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| Crock Pot Steak and Potatoes Baked Potato |
I really want to use my crock pot more often. It is such a wonderful notion that you can put a few ingredients in the pot and as you are out living your life it miraculously cooks dinner for you. Really good crock pot recipes are hard to find and, I have a dozen on my blog as only the best ones I create make the cut.
After a day of personal cheffing, I am usually heading off to watch a cross country meet or volleyball game smack dab in the middle of my dinner preparation time. There are many nights when we are eating dinner later than anticipated because of my lack of planning so I decided it was time to put my crock pot thinking cap on again.
No Thank You Boy is a fan of baked potatoes and steak so I set out trying to find a recipe that would include both of these foods. And knowing that baked potatoes take 1+ hours in the oven, I knew that I would have to find another way to cook them as I am typically not home or I forget to put the potatoes in the oven so we end up eating dinner at 10 p.m. Baking the potatoes ahead of time is not an option as I don't think they taste the same as when they just come out of the oven.
Ah ha! The crock pot can sit at home for me and do the work. With a quick scrub, a few fork pricks and a wrap in foil, they are set for a day in the crock pot.
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| Russet potatoes snuggly wrapped in foil for their day in the crock pot |
Dinner will be on the table in no time at all.
Crock Pot Steak and Mushroom Stuffed Potatoes
serves 4
Note -- The potatoes I used very very large - about 7 inches long - and therefore took longer to cook than an average size potato which is about 5 inches long. If you use a smaller potato than I did, I recommend setting your crock pot for about 5 - 6 hours on low.
4 large russet potatoes, washed and pricked with a fork
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 beef tenderloin steaks, about 1 pound total
2 tablespoons butter
10 ounces (2 cups) quartered crimini mushrooms
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 chopped cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon each chopped fresh thyme and sage
3 tablespoons red wine
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups beef stock
extra fresh thyme leaves for serving
In the morning (about 7 hours before dinner time), place the potatoes in the crock pot and set it for 8 hours on Low. Place the lid on and let the crock pot do the work. At this point, you can either wait until just before dinner time to prepare the mushroom, onion and steak sauce or better yet make it the night before.
Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and add about 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Season the steaks with salt and pepper and saute for about 4 - 5 minutes per side depending on thickness. Cook the steaks to medium rare. Remove steaks from pan and place on a plate.
In the same large saute pan over medium high heat, melt the butter then add mushrooms, onion and garlic. Saute for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the mushrooms and onions are lightly browned. Add the thyme and sage and saute for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and stir up any browned bits. Cook for a minute or so. Add the flour and stir to combine with the mushroom mixture and the flour is no longer visible, about 1 minute. Slowly add the stock and stir to combine. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 4 - 5 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the steak into bite-sized pieces and add along with any of the accumulated juices to the sauce. Stir to combine. Continue simmering until the steak is just heated through.
To serve, remove potatoes from the crock pot and carefully unwrap. The potatoes will be HOT. Slice each potato lengthwise and slightly squish the ends together to open the potato. Top each potato with about 1/4 of the steak and mushroom sauce and sprinkle with extra fresh thyme leaves.
Note: I put the potatoes in the crock pot in the morning and made the sauce. After the sauce cooled, I packaged it for the refrigerator. At dinner time I heated it in a saute pan over low heat for 4 - 5 minutes before topping the potatoes.
