HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN BEEF BRACIOLE

Here is a list of pointers for making this recipe. It’ll help you avoid a few of the pitfalls I ran into when I made mine.

You’re going to end up pounding out thin sheets of beef until they’re very thin, so you can roll up a filling inside. Unless you have mad knife skills, I suggest asking your butcher to thinly slice very lean the beef for you (I used top sirloin myself, and I did the knife-work myself, and my knife skills are far from mad).

I suggest investing in a meat mallet or meat hammer to pound out the beef.

You’re also going to need to tie those little beef rolls. There’s a chef’s trick to that, if you don’t have any experience in this area. If this seems too fussy to you, jam some toothpicks through your braciole and call it good (of course your filling will probably leak out a little...no big deal.

If you make smaller braciole like I did, you’ll find that you really can’t get a lot of filling inside. That being the case, you need less filling that you may think. I ended up with more than half of my filling left over (and FYI, I adjusted the amounts in my recipe so you don’t have the same problem).

You need to stir the sauce obsessively so it won’t stick. Not constantly mind you. You’re not making risotto here. Just often. This stuff simmers for hours. I came close to scorching mine a few times but caught it just in time.

Finally, I topped my dish with a classic lemon, garlic, and parsley gremolata. Gremolata is a Milanase concoction, so I’ve probably committed a grave culinary sin. At any rate, it’s not part of most of the recipes I reviewed. But let me tell you this: the gremolata cranks this dish up to eleven. Give it a try.

INGREDIENTS:

Braciole Beef Rolls

2 Pounds Sirloin or other lean beef, sliced thinly into sheets

8 Ounces Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

¾ Cup Golden Raisins

¾ Cup Pine Nuts

½ Cup Chopped Italian Parsley

½ Cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

6 Ounces Paper Thin Sliced Prosciutto

Cotton Butcher’s String (for tying the braciole)

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Italian Red Gravy

1 Large Yellow Onion

¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt

5 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon Fresh Chopped Rosemary

½ Teaspoon Dried Basil

½ Teaspoon Dried Oregano

1 Cup Dry Red Wine

1 Large (28 Ounce) Cans of Whole Tomatoes

1 6 Ounce Can Tomato Paste

Gremolata

Zest Two Lemons

4 Cloves Garlic, finely minced

¼ Cup Finely Chopped Italian Flat Leaf Parsley

METHOD:

Braciole

Unless you have mad knife skills, ask your butcher to slice two pounds of lean beef into very thin sheets--as thin as possible.

Slice the mozzarella into thin strips. Mix the mozzarella in a bowl with the romano cheese, raisins, pine nuts, parsley, and breadcrumbs.

With a meat hammer, pound out the slices of beef until they’re as thin as you can get them.

Add a few tablespoons of the cheese mixture to the middle of each flattened sheet of beef. Add a thin sheet of prosciutto. Roll up the sheet of beef to form a roll. Tie the roll securely with butcher’s twine.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and brown the braciole on all sides until nicely caramelized.

Red Gravy

Peel and dice the onion and saute in the olive oil and salt in a heavy bottomed stock pot until the onion is translucent (about 12 minutes).

Add the garlic and herbs, saute until garlic is cooked and fragrant, but not burned.

Deglaze by adding the red wine. Cook until the wine is reduced in volume by half.

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer,

Add the browned braciole and allow the sauce to simmer on very low heat for an hour to an hour and a half. This cooks low and slow. Be sure to stir the sauce frequently so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. If the sauce becomes too thick, thin it by adding a bit of water.

Gremolata

Simply mix together the ingredients. Sprinkle gremolata on top of dish before serving for a bright citrusy note.