Bracciole

Bracciole:
1. Lay out the bracciole on wax or parchment paper. Pound with a meat mallet.

2. Season both sides generously with sea salt and pepper. Sprinkle with olive oil.

3. Spread garlic on top of the bracciole evenly across the entire piece. Scatter grated cheese on top of garlic.

4. Pile on the parsley! Be sure to cover the whole steak!

5. Now the tricky part, roll it up tight enough so that it doesn’t flop over and fall apart, but loose enough to let the sauce and flavors mix well.

6. Secure with baker’s twine. My Mom and I had a good time making different designs/knots with the twine!

7. Heat a Dutch oven on stove top to medium-high heat. Place your braccioles in carefully and continue turning to brown on all sides. The inside does not need to be fully cooked, because it will continue to cook in the sauce. Add water if necessary to keep the meat moist.

8. When fully browned, cover with tomato sauce (see below for recipe if needed) and reduce to medium-low heat and let cook slowly for 2- 2 1/2 hours. This slow cooking will keep the bracciole tender. I used a tomato sauce similar to this one from an earlier post, except I used whole peeled tomatoes and pureed them in a blender and added onions and red wine.

9. Serve braccoile and sauce over any pasta you like!

Tomato Sauce:

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions and garlic until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. In a large pot, pour the crushed tomatoes and water into the pot and cook on medium-low heat for one hour.

3. Add the cooked garlic and onions to the pot as well as the basil, salt and pepper. Stir it all together and continue to cook another thirty minutes.

3. Spoon on top of bracciole and continue with above recipe.