Hooooo boy... this one's gonna be kinda long.


Had this one in mind for months now. And it didn't turn out quite like I was expecting. For starters, I was originally gonna use demibaguettes and make a few smaller sandwiches. The sauce wasn't quite as piquant as I presumed it would be, even though I used more capers than I supposed I would, and on top of all that, the steak I used was a little on the tough side. The family seemed to really like it, though the meat was a little bit spicy for my aunt's liking. I didn't even try to make it that spicy. So looking back on it, it's probably for the best that I lost the chili oil I was gonna use.

...I didn't tell you about that, did I? While I was bringing the ingredients over from my little apartment to the house, I dropped a bottle of chili oil and it broke since it was made of cheap glass. Which sucks. I don't remember how much it cost, but the point is that I spent money on that stuff. Gone. Down the dunny. Fuck. I'll get on with the recipe now, since I've already gone on typing for almost 4 straight minutes and it's kind of a long recipe.

Just keep in mind that this recipe is completely adjustable and you can change or omit what you want to make it better than what I just made an hour or so ago. I also had extra sauce left over, so you might want to make less. But I'm no good at adjusting amounts, so I leave that to you, loyal firrues who are better at cooking than me.

~~INGREDIENTS~~
For the Puttanesca sauce:

-About a dry pint of grape tomatos
-bout a half-cup of chopped onion
-minced garlic to taste
-bouts a half-cup or so of chopped olives (I used black kalamata. Pretty sure that's misspelled, but that's how they spelled it on the jar.)
-Tablespoon or so of capers. (Again, it wasn't very strong when I made it, so I'd recommend using 2 tablespoons or more if you want the sauce to have a nice kick to it.
-bout a teaspoon or 2 of red pepper flakes
-olive oil


For the garlic bread:

-Loaf of Ciabatta
-2-3 Tbsp. butter
-1/2 cup olive oil
-Garlic powder
-parsley
-basil
-ground black pepper, if you really wanna


Everything else:

-Some steak. Apparently bottom round, flat iron, parts in the chuck and round areas or sirloin will work. I used bottom round.
-Roasted red peppers
-Fresh mozzarella. Or non-fresh mozzarella. Or any kind of cheese you want. That's how I do my recipes. I try to make things adjustable. Tweak until you're happy and let me know how it goes.



~~PROCESS~~

Chop the tomatos as small as you want. Chop the onion, chop the olives, give the capers a quick chop (they don't need to be cut too small, just chop them a bit to even the flavor out. Or don't. Up to you.) and mince the garlic, unless you bought pre-minced like I did.

Heat some olive oil over medium heat and toss in the onions. Saute the onions until they're slightly caramelized, then add the garlic and cook it for another minute or 2. Then just throw the tomatos, olives, and capers in and add pepper flakes according to taste if you want to. Reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer it for about 40 minutes, preferably covered. And try to mash it down occasionally, since the tomato pieces should get a little bit of melt going :3

While the sauce is simmering, preheat an oven to 350 F.
Put the butter and olive oil in a small bowl and add garlic powder, basil, and parsley according to taste. Grab a spoon or whatever you use and mash it all together and mix it up.
Cut the ciabatta in half sandwich-wise (probably one of the hardest parts for me since I had such a short knife) and lay the halves down cut-side up. Grab a brush or other spreading implement and spread the garlic/oil/butter concoction over the bread on both sides. Place the two halves together and use some or all of the remaining butter to glaze the top of the bread.

Once the oven is heated (or if it's finished that part already), place the bread, on a baking sheet, in the oven, cut sides still together, for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove the bread from the oven, take the 2 halves apart, and lay them on the baking sheet cut sides up. Bake for 5 more minutes.


To prepare the steak, slice it thinly in any way you want, and in another pan or skillet, add a little bit of olive oil, and minced garlic and pepper flakes if you want. Adjust the heat into the neighborhood of medium-low and add the steak, and flip the pieces after a few minutes to cook them on both sides. Unless they're thin enough to cook fully without flipping. Or if you like it rare. You know the drill ;3

Pull some of the roasted peppers out of the jar (unless they come in another type of container). You may or may not need to cut them. They should be at least fairly large. Lay them on the cut side of the bottom half of the garlic bread.

If you're using fresh mozzarella (I used one of those big round balls), slice it whatever thickness you like and lay it on top of the roasted peppers.

Layer the steak on top of the cheese. Admittedly this works better if the steak is still hot, so it melts the cheese all nice. Spread the puttanesca sauce over the steak and top it with the other half of the garlic bread, cut side down for easier handling. Should be big enough for 2 or 3 people.



....see, I was going to use the chili oil to drizzle over the steak before cooking it, give it more kick. But my aunt doesn't handle spicy food very well, so its sacrifice was not in vain.