Father's Day

I know, a day late and a dollar short. But I just thought that I would share with you about my Dad. My Dad is wonderful! He is old-fashioned and kinda grouchy sometimes, but he is great. I am a lot like him. We are both pretty laid-back, not real excitable. He helps me out and I cook for him and tease him. He likes plain, old-fashioned cooking, meat and potatoes. I like exotic things, different things all the time. But for Father's Day, I cook meat and potatoes.

Actually, this year Father's Day kinda snuck up on me, I had forgotten when it was. We usually have company, my brothers and some of my nieces or nephews. Sooooo. . . when I went to the freezer (thinking I was going to cook roast beef) we only had a very small roast. Hmmmm . . . what can I do (mind you this is at 6 AM on Sunday morning, I have until 9 to get the meal ready, as we are headed off to church) Then I spied a package of hamburger patties. Ok, that was good. Now, I know what I can do, what to go with it? Mashed potatoes, of course. Frozen green beans - check. and for dessert? Strawberry-rhubarb pie. I also made a fresh vegetable plate, some marinated tomatoes and a fresh fruit plate (well, melon and cherries anyway).



Now, the recipe I am going to give you today is nothing more than gussied-up hamburgers. But men love it and it goes together quick.

Salisbury Steak
6 servings

1 package of 6 frozen hamburger patties
1 can condensed french onion soup
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 can mushrooms

Brown hamburgers in large non-stick skillet. Remove from skillet and drain off all but 1 tablespoon of drippings. Sprinkle flour over the drippings and cook to make your roux. Meanwhile, combine ketchup, water, soup, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Stir into roux and cook for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return hamburgers to skillet. Add mushrooms. I usually add in a little coarsely cracked pepper.



Now, I have adapted this recipe from TOH, just streamlined it a bit. You can make your own hamburger patties, using some bread crumbs and the like. If that is your inclination:

Use 1-1/2 lb. hamburger, 1 egg, 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs and use 1/3 cup of the soup in the patties, reduce the flour to 1 tablespoon. Just combine these ingredients, brown the hamburgers and otherwise make as above. Also the original recipe does not call for the mushrooms, so that is your call, too.

As for the fruit plate, I chunked up some cantaloupe and put it in a ring around some fresh Bing cherries. Simple, but pretty.

The fresh veg tray I lined a plate with fresh leaf lettuce. I then raided the refrigerator (good thing I had went to Farmer's Market on Saturday!) We had cauliflower, snow peas, celery, carrots, radishes, cucumber, spring onions, green pepper and I threw some black olives on for good color contrast. That was good for the guys to munch on while we were doing last minute fixins.

The marinated tomatoes? A fresh ripe tomato, sliced in thin wedges, then just squirt on some bottled italian dressing and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Quick and pretty. Did not taste bad, either.

Just plain mashed potatoes and cooked green beans.

I try to go the extra mile to make everyone's day special. It does not take a lot, just a little extra effort.

I will be sharing the recipe for the strawberry-rhubarb pie later. It was really good, even my brother who does not like sweets wanted another piece! Made with some lovely frozen rhubarb I had and fresh strawberries from our tubs.