Round Steak Italiano

October. The month the family started to feel like a family. I can pinpoint the moment — or rather, I can't pinpoint the moment because it wasn't a moment. It was an accumulation. A hundred dinners. A thousand arguments resolved at the table. Two thousand "goodnight"s hollered down hallways. The shower schedule. The cornbread. The grits from the can. The brownies. The Christmas cookies. The collard greens stirred at 5 AM. The relay race of spatulas. The nods. The names. The apron that says GREENS KING. The journal with the music note. The cast iron skillet that belongs to Marcus. The drawings on the refrigerator. The everything. The everything is the family.

The moment I noticed was a Thursday. Nobody was doing anything important. Marcus was at the kitchen table doing homework. Jasmine was singing in her room with the door open. Isaiah was eating a bowl of cereal and reading something on his phone. Zoe was drawing Curtis, who was asleep in his chair. Derek was bringing me coffee even though it was 4 PM and coffee at 4 PM is unreasonable and I drank it anyway because the man brings coffee and the coffee is love. I stood in the kitchen and I looked at them — all of them, doing nothing, being nothing except a family — and the looking was the moment. The recognition. Oh. This is it. We made it. Not the wedding made it. Not the house made it. The Thursday made it. The ordinary Thursday where nobody was trying to be a family and everyone just WAS one.

Made Thursday dinner: spaghetti. The simplest meal. The one I've been making since week one. Spaghetti for seven. At a table that seats eight. On a Thursday that felt like nothing and meant everything.

Spaghetti for seven has always been my Thursday meal — the one I’ve made since week one, no occasion required, no effort performed. When I looked around that kitchen and finally felt it — that quiet, undeniable sense of family — I went straight to the stove and made this: Round Steak Italiano, slow-braised in tomato sauce until the beef pulls apart, ladled over a pile of spaghetti big enough to fill every seat at the table. It isn’t fancy. That’s exactly the point. The ordinary meal was always the sacred one.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr 45 min | Servings: 7

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs beef round steak, cut into serving-size pieces
1 packet (0.7 oz) Italian dressing mix
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into half-rings
1 green bell pepper, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lbs spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions

Season the steak. Pat round steak pieces dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides evenly with the Italian dressing mix and black pepper, pressing gently so the seasoning adheres.
Brown the beef. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches if needed, sear the steak pieces 3–4 minutes per side until deep golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Sauté the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion and bell pepper to the same pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and oregano and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Build the sauce. Pour in the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in red pepper flakes if using. Nestle the browned steak pieces back into the pot, spooning sauce over the top.
Braise low and slow. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, turning the steak once halfway through, until the beef is fork-tender and pulls apart easily in the sauce.
Cook the spaghetti. About 15 minutes before the steak is done, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. Drain and keep warm.
Serve. Divide spaghetti among plates or pile it on a large platter. Lay steak pieces over the pasta and spoon the tomato sauce generously on top. Finish with grated Parmesan and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Round Steak Italiano — The Thursday That Made Us a Family