Braised Steak with Anchovies, Olives and Capers

Five years ago I took a look at the vintage cookbook The Meat & Potato Cuisine I Love in one of our TBT posts.



In that cookbook is a recipe for Braised Steak and Anchovies that I have always found intriguing. As it uses capers in addition to the anchovies it bears a certain resemblance to one of my favourite pasta dishes Pasta Puttanesca.



I thought that with some rejigging  I could make a version of the dish that adds olives and a bit of heat.



Ingredients:

Steaks about 1/2 inch to an inch thick. Sirloin, rib or round steak cuts all work well
Flour
Olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
Beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tin anchovy filets 1/2 a small jar to a full small  jar of capers
Green or black olives
Garlic powder
2 cloves minced garlic
Salt and pepper
Red chili pepper flakes

To begin, lightly dust your steaks in flour. Season them liberally (or to taste) with salt, black pepper and garlic powder and let them sit at room temperature for half an hour.

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and brown the steaks in it, around 1 1/2 to 2 minutes a side.

When finished browning set the steaks aside, Do not clean out the pan.

Stirring as you go add the anchovies, olives, capers, onions garlic and chili pepper flakes (to taste...the more you add the hotter it gets) to the pan. Use the spatula to scrap the bottom of the pan and to mash the anchovies, and saute this whole mixture for approximately 5 minutes or until the onions are softened to your liking.

Add the steaks back to the pan and add the Worcestershire sauce and enough beef broth to almost just cover the steaks.

Bring the broth to a boil and then lower heat and simmer the steaks for around an hour and a half or until fork tender. The sauce will thicken and you want this.

 Serve with some rice or noodles and be sure to spoon lots of sauce, onion and olives over each steak. I also like to squirt a little lemon juice on each one.

This delicious dish goes very nicely with your favourite red wine and a baguette on the side.

Enjoy.