Steak Pizzaiola

I love Italian food. To me it represents the warmth of home. The deep flavors mingle with rich traditions of generations past. Having said that, come along with me as I mutilate another great Italian recipe and replace the hours of toiling in the kitchen with a quick and easy meal fit for the busy families of 2010.

I wish that I had the time to prepare traditional food using family recipes and old world cooking but that's not going to happen at least for another couple of years. So I have taken family recipes and shortened them significantly so you can have dinner on the table in under an hour.

I wooed my husband with my cooking. I had a big plate of sausage and peppers at the alter just in case he got cold feet. And now look what I've done. I've taken his heritage and desecrated it all in the name of saving time. It's a shame but he really should have thought about it before he decided to give me twins. Yes... I blame him.

This recipe is wonderfully aromatic. Yes, it is quick... yes, it is simple, and yes, I used jarred sauce (father forgive me for I have sinned). I hope you love it as much as I do.

What you'll need:

top sirloin steaks

1 jar of Trader Giotti's Puntanesca Sauce

1 Spanish onion

2 bell peppers (I used yellow, green gives me a stomach ache)

olive oil

What you do:

Take a meat mallet and pound the steak thin to about 1/2 an inch. Use the bumpy side to tenderize it a bit. Slice up your onion and pepper. Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a heavy skillet (the kind that can go in the oven). If you don't have one of those then use a baking pan. Spread the oil around in the pan. Put your steaks in next and cover them with the onion and peppers. Take your jar of sauce and pour it all over the steaks and veggies. Now go immediately to confession and tell the priest that you have sinned. Also, pray that your husband never finds out that you are using jarred sauce... you know, the jars of sauce that you keep above the fridge, way in the back, behind the vases? Ya, those...

Ok, so you have your steak, your veggies, your sauce. Put the lid on the pan or cover it in foil and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Don't peak. Serve it over a giant plate of spaghetti with a side of bread the size of a football. JUST KIDDING. You thought I lost my mind didn't you! Serve it with a nice side salad and revel in the fact that you can eat Italian food on the Paleo diet!

Enjoy!