Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

A simple, satisfying, easy dinner that you can make quickly with only a handful of ingredients. Mmm, this is comfort food at its best: fast, delicious, and completely from scratch. I love cooking from scratch, as often as possible. Now, I won't completely knock convenience items because, well, sometimes you just gotta take the easy road. Like those moments when all you need is a big ole chocolate brownie and you only have 2 minutes to spare so you whisk together a box mix, pop it in the oven, and a half hour later you have your chewy, yummy chocolate fix without the work.  Ahh brownies, one of life's wonders!  Most of the time though, cooking from scratch can be just as easy as the convenience items and free of all those preservatives and other whosy-whats-its in there. It gives you a really good feeling to prepare a meal for your family or friends or even just yourself that you put the effort into and you know exactly which ingredients you used.  Choosing fresh, and local ingredients when possible, adds a whole other level of goodness to your meals.  Salisbury steak is definitely a bit of a treat meal, hamburgers covered in gravy and all, but every now and then we all need a bit of that comfort food.  I hope you give this delicious recipe a try!  

Salisbury Steak

1 lb ground beef
Several dashes of Worcestershire sauce, divided
Salt and Pepper
8 to 10 baby portabella mushrooms, quartered
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups beef broth
chives, for garnish

In a medium bowl lightly mix the ground beef together with several dashes of Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper until combined. Take care to not over mix the ground beef because it will begin to get tough.  Form four evenly sized hamburger patties.  Flatten out and indent the middle of the patties slightly so that when they cook they do not puff up and become more like hamburger balls.

Fry the patties over medium high heat, in a large non-stick skillet with high sides until nicely browned, a few minutes on each side. They do not have to be fully cooked at this point, but close.

Wipe out most of the fat and any brown bits from the frying pan with a paper towel.  Add the butter and the mushrooms and cook over medium until the mushrooms are lightly browned and softened to your liking.  Stir in the flour, cooking for about a minute, and then whisk in the beef broth.  Add another dash or so of Worcestershire sauce and increase the heat to medium high. Be sure to check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Bring the gravy to a boil and add the hamburger patties back into the pan.  Let the gravy bubble up around the hamburgers for a minute or two, just until the patties are cooked to your liking.  Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles or whatever you want and garnish with chopped chives.

Enjoy!