One of my absolute favorite things to order in our local “greek style family restaurant” is called “The Gypsy Steak.”
It’s served in a ceramic skillet, and it has a layer of hash browns, then veggies, then steak, then eggs, then cheese. Throw some ketchup and hot sauce on there and it’s all good in the neighborhood.
Last night, I figured out how to make this concoction at home and save about $20 (plus tip) when feeding two people.
The ingredients:
- One package of Simply Potatoes Hash Browns
- One strip steak, 8 to 12 ounces, previously grilled to medium rare
- One red bell pepper, chopped
- One medium onion, chopped
- One 16 ounce container of sliced steak mushrooms
- One container of Egg Beaters
- Shredded cheese, variety of your choosing
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, powdered garlic, powdered onion
The destructions:
- Heat two saute pans on medium high
- In one pan, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. In the other pan, add about 1/3 cup olive oil
- In the first pan, drop in your hash browns. Do not flatten them. Leave them be.
- In the second pan, drop in your mushrooms. Saute and add a modest amount of powdered garlic, powdered onion, salt and pepper.
- Toss the mushrooms every few minutes to ensure even cooking.
- By the time the mushrooms are done (dark brown, releasing their liquid into the pan) it’s time to flip the hash browns. Flip half the hash browns over, then Flip the other half over. Add some more oil if needed. Leave them alone so they can brown. Do not press the hash browns down.
- Add the red bell pepper and chopped onion to the mushrooms and stir to combine.
- After a minute or two, add the steak to the red bell pepper and mushrooms. Add a few generous dashes of worcestershire sauce.
- Heat a saucepot or other high-sided pan, spray it with Pam, then dump in enough Egg Beaters to feed two.
- Go away for a few minutes. Get out plates and napkins and such and set the table.
- When the Egg Beaters have browned on the bottom, flip half over, then flip the other half over.
- Flip the hash browns once more just to ensure even cooking.
Assembly:
- Put half of the hash browns on each plate
- Top the hash browns with the mushroom / pepper / steak mixture
- Top that with the Egg Beaters
- Top that with a generous handful of shredded cheese
Serve it up with flair and aplomb.
Notes: Of course you can serve with eggs sunny side up instead of Egg Beaters, if that is your wish. This also works with almost any type of sausage, i.e. kielbasa or bratwurst or any old thing you’ve got laying around. There’s another version at the restaurant called the Denver skillet and of course that’s made with ham and green bell peppers, two items without with Denver would not exist, apparently. I never order that version, though. If it’s going to be a skillet and it’s not going to be the Veggie version, it’s steak or nada.
Also — yes, it does seem like a lot of olive oil in there with the mushrooms. I played around with this a lot before I got it right. Too little oil and the mushrooms get rubbery – too much and they get slick and unappetizing.
Image source: activefree’s photo stream.
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