Beef Braciole

The idea to make Beef Brascilole came from watching our wonderful Lydia Bastanich make it and then I having flash backs of years ago when one of my friends even went to the German butcher shop, (metzgerei) to get the proper cut of meat to make the dish for her German boyfriend. I kept craving it! As a tried true and tested carnivore (and that’s nothing to brag about considering for a substantial part of my life I was raised not vege but vegatarian) I just kept having visions of this dish once I saw Lydia but in particular the part where she is removing the cords used to hold the roll together. The steam rising off the roll and then as she cut it, you could see the roll effect and the love put into it. Cheese subtlety melting in between the rolls. Yummm!
Well one day in the grocer I saw a package with the cuts for this dish! I thought I can do this!!! It was a well marbled piece of meat that, well no matter how well marbled would have to lend itself to some cooking and thank goodness the meat was sturdy as well!

I didn’t have pine nuts BUT I had toasted soy beans! That’s what you see ground there, along side fresh garlic, and grana padano parmesan (the only one I use). Its also traditional to add sweetness in the case of Germans we add gherkins or pickle relish but I choose to use currants chopped fine to add a twist!

Salt and pepper were all added to the meat, Oh and the Tuscan Mills Herbs. This is in your grocers or supermarket and if not email and I will send it to you! I have a collection of them but this one works with this dish in particular maybe due to the simplicity of ingredients.

The pasta used here is Piccolini. The rolls in the pasta hold more of the sauce or seasoning which is always a bonus!

I add olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, oregano, cherry tomato, fresh chopped Italian parsley and tossed lightly

The dry ingredients were placed on the meat along with the currants and then I realized I had no twines and I had no skewers! A requirement in my kitchen, so what to do! I looked in the closets and in the refrigerator and the only thing I could come up with was spaghetti, linguini to be exact! Well I carefully used them to secure the meat and it worked! Be that as it may I do not recommend this unless you got desperate like me. The pasta gets crisp in the oven and if your guests are not wary they may experience an unfavorable crunch!

I stuffed and secured them and lovingly placed them in a Pyrex dish seasoned with olive oil, baked them at 350 for 45 minutes. I then took fire roasted tomatoes added some brown sugar n beef stock and poured on top of the rolls. Finished off with parmesan cheese and put back in the oven for another half an hour.

I cant tell you how good it smelled! I cant tell you how good it tasted, but I can show you the finished product!

Oh the cherry tomatoes used were the mixed colored super sweet ones!