Pizza or beef … Why choose if you can have it both?

If there’s one thing the Argentine know to prepare it’s beef and pizza. Having both the best cattle in the world and Italian ancestors is bound to lead to some strange plates.

Take Matambre a la pizza for example.
It’s a slab of thin beef (flank steak) covered in everything you’d put on a pizza: Tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese, Grated Cheese, Ham, some Herbs, Salt and Pepper and maybe some Olives as well.

Now toss that puppy on the barbeque and you’ll be stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey in no time!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 Kilos of matambre (flank steak)
• 1 liter of milk
• 200 grams of Mozzarella
• +/- 400ml of pure tomato sauce
• Salt
• Pepper
• Orégano.
• Sugar
• 3 average sized onions
• Some ají (basically an Argentine red pepper.. The spicy one, not a bell pepper)
• Sunflower oil
• 6 pitless olives

Steps

1. Put the matambre in a big pan together with the milk and some water and cook the matambre for about 1,5 hours.
   Some people will say this is not needed if you get a good flank steak but the odds of the meat being very chewy are rather high.
2. Season the matambre and put it on the barbeque (parrilla) for about 20 minutes on each side so both sides are nice golden brown. Times may vary based on the heat you’re applying.
   Then take the matambre from the parrilla.
   
   Now, let’s work on the sauce.
   
3. Cut 3 onions and the red pepper into small pieces.
4. Put a big pan on the fire with some sunflower oil and toss the onion and peppers in there until the onions are nice and translucent.
   You may opt to put a small piece of the matambre in there too for added flavor.
5. Now add the tomato sauce and about 200ml of water to the pan together with 1 tablespoon of sugar, salt, and cook this somewhere between 25 and 40 minutes.
6. Now apply the sauce to the matambre.
   Add lots of sauce, followed by the mozzarella and then the oregano, olives and any other cheeses or ham you may want to add.
7. Now toss the whole thin onto the parrilla again until the cheese(s) melt.
   
   Let the whole thing cool down for 5 minutes so the cheese firm enough to not slide from the meat.

That’s it!
Dinner time!