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The first time I had eye of round cooked like this was at my nonna in-laws house. I immediately had to ask for the recipe after I ate about 4 steaks to my face. Of course she told me and I loved it ever since. It’ll never taste like the way she made it, but I am very close to it. Nonna’s just have that magic touch. After eating many steaks, I decided one day to turn the recipe into a sandwich. Now, I didn’t want to go overboard as I wanted to keep the integrity of nonna’s recipe, so, I just added some cheese and bread and that’s it. Simple is always best right?
EYE OF ROUND SANDWICH WITH SAUCE AND FRESH MOZZARELLA
Recipe by Mark Calaminici | Food Loves Company
Serves 2
Ingredients
¼ cup or 30g all purpose flour
2 175g eye of round steaks, about 1 inch thick
Salt, to taste
Freshly cracked pepper, to taste
5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed
5 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
400ml Passata or tomato sauce
Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated, to taste
250g ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced
2 Calabrese buns, toasted and rubbed with raw garlic clove
Method
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Tenderize the steaks with a meat mallet, but not too thin, you still want them to be fairly thick. Season both sides with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Dredge and cover the steaks with flour, completely covering the steak and set aside.
3. In a large pan on medium to high heat, add 2 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil. Add the steaks and sear both sides for about two minutes to develop a crust and some browning. Remove and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add 3 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil. Add the garlic and basil and sauté until the garlic is tender and browned a bit. Add the passata and continuously stir and reduce the sauce by a little bit.
5. In a 7x10 casserole dish, add some sauce on the bottom and place the steaks in and cover the steaks with the remaining sauce. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 6-8 hours. Once done, remove the foil and top each steak with as much Parmigiano-Reggiano as you like and then divide and layer the mozzarella slices on top of each steak. Place under the broiler uncovered until the cheese has melted and browned a bit.
6. Then build you sandwich by placing a steak on the bottom half of your bun, spoon some sauce on top. Then spoon some sauce on the top half of the bun and place on top of the steak. Add remaining sauce into a bowl to dip the sandwich in. Enjoy!
Until next time, Ciao!