Sour Cream Swiss Steak and Cookbook #61

Cookbook #61

The Handyman figured it out while we were eating this supper...that if I made a recipe out of each of my cookbooks every week, I could finish my goal  in 3  more years. But he was calculating on me owning 219 cookbooks, 60 which I've already blogged about.   Shhhh....don't tell him, but I've bought more, so it might be closer to 4 years before I am caught up.

I enjoyed reading thru this cookbook by Jane Watson Hopping. The stories and recipes are older,  things that I would have at my grandma's dinner table on a Sunday afternoon, although it was published in 1992, most of the recipes are reminiscent of the 40's and 50's.

Hopping also follows a seasonal flow of cooking... and making things from her very own garden.

Her chapters are broken down into early summer, mid-summer and late summer foods that ripen during that time of the season.

I love the name:

The Lazy Days of Summer Cookbook

The celebration of summers bounty.

I have to admit that the Handyman really liked the steak and potatoes... cuz he's that kinda guy; a steak and potatoes kinda guy.

And I really liked the pea salad.

Sour Cream Swiss Steak

2 pounds round steak, cut about 1-inch thick
salt
ground pepper
1 cup flour, more or less as needed
1/3 cup lard or shortening, just enough for browning steak
1 cup sour cream

Set out a large heavy skillet.  Wipe the meat with a damp cloth, then salt and pepper both sides.  On a hard surface, pound all the flour possible into it.
Heat the fat in the skillet and sear both sides of the steak.  Turn the heat down. Add 1/2 cup or more of boiling water.  Cover. simmer until meat is becoming tender, about 30 minutes, during the last 15-20 minutes of cooking time, add the sour cream. Continue cooking until the meat feels tender when poked with a fork.  
Serve piping hot.

**I used 1 cup of boiling water, added some sliced onions to the frying pan and a couple cloves of smashed garlic.
To the sour cream, I added a little brown sugar and soy sauce.

English Pea Salad

2 cups fresh peas, boiled to tender, drained and set aside to cool
2 tart early summer apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 cup pimento (2oz jar), finely sliced
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
1 small sweet pickle, finely chopped
1/3 cup nutmeats (walnuts preferred), finely chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Into a large bowl put peas, apples, pimentos, celery, pickle and nutmeats;  do not stir.  Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar  and salt. With two forks, toss gently until ingredients are mixed and coated with dressing.  Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce.

(as you can tell by the photos, nothing was finely chopped)

I am linking up with  Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads.
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend

I'm also linking up with  Cook-Your-Books at Kitchen Flavours.

Cook-Your-Books is all about cooking or baking from your many cookbooks or magazines that you have collected over the years. If you love collecting cookbooks, read them like novels and trying out new recipes, then this is the perfect place to share. It's time to get those books (or magazines) out of the shelves, and start using them.

And adding this to my own, my very own Cookbook Countdown.

Like I mentioned above, I have an overabundance of cookbooks and I would really like to justify their purchase by cooking from them.  I really need to quit purchasing them tho, otherwise, I'll never catch up.