Quick-Braise Steak Pizzaiola
Carne alla Pizzaiola·(kar-neh ahl-lah peet-tsah-yoh-lah)
The Friday Night Abbondanza: American Bounty, Italian Soul
Forget the heavy, cheese-smothered slabs of meat peddled in bad red-sauce joints. True Neapolitan Carne alla Pizzaiola is an elegant, lightning-fast triumph of the poor kitchen, utilizing the exact same ingredients as a classic pizza marinara to elevate cheap cuts of beef. The secret here is restraint and timing. A clever cook builds a vibrant, herbaceous tomato bath first, then submerges thinly pounded steaks for merely a matter of minutes. It is a beautifully pragmatic dish that yields butter-tender meat and a robust, savory sauce practically begging for a pound of pasta to follow.
Before you start
Dry the meat thoroughly.
Pat the pounded steaks completely dry with paper towels to ensure they take seasoning well.
Sever the connective tissue.
Using kitchen shears or a sharp paring knife, make three or four tiny slits along the outer edge of the fat cap on each steak to prevent the meat from curling into a bowl shape when it hits the heat.
Season the steaks.
Season both sides of the meat aggressively with the kosher salt and black pepper.
Ingredients
- top round or sirloin tip steak1 1/4 lb
- canned whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes14 oz
- garlic2 large
- extra virgin olive oil4 tbsp
- dried oregano1 1/2 tbsp
- kosher salt1 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
Method
- 01
Sweat the garlic in the olive oil.
In a wide, heavy-bottomed skillet large enough to hold the meat in a single layer, heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the smashed garlic, and let it sizzle gently for two to three minutes until light blonde.
- 02
Build the pizza sauce.
Carefully pour the hand-crushed tomatoes and their juices into the skillet, add a generous pinch of salt and all but a final pinch of the dried oregano, and stir to combine.
- 03
Simmer and reduce the tomato bath.
Lower the heat to medium-low and let the sauce simmer gently, uncovered, for ten to fifteen minutes until it thickens slightly and becomes highly aromatic.
- 04
Submerge the steaks.
Lay the prepared steaks directly into the bubbling tomato sauce, spooning some of the sauce generously over the top of the meat, and cover the skillet with a lid.
- 05
Execute the reverse quick-braise.
Simmer for two to three minutes, remove the lid to flip the steaks using tongs, cover again, and cook for exactly two more minutes, ensuring the total cook time does not exceed five minutes.
- 06
Rest and finish.
Transfer the meat to a warm serving platter, spoon the rich, meat-infused tomato sauce directly over the top, and finish with a final pinch of dried oregano and a light drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
Embrace the two-course strategy.
Boil a pound of spaghetti while the sauce simmers; once the meat is removed, toss the cooked pasta directly into the skillet containing the leftover meat-infused sauce for an instant, intensely flavorful first course.
Make the little shoe.
If you skip the pasta, a loaf of high-quality crusty bread is absolutely mandatory for the table to wipe the plate clean, an essential Italian ritual known as fare la scarpetta.
From Cook Italian in America.