Region: Italy, Campania-Naples
Category: Beef
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy and Quick
Long ago in Naples, pizzaiola sauce arose as a way of covering the tough taste of poor quality horse meat. 
Pizzaiola refers to a pizza-like sauce used for the meat. Wild oregano, available in Greek markets, is the secret to this dish. If you can't find it, mix fresh and dried oregano together. A less expensive cut of meat would be a top round pounded quite thin; but I suggest taking advantage of the excellent quality of meat available to us and use a rib eye steak, skirt steak, flank steak, or hanger steak. A well heated cast-iron skillet is ideal for searing the beef quickly in this recipe. In the Southwestern U.S. some supermarkets sell meat pounded for carne asada (but without the marinade of course) and this will work quite well.
[photo: Clifford A. Wright]
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds rib eye steak or other suggested steak, cut into in 4 pieces, and pounded thin (about 1/8 inch thick)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 large garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
2 pounds ripe, but firm tomatoes, peeled and sliced (see Note)
3 tablespoons finely chopped wild oregano (rigani) or 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh oregano mixed with 1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 cup dry white wine
1. Preheat the oven to 150ºF or “warm.”
2. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil until beginning to smoke over high heat, then sear the steaks for 1 minute per side. Remove the beef slices and salt and pepper them. Keep warm in the oven.
3. Add the garlic to the skillet and, stirring rapidly, and before the garlic turns light brown in less than 30 seconds, add the tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, and the wild oregano. Cook for 8 minutes over high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the wine and cook until it nearly evaporates then return the beef slices to the skillet for 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
Variation:
Note:
You can use canned tomatoes but the consistency will be different.
Posted: 12/12/2006
