Prego no prato is Portugal’s beloved café classic: a thin, garlicky beef steak crowned with a fried egg and served “on the plate” with fries and rice — as opposed to its sandwich cousin, the prego no pão, which famously ends a seafood feast. Simple, hearty and deeply satisfying.
Every tasca in Lisbon has its version, and so does nearly every Portuguese home cook. The essentials never change: beef pounded thin, plenty of garlic, a hot pan, and an egg with a runny yolk to sauce everything.
It is a great recipe for busy evenings: dinner on the table in about 20 minutes without sacrificing flavor.
Prego no Prato Recipe
What you need
Ingredients
- 4 thin beef steaks
- 4 large eggs
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- Butter or margarine
- Olive oil, for the eggs
Cook along
Instructions
- Place the steaks between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet until thin and tender.
- Season with salt, pepper and the minced garlic, and let them rest a few minutes so the flavors settle in.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat with the bay leaf, add the steaks and cook until browned on both sides.
- In another skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil and fry the eggs until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
- Serve each steak topped with a fried egg, alongside french fries and fluffy white rice.
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