swiss steak

beef bottom round was on sale so i bought a 2 pounds and decided to make some swiss steak (recipe adapted from my hero). cut your meat into 1/2 inch thick slices and tenderize using a meat hammer tenderizer thing. i didnt have one so i used a can of soup to bash my meat covered in plastic wrap. after you tenderize, rub both side with salt and pepper and dredge with flour. set the meat aside for a little while to allow the flour to absorb some moisture from the meat.

in the meantime, slice up a sweet onion, mince 4 gloves of garlic, and dice two stalks of celery. heat up some vegetable oil in a large pot and fry your beef a few minutes on each side until it browns. don’t overcrowd your pot or else you’ll drop the oil temperature and have a sucky fry.

doesn’t this look good?

well, its not because bottom round is a pretty tough cut of meat to chew. that’s why its pretty cheap! we’ll need to braise the meat for a few hours before eating. while the oil is still hot, add in your celery, onion, and garlic. saute for a few minutes and then add a can of diced tomatoes, a few tablespoons of tomato sauce, one teaspoon of dried oregano, one teaspoon of paprika, and one teaspoon of worcestershire sauce. stir it all up and then add 1 1/2 cups of some sort of stock. beef stock should work the best, but i used the duck broth i made a few months ago. bring to almost a boil and submerge all your meat in your braising liquid.

braise for 2 hours or until the meat can be cut with your fork. i had it over rice with some broccoli and a nice glass of wine. enjoy!