We're having what we call Sicilian Round Steak. (Round steak was on sale for about $3.49 a pound with top round steak going for $3.99/lb. Last time I checked the price of round steak at the grocery about three months ago, it was $8.50 a pound! Who would pay that?!) Many years ago a boyfriend's brother made this when we visited him; I remember it was out of the NY Times or a NY Times cookbook but I've never been able to find it online or in one of their cookbooks and I'm pretty sure I have the name right, as bf and his brother were Italian!
I pound some round steak until it's about half as thick as it originally was, cut it into serving size pieces, season with salt and pepper and then flour and brown the pieces of beef in a heavy Dutch oven. Then you add a can or two of whole tomatoes (I "smush" them with my hands, as I prefer the whole ones to the crushed -- the crushed thicken up too much plus I can find San Marzano whole tomatoes) to the pot right on top of the browned beef, along with a couple minced cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of dried oregano pinched between fingers, a half teaspoon of dry mustard and some fresh chopped parsley. Put the top on, bring to a simmer and simmer about an hour, mixing up the slices of beef in the pot about halfway through so they cook evenly. If I have a couple of small pieces of Parmesan rind on hand, I'll throw those in, too.
When the meat is tender, remove it from the pot temporarily, add some cooked rigatoni and some of the pasta water to the tomatoes, heat for a couple of minutes to soak up some sauce, and then put meat back in to heat up if necessary. Serve the pasta on a platter with the beef on top, with some more parsley and some Romano and/or Parmesan on top. Super easy and quite good.
This is good with a side of spinach or a nice spinach salad and some garlic bread. I've never tired of this dish and I've been making it since I was 19!!! My family really liked it, too, though I remember my brother bi*ching about the noise I made while pounding the beef; if I remember correctly, he was hung over and still in bed at about 3 p.m. when I was making it for dinner! When I lived at home, no one was more grateful than my mom was when she came home from work, opened that front door and smelled dinner (her words!). She was a registered nurse who worked 5-1/2 days a week at an industrial clinic -- worked her butt off before work, at work and after work, too!
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