Pepper Steak

Ok, I've made this three times now in the past couple weeks, and each time I do I appreciate more just how awesome it is.  My mom used to make it pretty often, but I hadn't had it in over ten years.



There are a couple reasons for the awesomeness.  I can get all the ingredients for $4-$7, depending what kind of meat I get.  I can make it all, start to finish, possibly including washing the associated dishes, in about forty minutes.  And I only need to use five pieces of kitchenware to make it.

The ingredients are easy:

• 3/4 to 1 lb. beef, any kind of flatly cut steak that you can slice up
• 2 green peppers
• 1 yellow onion, small to medium
• 1 can (15 fl. oz.) beef broth
• 1 tbsp. or so cooking oil
• 1 tbsp. flour
• ground black pepper

The utensils are easy:

• skillet, 12" is a good size
• cutting board
• a good knife
• a strainer
• a wooden spoon or some other stirring utensil

Start off by slicing the onion into thin wedges.  I generally do about 1/4" to 1/2" ones.  Start the onion cooking in the skillet in the oil over low heat while you start on the green peppers.

Cut the peppers into about 1/2" slices and let them sit in the strainer while you start slicing the beef.  If you've bought the average 3/4 to 1 lb. steak, you can slice it into 1/4" slices.

Add the beef to the onions and shake a generous layer of black pepper over it.  Turn the heat up to medium.  Add just enough of the broth to keep the pan from doing that spitting kind of sizzling.  Once you've seared the beef on both sides of the slices, add the green peppers.

Stir regularly, but not constantly, adding small quantities of broth as needed to keep the pan from spattering, until the beef is cooked through and the peppers are done.  (If you haven't cooked green peppers before, they will change color, from a bright green to a more olive color.)

Now, if you want gravy, remove all the solids from the skillet, turn the heat down a little, and add the tablespoon of flour.  If the resulting paste is too oily, add a bit more flour.  Let the flour and oil/juice mixture heat up a little (it'll start to get a little bubbly), and add the rest of the can (which should be most of the can) of broth.  Turn the heat all the way up and stir constantly.  Bring it to a boil, let it boil for a minute (or a minute and a half if you want somewhat thicker gravy), and take it off the heat.

This is especially good over white rice, but with the gravy it goes pretty well with mashed potatoes, too.  If you're going to make rice, start it when you put the onions on to cook.  If you're going to make mashed potatoes... well, I usually do the easy (instant) ones since I don't have time for full-on potatoes, so you can start that after you've added the green peppers to the skillet.