Blend Southern Flavors with Chicken Fried Steak

It was getting late, I was starving, and I had some beef in the fridge that didnt looked a bit too tough to make a great steak. Meat tenderizer in hand, I started pounding out the steaks thinking Id be having chicken fried steak, for dinner. Sadly a block of sausage Id been saving in the freezer for just such an occasion had disappeared and I was left without the fixins for country gravy. Surveying the pantry for alternatives, I dug out a can of tomatoes and a jar of olives and threw together a tomato olive sauce. Its one of the simplest things Ive cooked in a while and yet it was the kind of delicious that will make it a regular in my kitchen. The toughest part about making this recipe was coming up with a name for it. Its vaguely Italian and yet despite my best efforts to Google a name for it, there was none to be found. A generic name like Pan-Fried Steak with Tomato and Olive Sauce would certainly be adequate, but it lacks the panache that this dish deserves. Thats why I turned to Twitter for help under the hashtag #namingtroubles. Its worked for me in the past and lo-and-behold a whole slew of suggestions running the gamut from goofy to creative came back. I ended up combining a couple suggestions and naming this dish Chicken Fried Steak a la Veracruz in an American South meets Southeast Mexico mélange.

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Marc Matsumoto is a culinary consultant and recipe repairman who shares his passion for good food through his website norecipes.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blog in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marcs been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.