A delicious meal in a hurry that the whole family loves
Bistecche alla Pizzaiola are a great do in a hurry meal that almost everybody in the family will like (of course, unless they’re vegetarian, hate beef, or hate tomato, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time). I like to make it with very thin slices of beef that can also be used to make scaloppine alla milanese, but you could use just about any thickness up to about 5 cm thick and adjust the cooking time. Though, calm down….. no need to be getting out the ruler now! It’s not that precise.
Why is the word “pizzaiola” used in the name of this meat dish?
The word pizzaiola is used because it means that the steaks are made like a pizza-making guy would cook them, with tomato and oregano, just like a pizza without the mozzarella. Now, does that mean that chefs who make pizza have nothing in their kitchens except for pizza ingredients? Imagine: cereal with tomato and mozzarella, and ice-cream with a tomato and oregano sauce….hmmm……maybe I can launch it as a new kind of fad-diet….no stranger than any of the other ones that are out there these days. I could call it the Pizza Mediterranean Diet, which includes drinking a glass of red wine with every meal including breakfast. Could catch on!
When you make this dish it does smell exactly like pizza cooking, so my kids were deadly disappointed just a couple of days ago because when I served this up, from the tantalizing odours wafting from the kitchen, they thought they were going to get pizza.
What wines to pair with bistecche alla pizzaiola?
To get a suggestion for good Italian wines from the Piedmont region of Italy to drink with this Northern Italian recipe, look no further than the Independant Wine Company, based in the UK. They have an interesting blog attached to their site with all sorts of good advice on which wines to drink with various dishes, and tell you the difference between the wines that come from the Langhe region .
Travel Photo Of The Week
This is a random photo that I want to show you, just because I like it. It’s from the village in France where I live. I love this old building. It’s now a house, but they have kept the original writing on the wall.
By Lisa Watson
Bistecche alla Pizziaola
Ingredients
- 8 Thin slices of beef
- 500 ml Tomato puree 2 cups
- 2 Tbsp Dried oregano a handful of fresh
- 1 whole clove garlic to be taken out at the end
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a frying-pan at medium heat. Add the clove of garlic and let it cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the meat. Brown it lightly on both sides.
- Add the tomato puree, oregano, and salt. Cook until it simmers.
- Let the meat simmer in the sauce for 2-3 minutes. Don't overcook the meat or it will become tough.