Swiss Steak

(With or Without Okra)

Ingredients:

• 2 NY strip steaks or 1 sirloin steak
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 med. Onion minced
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 small green bell pepper diced
• 1 jalapeno minced (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic smashed and minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp. fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp. dry oregano
• 1 cup cut up okra fresh or frozen (optional)
• Flour for dredging
• Oil
• Salt and pepper
• Tenderizer (optional)
• ½ cup water (optional)

Slice the steak thinly across the grain.  Sprinkle about 1 tsp of  tenderizer on the meat  and mix them up with your hands to make sure it evenly coats each piece. Let stand while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a skillet.  Dredge the steak pieces in flour.  Brown the steak pieces then remove from the skillet and set aside.

In the same oil, saute the onions and garlic until onions are transparent.  Add the diced peppers if using and saute for a minute or two then add the celery and the tomatoes, bay leaf and oregano.  Stir and crush the tomatoes in the skillet while waiting to heat up and boil.

Add the meat, stir and simmer in low heat covered until the tomatoes are all cooked and have liquefied, stirring occasionaly.  Add water if necessary if getting too dry.  Stir often to prevent sticking and burning.  Simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 hour.  Add the okra if  using about halfway.  Add salt and pepper to taste, about 1/2 tsp. salt to begin with.

The tomatoes and okra in this dish were harvested from the garden this morning. I added the okra in this dish to utilize them. The dish was good with the okra but is totally optional.  

This dish can be made using canned stewed tomatoes or canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh.

Serve with white rice.

Note:

Omit the tenderizer if you can use an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker.  Tenderizer has a lot of salt so be careful adding more salt to the dish.