These past few years, the prices of food keep climbing upwards, and people find it hard to make ends meet. We all have to be thrifty and yet serve nourishing and tasty meals to our families on a daily basis. This is a nice recipe that makes the meat go a long way, it is very tasty and everybody will love it.
Ingredients for the steaks 500 gr. ground meat (veal, pork or mixed) 3 – 4 tablespoonfuls breadcrumbs 2 eggs (separated) 1 tablespoonful butter or margarine 1 medium onion grated 1 clove garlic minced Juice of ½ lemon Salt, pepper Flour and extra breadcrumbs 2 tablespoonfuls butter or margarine and oil for frying or you can bake them in the oven.
Ingredients for the tomato sauce 1 large onion diced 1 can tomatoes, or 2 – 3 ripe tomatoes or a mixture of fresh and canned tomatoes 2 cloves garlic minced A good pinch oregano 2 tablespoonfuls olive oil Salt & pepper
Directions
In a bowl mix well the ground meat, breadcrumbs, yolks of two eggs, lemon juice, onion, garlic, margarine, salt and pepper. Put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour.
Put some flour on a plate, beat the egg whites with a little water in deep dish, and breadcrumbs on a third plate. Take the ground meat mixture out of the fridge and take a generous handful. Press it with both hands until you have a round of rectangular patty. It should be as thin as possible, but must hold its shape without breaking. Dredge the patty in flour, the carefully shake off the excess flour and dip it in the beaten egg whites. Remove it from the egg whites and put it in the dish with the breadcrumbs and cover turn it over until both sides are completely covered. You will get 5 – 6 large mock steaks.
Place the ‘steaks’ in a large platter and put them in the fridge for half hour to one hour. This helps the breadcrumbs stick better on the steak and they don’t come off during cooking.
You can either sauté the steaks in a pan, or bake them in the oven.
If you wish to bake them, line a baking pan with greaseproof paper, oil it lightly and lay the steaks in rows. Bake at 180oC for about 20 minutes, turn them over and bake for 10 – 15 minutes more until they brown nicely.
To sauté them, melt 2 tablespoonfuls butter or margarine in a pan and add 2 – 3 tablespoonfuls olive oil. Put 2 – 3 steaks at a time in the pan and sauté them until they are browned. Cook them at medium heat so that they don’t burn quickly on the outside. Turn them over and cook them for a few more minutes, until they are browned. Remove them and place them on a platter lined with kitchen paper roll, so that the extra oil is absorbed by the paper. Place the next batch of steaks in the pan. If needed, add a little more margarine and oil to cook the steaks.
In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce. Place the onion in a pan and add ½ cup of water and let it simmer until the onion is soft. You many need to add some more water. When the onions are soft and the water has evaporated, add the oil and sauté them lightly. Add the garlic and the tomatoes. Stir and let them simmer until the sauce thickens. Add the oregano, salt and pepper.
Serve the mock steaks with plain boiled rice, French fries and a large green salad. Drizzle some tomato sauce over the steaks and the rice.