Braciole →

Braciole is an Italian American dish that traces its roots to southern Italy and the culinary tradition of “involtini” or thinly sliced, stuffed, rolled meat. Braciole is a bit labor intensive (a labor of love) and as such is often served on special occasions or for traditional Sunday family dinner. Like tomato sauce or “gravy”, every family has their own version of this dish that is a family tradition handed down from the “nonne” (grandmothers). Here’s my version for my family and friends. Mangiare e buona salute!

Braciole
Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS
Tomato Sauce

• 10 medium garlic cloves, peeled

• ¾ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, plus small basil leaves for garnish

• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

• ½ cup unsalted butter (a 4 ounce stick)

• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved lengthwise with root end intact

• 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes, hand-crushed

• ½ cup dry red wine

• 1 cup water

• 1 (3-inch) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind (optional if available)

• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Braciole

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 cup panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs)

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

• 1 tablespoon of sea salt (or 1 ¼ tablespoons kosher salt)

• 2 (1 ½ pound each) flank (or top round) steaks, butterflied and pounded ¼ inch thick

• 2 teaspoons black pepper, divided

• 6-8 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto

• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts

• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

• ¼ cup basil leaves

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

• ½ cup each of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and Pecorino Romano, mixed.

• Montreal Dry Rub (optional, but recommended)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Prepare the Tomato Sauce:

1. Over medium-low heat, saute the garlic, basil, oil, and crushed red pepper until the basil wilts but remains green, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside, and let cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

2. Transfer the garlic-basil mixture to a blender, Magic Bullet, or mini-food processor and process until smooth. (add a tablespoon of olive oil if the mixture is too dry.) Set aside.

3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, cut side down; cook until the onion starts to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, water (add about ½ cup water to rinse each crushed tomato can), and wine; bring to a simmer over medium-high. Add the cheese rind, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened and slightly reduced. Remove and discard the cheese rind and onion. Add reserved garlic-basil mixture and salt to the tomato sauce, stirring to combine. While you prepare the braciole, continue to simmer the sauce over low heat.

Prepare the Braciole:
Preheat the oven to 325°F.

1. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium. Add the panko and toast, stirring often, until golden brown. (about 3 minutes) Transfer to a bowl and stir in the thyme; set aside.

2. Make a paste of the garlic, parsley, basil, oil, salt, and pepper.

3. Lay the butterflied steaks flat on a clean work surface or parchment paper. Spread the garlic-herb paste evenly over the meat. Next, place a single layer of prosciutto atop the steaks. Sprinkle the panko mixture evenly over steaks; sprinkle evenly with pine nuts and ½ – ¾ cup of the Parmigiano-Pecorino Romano mixture.

4. Rolling against the grain of the steak, tightly roll up the prepared slices of meat. Tie the rolled steaks with butcher’s twine at 2-inch intervals. Sprinkle each steak with Montreal Dry Rub. (optional) If not using the dry rub, sprinkle each roll generously with salt and pepper.

5. Heat oil in a large high-sided, heatproof skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high. Add the steaks and brown on all sides. (about 2 minutes per side) Transfer the steaks from the skillet to the simmering tomato sauce, nestling the steaks into the sauce and spooning sauce over the steaks.

6. Cover and braise in the preheated oven until the braciole is very tender, about 2 hours. Transfer the meat to a large cutting board, and let cool for 10 minutes before slicing the braciole into one or two-inch thick medallions. Clip off any twine used to secure the rolled steaks.

7. Spoon some of the sauce onto a platter and arrange the medallions of braciole over the sauce. Spoon additional sauce over the meat and garnish with basil and parsley.

8. Serve immediately with a side bowl of sauce and grated cheese at the table.

9. Serve with your pasta of choice. I enjoy fresh fettuccini or pappardelle with this dish (orecchiette is also fun) accompanied by steamed broccolini or zucchini lightly sauteed in olive oil and garlic.

Wine pairing: dry red wines like Nebbiolo, Chianti, Sangiovese, Rioja, or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Adapted from multiple sources including:
https://www.foodandwine.com/braciole-7090819
Beef Braciole Tutorial ( 4 recipes, 3 cuts of beef, 2 sauces): Live, Laugh, and Cook Italian

Chile Braised Beef Short Ribs →

Here’s a riff on the many versions of braised beef dishes found around the world. Wine, onion, garlic, Ancho chiles, coffee, and Mexican chile powder combine to create a rich, slightly spicy version of more traditional braised beef dishes like Pot Roast, Beef Bourguignon, Italian Ragu, or Flemish Carbonnade. Making a batch of Mexican Chile Powder and the Coffee-Chile Dry Rub ahead is well worth the effort. Both are exceptional spice mixes to add to your spice cabinet.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ -2 pounds boneless beef short ribs cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

• 6-8 ounces bacon ¼ inch chop

• 1 large or 2 medium onions chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic minced

• 1-2 large dried Ancho chiles (1= less spicy)

• 2 tablespoons coffee-chile dry rub (See Note)

• 4 ounces Cremini mushrooms sliced

• 1-2 Bay leaves

• 1 cup dry red wine

• 1 cup beef stock or chicken stock with a teaspoon of beef bullion

• ½ cup crushed tomatoes

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• salt and pepper

Note: Coffee-Chile Dry Rub

• 2 tablespoons Mexican Chile Powder (highly recommended) or chile powder of your choice)

• 2 tablespoons finely ground coffee beans

• 5 teaspoons dark brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon hot smoked Spanish paprika

• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

• 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Mix the ingredients in a small bowl. Store in a tightly closed glass jar in a cool dark place.

