixture + dry mixture + wet mixture + dry mixture

Place breaded meat on the clean plate, and repeat with remaining meat.

Heat oil in a large skillet (ideally, cast iron) over medium heat. Drop in a few sprinkles of flour to make sure it's sufficiently hot. Cook meat, three pieces at a time, until edges start to look golden brown; around 2 to 2 1/2 minutes each side, using tongs to gently flip.

Remove cooked steak to a paper towel-lined plate and keep warm. Repeat until all meat is cooked.

Gravy: Pour grease from finished meat-cooking pan into a glass or heatproof bowl. Without cleaning the pan, return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup grease back to the pan. Allow grease to heat up.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour evenly over the grease. Using a whisk, mix flour with grease, and continue cooking until mixture reaches a deep golden brown color. If paste seems more oily than pasty, sprinkle in another tablespoon of flour and whisk.

Whisking constantly, pour in milk. Cook to thicken the gravy. Be prepared to add more milk if it becomes overly thick. Add salt and pepper and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until gravy is smooth and thick. Be sure to taste to make sure gravy is sufficiently seasoned. I really prefer a great deal of freshly-ground black pepper in this gravy.

Serve meat with mashed potatoes, and cover both with gravy.

{ grilled ribeyes with onion and mushroom blue cheese sauce }

While it's fun to experiment with new recipes and venture into the culinary Great Unknown, the truth of the matter is that most often when I try something new from a cookbook or from Pinterest, it's unlikely that I'll make it again. Like most of us, I tend to stick with the tried and true family favorites.

But every once in a while, I'm fortunate enough to stumble across a recipe that becomes an instant classic on our household's list of 5-star menu items -- this past Friday was just such a night. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that Ty requested it again on Monday night. So in the past five days, we've already made and devoured it twice.

It's no surprise that the inspiration comes from the fabulously brilliant, Ree Drummond (THE Pioneer Woman). I tweaked it a bit, but as usual, her recipes are pretty perfect just as she presents them. I added mushrooms and substituted light cream for heavy, but honestly, you'd never know. It's amazingly rich and creamy. Ree is so great at creating simple, yet delicious food that's realistic for the rest of us to try and enjoy. Thank God for the Pioneer Woman and her willingness to share her talents with the rest of us.

Speaking of Ree's talents, I think her reaction to this particular "sublime" recipe is better than any description I could provide:

"Good grief.
Help me.
Help me now.
This was delicious."

I foresee steak with blue cheese sauce on next week's menu as well. Oh, and the week after ....

Grilled Ribeyes with Onion and Mushroom Blue Cheese Sauce
(adapted from thepioneerwoman)

Ingredients

• 2 whole ribeye steaks
• 4 tablespoons butter (if using grill pan)
•  salt
•  pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter (yes, more butter)
• 1 whole very large yellow onion, sliced (I used 1/2 red, 1/2 yellow this time)
• 6-8 oz sliced button mushrooms
• 1 cup light cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Process

Salt and pepper both sides of steaks. Ideally, throw steaks on an outdoor grill and cook until medium rare. If cooking steaks indoors, use a grill pan and cook in 4 tablespoons butter until medium rare.

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Cook for 7-10 minutes minutes, or until dark and caramelized, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook until soft (about 5 more minutes), continuing to periodically stir.

Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Once cream has taken on the caramel color of the onion and mushroom mixture, stir in blue cheese until melted.

Serve steaks on top of generous portion of sauce. Or, as my husband prefers it, ladle a heaping portion of sauce on top of steak.

{ asian-inspired flat iron steak }

Dinner menus can be a challenge in our home. I generally prefer something on the lighter side of things (and could eat pasta any night). Ty, on the other hand, would eat a huge hunk of red meat seven-days-a-week and be as happy as a pig in [gravy-soaked] slop. And that's not even throwing Aidan and Paige into the mix -- we'd be dining on weiners and mac and cheese at every meal if we based our decisions on their culinary preferences.

Which is why I was excited to try this recipe. It's red meat, so Ty was happy. And the cuts of beef weren't steak-house massive, which appealed to me (Aidan and Paige ate weiners). I loved the Asian flare, as well as how easy it was to prepare on the grill pan indoors.

Asian-Inspired Flat Iron Steak
(adapted from savorysweetlife.com)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sherry (or cognac)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons (heaping) minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons (3-5 cloves) minced garlic
• teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 flat iron steaks
• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds (garnish)
• 2 green onions, slivered (garnish)

Process

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sherry, honey, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.

Place the steaks and marinade in a ziplock bag and chill in the refrigerator for 3-6 hours.

For medium-rare steaks, grill on high heat for 4 minutes per each side. Allow steaks to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds and green onion slivers on top to garnish.