Also known as Sardinian-style fillet, beef with anchovies, capers, and lemon (petza de malloru cun anciua tappara e limoni) is a tasty and simple second course that originated in southern Sardinia and is popular throughout the island.
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Difficulty: low
Ingredients: 1 kg beef, 1 lemon, 4 salted anchovies, 1 tablespoon salted capers; half an onion, 1 clove of garlic, half a bunch of parsley, 2 cloves; 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, half a glass of Vernaccia wine; about 1 tablespoon flour; nutmeg (optional); for the variation, 150 g tomatoes for sauce, 80 g olives.
Preparation
• Grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice from one half (5 minutes).
• Cut the meat into medium pieces, removing the fat; flour it (5 minutes).
• Chop the garlic clove and parsley together (2 minutes).
• Fry the chopped vegetables for about 4 minutes in two thirds of the oil, over low heat.
• Brown the meat for 6 minutes in this same pan, turning it several times.
• Moisten with the wine, reduce over high heat and then lower the flame (about 3-4 minutes); continue cooking with the pan covered for 50 minutes.
• The sauce must never dry out, so add water if necessary.
• Wash the anchovies and capers and mix them in a bowl with the lemon juice and grated zest and the remaining oil; mash with a fork (3 minutes); if desired, use a little more oil and blend with a mixer.
• Sprinkle the meat with this sauce and mix it with the resulting sauce; it is not necessary to add salt: the saltiness is provided by the capers and anchovies.
• Continue cooking on low heat for 10 minutes; finally serve hot, basting the pieces with the cooking juices.
Variant
According to tradition, it is also served with red tomatoes and olives: once cooked, remove the meat from the pan, add the pureed tomatoes and the pitted and chopped olives, and cook for about 10 minutes. Return the meat to the sauce to reheat and serve.
Recommended wine
Rosso del Parteolla IGT.