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 300F.

1. Soak the dried Ancho in the hot beef stock.

2. In a dutch oven over medium heat, fry the chopped bacon until crisp. Using a slotted spoon remove the bacon bits and set aside. Pour off all but a tablespoon of bacon fat.

3. While the bacon is cooking, coat the beef pieces with the coffee-chile dry rub. Brown the beef in batches until browned and crusty on both sides. Set aside in a covered dish.

4. Add the mushrooms to the pot and sauté for a minute or two. If the pot is too dry, add another tablespoon of reserved bacon fat.

5. Add the garlic and chopped onion to the pot and sauté until fragrant and translucent.

6. Add the tomato paste and stir around with the onions and garlic in the pot for a minute or two.

7. Add the cup of dry red wine and deglaze the pan; allow to reduce by ½.

8. While the wine is reducing, remove the Ancho from the beef stock and cut crosswise into 1-inch strips. Remove the seeds and using a mini-food processor, buzz the chile strips with a ¼ cup of stock until creamy.

9. Once the wine has reduced, add the beef and stir to coat. Add the bay leaves, crushed tomatoes, reserved stock, and chile mixture and stir. Cover and place the Dutch oven in the middle of the preheated oven for 2 ½ hours until the beef is very tender. Be careful when you open the Dutch oven, it will be very hot!

10. Optional: if you want the sauce to have a thicker consistency, mix two tablespoons of reserved bacon fat, melted butter, or olive oil with 2 teaspoons of flour until smooth. Add a small amount at a time to the simmering sauce while whisking until the sauce has thickened to your taste.

Serve with egg noodles, raspberry-glazed carrots, and peas, or yellow rice and black beans or your veggie of choice.

Wine choice: this rich, slightly spicy dish calls for a full-bodied red wine with some fruit to compliment the spice. Zinfandel is a good choice as is Malbec; Merlot, Carmenere, Shiraz, Tempranillo, and full-bodied Garnacha would also work.

Beef Pot Roast →

Slow cooked, braised Yankee Pot Roast with a rich sauce or gravy is a tradition in New England and a comfort food from my childhood. My adult sons still refer to “Grandma’s pot roast” as one of their favorite foods when they were kids. So this recipe aims to keep the Pot Roast tradition alive in my family and to share an up-dated version of this regional braised dish that came to this country with immigrants from England, Ireland, France and other European countries (pot roast, carbonnade, daube, fricassee, brisket, or stew). In addition to the traditional ingredients of onion, garlic, celery and herbs (typically thyme and/or marjoram), I like to add red wine and re-hydrated dried mushrooms for extra flavor. Both are optional and can be replaced by an equal amount of water or broth. Like most braised dishes Pot Roast uses an inexpensive, tough cut of meat with plenty of connective tissue (collagen) that turns gelatinous and allows the meat fibers to separate and transform into fall-apart tender flavorful meat during the slow, low-temperature braising process. This is a dish worth waiting for.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

*Special equipment: a dutch oven or other cast-iron pot with a cover that can go in the oven.

• 3 pounds chuck roast cut into 4 chunks

• 3-4 tablespoons flour

• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

• 1 medium onion chopped

• 3 tablespoons celery chopped (about 1 medium stalk)

• 2 large cloves of garlic (or 3-4 medium)

• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (2 teaspoons dried thyme)

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/8 cup dried mushrooms like porcini or shitake

• 1 cup water, plus extra water or broth as needed for the braise

• ½ cup dry red wine

• salt and pepper

Preparation:

*preheat the oven to 300 degrees

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a cup of boiling water to re-hydrate. Set aside.

2. Salt and pepper all sides of the chunks of beef generously and dredge the beef chunks in the flour shaking off excess flour.

3. Working in batches brown all sides or the beef in the dutch oven over medium high heat. Place the browned beef on a platter and tent to keep warm.

4. Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the same pan you browned your beef in, adding a little oil if necessary.

5. Once the onion is translucent and the celery is tender, add the tablespoon of tomato paste to the pot and stir it around with the vegetables for a couple of minutes.

6. Strain the mushroom water (discard any sediment accumulated in the bottom of the cup) into the pot and add the wine.

7. Chop the re-hydrated mushrooms and add to the pot along with the chunks of beef and any juices left on the plate. Add ½-1 teaspoon of salt and half as much black pepper (to taste).

8. Add enough water or chicken or beef broth to the pot to just cover the meat and bring to a boil.

9. Put the pot or dutch oven in the preheated oven and cook for 1 ½ hours. Carefully take the pot out of the oven (it will be very hot!), take the lid off and turn over the pieces of beef. Carefully replace the pot in the oven and cook for an additional 1 ½ hours.

After three hours the meat should be almost fall apart tender and there should be a thick rich sauce in the pan. If the sauce is too thin, you can remove the meat to a platter and tent and reduce the sauce in the pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally so the sauce doesn’t burn.

Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles and a vegetable or salad of your choice. I like roasted carrots and parsnips flavored with anise inflected tarragon: toss your cut-up inch thick pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of dried tarragon and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until fork tender. Our friend Liz O’Shea from Ireland likes to boil and mash parsnips and carrots together with butter, salt, and pepper. You could add a little tarragon to that version as well.

A full-bodied dry red wine from grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, or Malbec from the U.S. or South America; a Super-Tuscan blend from Italy; or any of the big red wines from France, Spain or Portugal. Lots of choices, but you want something balanced and full-bodied with good tannins to complement the richness of the beef.