Recipe: Portuguese Steak and Rice

One of my favorite meals growing up  and still to this day is my mom's steak and rice. A tender thinner cut steak nestled against a bed of soft rice and topped with onion and a thin tomato based sauce tasting of spices, garlic and onion. Sprinkled with a little celery salt and served with a soft warm Portuguese bulky roll with butter. 

Just thinking about this meal, not only makes my mouth water, but it brings back good memories of my family around the dinner table.

It wasn't until I moved out on my own and asked my mom to copy some of her recipes, that I discovered that this recipe had been in the family for over 70 years. 

My mom told me that her grandmother (my great grandmother) made this meal for as long as she could remember. My great grandmother was Portuguese and arrived in the United States in the very early 1900s from the Azores. While sadly, not many Portuguese dishes survived in later generations in our home, this is one that did survive. 

My mom made it while I was growing up and still does to this day. I now make it for my family, so the tradition continues on!

 This meal is fairly simple and quick to make, only taking on average between 25-35 minutes. Prep is also easy!

The rice is the first thing to be started

  The first thing I do when making steak and rice is to get the rice started. This is the ingredient that takes the longest to cook. You can cheat these days with quick and instant rices as well as "Ready" rice in pouches. I generally like to buy whole wheat minute rice because it only takes about 10 minutes to be done and while it's finishing soaking up any water, the steak is cooking in the tomato sauce. Any unseasoned rice will work however!

Speaking of the steak, it is generally a thin cut top round steak. I've also made it using what the markets call "London Broil". That is generally a thicker cut of steak, but still works well. Any thin cut of steak  about 1/4"will work. 

The steak cut up to just larger than bite size

The steak is cut into slightly larger than bite size pieces (so it will cook faster) and then broiled until both sides are browned. I like to broil it in the toaster oven, as it's a smaller appliance than using my oven, but the oven works just fine too!

While the steak is broiling and the rice is cooking, I start cooking the onions in a medium to large sauce pan with a small (quarter size) amount of olive oil on medium to low heat. I make sure the onions are translucent and then I begin working on the tomato sauce. If you don't like onions but like onion flavor you can skip this step and you will add onion powder later on. In the video toward the bottom of this post, I forgot to buy onions so I used garlic powder.

The tomato sauce is a THIN sauce, not to be confused with a thick pasta sauce. My mom always used an 8oz can of Hunt's Roasted Garlic tomato sauce. This is sometimes hard to find, but you can buy regular tomato sauce and add garlic powder to get a similar taste. You use one can of the tomato sauce in your medium to large sauce pan, adding it to the cooked onions and using the can add a can and a half of water to the pan. Stir well.

Next you will add Portuguese all spice. If you don't have Portuguese all spice in your area you can purchase it here or make your own with this recipe using spices you might already have on hand. Use a pinch of all spice, along with garlic powder and onion powder if you cannot find the garlic tomato sauce or you do not like or want to add onions. Generally I sprinkle enough of each to coat the top of all the sauce. About half a teaspoon of each. Stir well. If you did not use onions and are using onion powder set the temperature on the stove top to low to medium heat.

The steak added to the tomato sauce

When your steak is done broiling, you will add it to your tomato sauce. At this point your steak should be slightly underdone. It will finish cooking in the sauce. The end result that we go for in our house is a medium cook. My mom always cooked hers closer to well done. The temperature you prefer will determine the time the steak cooks in the tomato sauce. About 15 minutes for medium and about 25 for well done. The timing may need to be adjusted slightly based on the thinness or thickness of the steak you use. 

When the steak is done cooking you will spoon rice onto a plate and then take some of the steak and nestle it next to the rice.

Using a ladle or fork remove some of the onions and place on top of your steak and rice. Next add the tomato sauce on top of the rice and the steak. 

Add a gentle sprinkle of celery salt to the entire plate. 

Warm a Portuguese bulky roll or any dinner roll with a harder crust and soft inside and spread with butter. Use the bread to soak up the tomato sauce as you eat!

 

Video on Youtube

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