One of my favorite Sunday dinners as a kid was Braciole
There would be the smell of seared beef wafting through the house followed by the wonderful aromas of a slowly simmering tomato sauce. Good things were sure to follow!
Thinly sliced pieces of beef are filled with a simple breadcrumb stuffing, rolled and then cooked slowly to tender perfection
I have about 3 pounds of braciole beef. Typically this cut is labeled as such in the meat counter, but you could ask the butcher to cut it for you. Thin is the key
Even though our butcher did a fine job of thinly slicing this beef, I’m going to pound it out a bit more
Cover the beef slices with plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet. Not too hard, you don’t want to break up the pieces
Since these are such large pieces of meat, I’m going to cut them in half to make stuffing and rolling a bit more manageable
Let’s measure out the ingredients for the stuffing
I’m using 1 1/2 cups of unseasoned breadcrumbs, 2/3 of a cup of parmesan cheese, chopped fresh parsley and 4 finely diced garlic cloves
Mix in a bowl along with a healthy pinch of kosher salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper
Cut kitchen twine in 6 inch pieces and lay on a tray. Place the piece of meat over the string and top with a heaping scoop of stuffing
Roll the meat jelly-roll style and tie the string tightly and cut the long ends
Repeat, repeat, repeat…
Once all of the meat is rolled, let’s give it a quick sear on each side. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot and brown the bracioles in batches
Once all of the rolls are seared, place them all back in the pot and pour about 8 cups of tomato sauce over the top
Now there are two ways you can handle the sauce part. Since prepping the braciole is somewhat time consuming, I made a batch of Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce the day before and used that to cover my bracioles
But if you’re a better planner than I, you can make a pot of Tomato Sauce before you prep the rolls and just drop them in
Either way, they need to cook for at least 3 hours in the sauce to get nice and tender
At the 3 hour mark, take one roll out and test to make sure it is at the desired doneness
It should be tender, but not falling apart. Remove the bracioles to a cutting board, snip off the string and serve with extra tomato sauce and your favorite pasta
Enjoy!
Simply Sundays! ~ Braciole
Ingredients
3 pounds of braciole beef
1 1/2 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs
2/3 cup of parmesan cheese
chopped fresh parsley
4 finely diced garlic cloves
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Crushed red pepper
Olive oil
8 cups of tomato sauce
Directions
Cover the beef slices with plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet on a cutting board
If the slices of meat are large, cut them in half
Measure out the ingredients for the stuffing: 1 1/2 cups of unseasoned breadcrumbs, 2/3 of a cup of parmesan cheese, chopped fresh parsley and 4 finely diced garlic cloves
Mix in a bowl along with a healthy pinch of kosher salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper
Cut kitchen twine in 6 inch pieces and lay on a tray. Place the piece of meat over the string and top with a heaping scoop of stuffing
Roll the meat jelly-roll style and tie the string tightly and cut the long ends; repeat
Once all of the meat is rolled, give a quick sear on each side. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot and brown the bracioles in batches
Once all of the rolls are seared, place them all back in the pot and pour about 8 cups of tomato sauce over the top
Simmer over medium heat for 3 hours, moving the bracioles around occasionally
Remove the bracioles to a cutting board, snip off the string and serve with extra tomato sauce and your favorite pasta
Tools used to make this recipe
ZELITE INFINITY Chef Knife 8 inch
Architec Carving Board, Gripperwood
Farberware Classic Series Stainless Steel 8-Quart Covered Saucepot
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