Dutch Round Steak

One of the neater things about Dutch cuisine is that they had colonies all over the world at one point. You may have heard of South Africa and of the Dutch East Indies Company? Foods and spices from each of these locales have made it into Dutch cuisine. In fact, the book Let's Go Dutch has a special section on Indonesian food.

This recipe for round steak reflects the use of spices from other countries pretty well. Both my wife and I thought that the dish tasted almost Indian in origin.

Dutch Round Steak

Runderlappen

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. prepared mustard OR Dijon mustard

1 lb. boneless round steak

½ cup butter or margarine

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 large winter carrots, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, quartered

¼ cup dry red wine

¼ tsp. (or more to taste) curry powder

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. sweet soy sauce

¼ tsp. fresh OR dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup tender young peas, cooked

Mix the salt, pepper and mustard and rub it on both sides of the steak. Allow the steak to stand for about 10 minutes. Heat the butter in a large frying pan until it turns a light brown color. Sear the steak on both sides over high heat. Remove the steak from the pan and set aside. Fry, over medium heat, the onions, carrots and tomatoes until the onions are translucent. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour the gravy into the bottom of a Dutch oven. Stir in the curry, nutmeg, soy sauce, thyme and the bay leaf. Place the steak and any drippings into the Dutch oven. Cover and simmer for about 2 hours. Add the cooked peas. To serve, place the steak on a warm platter and pour all of the gravy on top.

We served it with one of my new favorite vegies - roasted Brussels sprouts.

You can see instructions for roasted Brussels sprouts here.