An Italian Holiday Meal

The holidays flew by in a blur, and it’s taken me until right now to realize that I actually cooked something you might want to read about.

Traditionally, I am responsible for preparing two staples of the Ryan family Christmas feast – torta di pittata and chicken soup (see December ’09 archive if you’re interested). Nothing exciting to report there, but I will share a valuable lesson that I learned – never do for yourself what your KitchenAid stand mixer can do for you. It doesn’t matter how I learned this, just know that it will apply to pretty much any scenario where a KitchenAid stand mixer can do the job.

Chicken soup and torta di pittata aside, this year a new tradition was born. Now that I’m married, I have a whole new family to torture with my cooking!

B and I went to his brother’s house on the day after Christmas to celebrate the holiday with his family. And as B has been known to do, he volunteered us to cook the meal. After hours of research, I found a recipe that would allow us to do as much of the prep at home as possible, be relatively easy and convenient to finish at his brother’s house, would travel well, and would please both kids and adults. Our solution? Braciole (which is rolled stuffed beef, for anyone who is as clueless as I was).

I have never had braciole, but whenever I hear of it I am reminded of that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Debra makes it and everyone loves it, even though she is historically a terrible cook. This inspired me with confidence – if Debra can make it well, and people are actually impressed, then I will have the same fate.

I found the recipe in my copy of The North End Italian Cookbook (by Marguerite DiMino Buonopane).

Beef Braciole in Tomato Sauce (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds flank, skirt or top of the round steak (we used flank)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 28-oz can peeled and crushed tomatoes
• Pinch each of dried basil, red pepper flakes, and mint
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Lay the meat out flat on a smooth working surface. Flatten it to 1/2” thickness, pounding it lightly with the dull edge of a meat cleaver, or use a meat mallet. Keep the meat in one piece.
2. Cover the steak with the garlic, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper.
3. Roll up the steak, jellyroll fashion, and tie it with cotton string or secure it with several toothpicks.
4. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet and brown the meat thoroughly on all sides. This should take 10 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and seasonings to the browned braciole. Cover the skillet. Simmer the meat for about 1 hour or until it is tender. Do not overcook, or it will fall apart.
6. When the meat is ready, place it on a large serving platter, cut the string (or remove the toothpicks), slice, and serve with the sauce poured over it. This may be accompanied by cooked pasta.

The worst part of this recipe? Rolling and tying the meat. It wasn’t impossible, but it would have been nice if it was a little easier. It was definitely a two person job – B rolled and held it, while I tied it in 2” intervals. I’m sure a seasoned chef could have handled this part, but that steak was not going to stay rolled up on its own.

The best part of this recipe? The sauce. I was a little concerned that it would be bland – I’m used to adding a lot of flavor when I make tomato sauce, and didn’t have enough experience to know that the meat would impart some serious flavor (not to mention the cheese filling – unbelievable!). Seriously. It was a phenomenal sauce.  We served it with bowtie pasta, and it was probably the best pasta sauce I've ever eaten (I am unbelievably partial to tomato based sauces, I should note).

Braciole is a dish that even the wannabe foodie can’t screw up. But you will be happy to learn I loved the sauce so much, that I tempted to make a “deconstructed braciole” a couple of days later. I braised a small piece of flank steak (not big enough to roll or feed more than one person) in some crushed tomatoes and added the cheese, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper directly to the pot. Yeah, not quite the same thing.