Hamburger Steak & Loco Moco

Once a month I have such a wonderful opportunity to contribute a post on Angel's wonderful blog as one of her Contributing Angels. Please say hello to some of the other Angels :)

Earlier in the week I was equally blessed to co-host The Great Blog Train and share some things about the amazing place I get to call home Hawaii. In doing this it made me think about how most people view Hawaii. They see the more touristy things so I decided I would share a "local" style comfort recipe with everyone. I feel a wee bit guilty since it's not the healthiest recipe, but as a fellow nurse I'm sure Angel would say the key to everything is moderation. It's okay to enjoy a little bit of bad as long as we don't over do it.

One of my favorite comfort foods is Hamburger Steak, which can also be made into a Hawaiian Local meal called "Loco Moco". I'll be sharing our family's take on both of these recipes with you.

Hamburger Steak

Ingredients for Hamburger Patties:

• 4lb ground beef (I use a combination of 90% & 80%)

• 2 packages of Lipton dry onion soup mix (smash each package while they are still sealed)

• 4 garlic cloves minced

• 1/2 cup chopped onions

• 4 eggs

• 1/2 cup worcestershire sauce

• 4 slices of bread

• 2 onions sliced

Directions for Hamburger Patties:

In a large bowl place ground hamburger, onion soup mix, chopped onions and garlic, use your hands to mix everything evenly together. Add in eggs and worcestershire sauce mix well. Take the bread slices and pull into tiny pieces placing into your hamburger mixture. Be sure everything is mixed very well together.

Make good size patties about an inch or so thick. I make some smaller for the younger kiddos and some bigger ones for my husband and older sons.

Cook hamburgers over medium heat about 7 minutes on each side. You'll want the juices to run clear. Since I'm making for a big brood I have to do this in a lot of batches..... Yikes!!!!! Throughout each batch you'll want to dump out the excess oils (be sure to reserve some towards the end for the gravy).

Once Hamburger patties are cooked; with a little bit of oils leftover in pan, cook your sliced onions until they are clear and tender. If you only have one batch of hamburgers to make you can always cook the onions in the same pan while cooking your hamburgers. Maybe throw onions in once the hamburgers are turned.

Gravy

Ingredients for Gravy:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp reserved drippings from hamburger patties
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• Pinch of black paper

Directions for Gravy:

In sauce pan place butter, drippings and flour mix until flour is completely moistened. Turn heat to med, keep stirring once it begins to heat up add beef broth. Turn heat up to medium high, stir constantly until it boils. Remove from heat and stir until thickened. Add pepper to taste.

Let's Put the Hamburger Steak Together

On a bead of hot white rice (you can use brown, combination of white and brown or quinoa) place 1-2 prepared hamburger patties. Generously pour brown gravy over the top and drizzle all over your rice. Top with the sliced onions. Enjoy!

Loco Moco

To make the Loco Moco:

Place 1-2 prepared hamburger patties (using hamburger steak recipe) on top of a bed of hot white rice, cover generously with brown gravy (using hamburger steak brown gravy recipe). Add 1-2 over easy fried eggs on top of hamburger and gravy. Pepper to taste.

The amazing taste of egg yolk and gravy is so very yummy and definitely filling!!!!!! It hits the spot and fills my growing boys really fast :)

Loco Moco is considered "local grinds" and can be found at any "local style" restaurant around the Hawaiian islands. Most people after finishing this meal will rub their belly and say that was "ono"- meaning delicious :)

I hope you will give this recipe a try and remember if you're worried about your cholesterol just have a little and share with some friends!

A Hui Hou~ Debbie