Steak — Italian-Style

I had heard of braciole (pronounced bra’zhul) before but never really knew how to make it. Truth be told, I’m a huge fan of Everybody Loves Raymond and The Sopranos and there are endless Italian dishes on both of those shows that make me both hungry and curious.

Braciole is one of them. It’s been featured on both of those shows and I could never figure out exactly what it was.

It’s thin, stuffed steak that is rolled. At least, that’s the American version of this Italian treat.

Braciole is actually the plural form of braciola. See, you don’t just eat one of them. So why not just always use the plural form??? (See the braciole Wikipedia entry here.)

I did eventually ask my Italian-cuisine-expert-neighbor Eddie about it one day. And when his mother came to visit they made some and brought it over. It was to-die-for.

It’s good to have good neighbors.

Here’s a great recipe for it so you can try it on your own. Let me know what you think!!!

Braciole (Rolled stuffed steak) – from Chef Carmen Mazzola of A Mediterranean Cooking Experience at Relais Oasi Olimpia.  

Ingredients

• 2 thin slices of steak
• approx. ½ parsley
• 1 clove of garlic
• approx. ½ pine-nuts
• approx. ½ raisins
• a teaspoon of grated parmesan
• 1 can puréed tomato
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• ¾ cup of white wine
• salt & pepper

Preparation

Roll or pound the steak until thin.

Finely chop the parsley and garlic, pine-nuts and raisins, and mix with the grated parmesan, salt and pepper.

Spread on the steak, then roll the steak and fix in place with some toothpicks or butcher’s string.

Brown the rolled meat in a saucepan with extra-virgin olive oil and a chopped onion. Then add white wine and after 5 minutes the tomato purée. Cook over a very low heat for about an hour.

If you prefer, you can omit the raisins and pine-nuts.

Recipe and photo courtesy of theinternationalkitchen.com.