Been there, done that. Have the pictures to prove it.

Guess what recipe I found?

Portuguese Steak!

My friend, Kelly (you know her as K-tribe), sent me a link to a very similar recipe, but it didn’t look exactly like what I’d eaten so I googled Portuguese Steak and the handy, dandy internet pulled a gazillion recipes for it.

I read through some of them and there are variations. In fact, I varied (did I just make up that usage?) the recipe I used by substituting bacon for the prosciutto. Bridget and I agree ours had a strip of bacon on top. I have the pictures to prove it!

I also substituted chicken broth for the red wine because I didn’t want to open an entire bottle of wine for just 1/2 cup. There was no one here to help me with the rest of the bottle!

The only complaint I have is that ours in Lisbon was floating in sauce. This recipe makes just enough sauce to drizzle over 2 steaks. Next time I will play around with having more drippings. Or perhaps will see what happens if I cook it in a crockpot.

Overall, the recipe was really easy and the steak so flavorful. Both girls ate the ‘chicken’ up and Natalie had three helpings. Ainsley ate her portion without complaining once (which says a lot!).

Oh, and I would’ve cooked the steak less. I meant to make them medium. Our Lisbon version was at least medium if not medium rare and oh, so juicy.

Here’s the recipe I got off of www.food.com:

Portuguese Steak:
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 8 oz. steaks (I used cubed steak)
salt
pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red wine (I used chix broth)
1 1/2 tsp tomato paste
2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
2 slices prosciutto, chopped
2 tbsp parsley (I will skip this next time)

1. Combine the vinegar and garlic in a bowl. Let stand 10 minutes.
2. Pat steaks dry and then salt and pepper both sides.
3. Rub vinegar mixture into steaks and let stand 10 minutes (or cover with plastic and refrigerate for up to an hour)
4. In a skillet on medium heat melt butter and oil.
5. Add steaks and cook to desired doneness (5-10 mins per side). Remove to plate and cover with foil.
6. Pour off fat from skillet.
7. Put skillet on high heat and stir in wine, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pan. Boil 3 minutes or until syrupy.
8. Whisk in tomato paste. Remove from heat.
9. Whisk in remaining 2 tbsp of butter, one piece at a time incorporating it into sauce.
10. Stir in prosciutto and parsley.
11. Drizzle over steak.
12. Eat!

Try it and tell me if you like it. I roasted veggies in the oven while the meat was cooking on the stove so the meal was simple to make and very low stress.

(I know my meat isn’t supposed to be touching, but this is all the pan room I have! I cooked the bacon in the same pan to add the flavor in the sauce.)

The original! (I have a feeling it didn’t have red wine or tomato paste in it. I think it was white wine and chicken broth. I’ll do some experimenting. Either way, the recipe above is delicious. And that’s bacon on top, right?)