This wonderful comfort food is served throughout Italy. It is the Roman version of involtini – meat, chicken, or fish wrapped around a filling of vegetables, bread crumbs, cheese, and roasted slowly in tomato sauce. There are a million variations of braciole in Central and Southern Italy. This version combines the best of traditional recipes from Rome and Naples.

Roman Braised Rolled Beef in Tomato Sauce – Braciola

This dish is every Italian grandmother's idea of comfort food. The long baking of the rolled stuffed meat in tomato sauce produces an incredibly tender and flavorful dish. Serve it the Italian way of having your spaghetti served with the tomato sauce from the roast before the meat or plate sauced spaghetti with moist slices of meat on top. Either way, it's heavenly.

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Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Central Italy, Italian

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 1 45

Total Time: 2 10

Servings:

Author: My Hungry Traveler

Equipment

Large heavy skillet or Dutch oven with cover
Small bowl
Meat tenderizer hammer, butcher twine

Ingredients

1½ lb Flank steak
½ cup Seasoned Italian bread crumbs
2 cloves Garlic, minced
⅓ cup Hard provolone cheese, grated
⅔ cup Grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Kosher salt and black pepper
3 tbsp Fresh parsley leaves, chopped
2 tbsp Basil leaves, chopped or 2 tsp dried
1 tbsp Pine nuts, optional
1 tbsp Currants or raisins, optional
5 tbsp Olive oil
1 cup White wine
32 oz Marinara tomato sauce

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Prepare Meat – Lay steak flat on a cutting board and flatten further with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy skillet. Season meat with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, garlic, grated cheeses, parsley, and basil. Mix in pine nuts and raisins, if using. Stir in 2 tbsp oil.
Sprinkle bread crumb mixture evenly across the top. Starting at the short end near you, roll the steak up tightly like a jelly roll. Using twine, tie roll about every ½-inch. Sprinkle outside with salt and pepper.
Cook Braciole – Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a deep, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat and brown on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Add wine to pan, bring to a boil, and scrape up the loose bits on the bottom. Pour tomato sauce over the meat. Cover with a lid or tin foil and bake for 1 hour, basting meat every 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 30 minutes.
Serve – Remove meat from the sauce to a cutting board. Discard the strings. Cut the meat crosswise into ½-inch thick slices. Transfer slices to individual serving plates and spoon sauce over and serve. Meat slices can be place over spaghetti and then sauced.