EEE Cooks: Nanny's Beef Braciole (Recipe)

Robin’s grandmother gave her a hand-written recipe for “Braccioli”. We are spelling it “braciole”, but either way, it is a delicious rolled stuffed meat that is braised in a tomato sauce. The meat Nanny calls for is round or chuck, but we could only find chip steaks at our local market. The meat is stuffed with ham, hard-boiled eggs, mozzarella, and a breadcrumb mixture, and it is tender and delicious. We try to remain true to Nanny’s recipe, using the italian seasoned store-bought bread crumbs, but we do replace the garlic powder and dried parsley with fresh. This is a classic, comforting, Sunday dinner of Robin’s childhood.

We start by removing the steaks from the fridge and placing them on the counter on a sheet of wax paper. The steaks are thin so we do not pound them (if they were any thicker, we would have). They are about 3 inches wide and 6 – 8 inches long.

In a bowl, we get the bread crumb mixture ready. We combine the bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, romano cheese, a little salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. We stir the mixture and taste for seasoning.

We peel our cold, hard-boiled eggs and using our egg slicer, slice them.

We get ready some pieces of kitchen string to tie the rolls. We are not great at tying, so we cut 4 pieces of string about 6 inches long for each steak.

We start the layering process with the ham by laying a slice on each steak. Next comes the bread crumb mixture. We divide and sprinkle it as evenly as we can – not quite to the edges. Then, we add the egg slices and mozzarella. Any ham that is hanging out over the edges of the meat is folded in.

Each steak is rolled as tight as possible, as we try to keep all the ingredients, especially the cheese, inside the roll. The four pieces of string are tied around each roll, three going around the roll and one perpendicular to make sure the top and bottom of the roll are secure. The long strands of string, after double-knotting, are clipped with kitchen scissors. We wash our hands.

In a large saute pan, we heat the olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, we heat our tomato sauce.

When the oil is hot, we salt and pepper the rolls a little bit, and add them to the pan. We brown them on all sides for a few minutes and then drain on a paper-towel lined plate.

We add the braciole to the simmering sauce and cook for about 40 minutes, at a low simmer. We want the meat to be tender.

We remove the braciole from the sauce to a serving plate, cut the strings with clean scissors, and slice. We serve alongside or after a pasta course with additional tomato sauce.

Nanny's Beef Braciole

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Ingredients