When we first married, like most young brides, I wanted to “entertain” guests for dinner. Only problem was, I didn’t know how to cook! But that didn’t deter me! I invited a co-worker and his wife, Warren & Jimmie Rice to dinner. My Mother, bless her soul, made her special spaghetti sauce and that afternoon, drove the 11 miles to deliver it to me. I could at least boil the spaghetti noodles!!! Dinner was wonderful and pretty soon she presented me with a gift, the 1702 page cookbook by Meta Givens called “Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking”!!! Guess she figured I needed a crash course!!!

I learned quickly! I needed to, if I was going to keep my husband, who loved to eat, happy!!! (I still have that cookbook!)

My “specialty”, that Emery requested often when we were going to have dinner guests, was “Swiss Steak”.

So this month I decided I would share my recipe for “Mother’s Swiss Steak”, as I have been making it for company, low these many years!

Bon Appetit!!!

Mother’s Swiss Steak

1½ to 2 lbs. top round steak, cut 2 inches thick (you may have to ask the butcher to cut this for you)

4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 (14.5-oz.) can stewed tomatoes

½ cup chopped celery hearts (which is about 2 stalks)

½ cup chopped sweet Vidalia onions

½ cup chopped grated carrots

    (which is about 1 medium size carrot)

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley (dried if you don’t have fresh)

½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 (4-oz.) can mushroom stems & pieces, undrained

1 cup water

Prepare and measure all the vegetables before you start. Pat steak with damp paper towel and cut into serving pieces. Combine flour, salt and pepper and coat steak pieces well, reserving any remaining flour. (I do this on a piece of waxed paper) Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet and brown meat pieces. Remove meat and stir the reserved flour into the drippings. There will be about 1 tablespoon of  flour left after coating the meat. Add the steak back to skillet and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer about 2 to 2½ hours stirring occasionally until steak is fork tender. Stirring is important because cooked tomatoes sometimes have a tendency to stick to bottom of pan. Makes about 6 servings.

Note: This can be done in a 350 degree oven for the same amount of time.

Serving suggestions: Mashed potatoes, green vegetable, tossed salad and hot croissants or other hot buttered rolls.