Spicy Beef Braciole Recipe

Braciole is an Italian dish where beef steaks are rolled around a savory filling that may include bread, cheese, and even meat. According to recipe developer Cecilia Ryu, one of the best things about braciole is that "You can use a cheaper cut of meat to make a delicious meal." The reason why even tougher steaks work here is because the meat is slow-braised until it's tender, so you really don't have to worry about overcooking or drying out the meat.

Ryu does feel, however, that "The star of this dish is not only the meat but the sauce." She even adds a special ingredient to her hearty sauce: a piece of cheese rind. "After I am finished with the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese," she tells us, "I freeze the rinds to use in soups or sauces." As she explains, a piece of cheese rind "really gives the dish a lot of flavor and depth." She does say, however, that you can leave the rind out if you don't happen to have one on hand.

Braciole is a fairly complex dish, so it requires quite a few ingredients. In addition to the steaks, you'll need pancetta, onions, breadcrumbs, garlic, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, parsley, and provolone for stuffing. The sauce includes olive oil, crushed tomatoes, Calabrian chile paste, red wine, basil, and the aforementioned cheese rind, plus you'll also need some salt and pepper for seasoning. If you want to garnish the braciole, you can use some extra parsley and basil, while you might also want extra grated cheese for the finished dish.

A few notes on possible substitutions: You can use top round instead of flank steak, bacon instead of pancetta, and a tablespoon of crushed red pepper in place of the chile paste, if need be.

Cook the pancetta over medium heat until it's crispy, then take it out of the pan and pour in a tablespoon of oil. Cook 1 cup of the onions in the oil until they're translucent, which should take about 5 to 7 minutes.

Mix the breadcrumbs with the minced garlic, grated cheese, and parsley, then stir in the pancetta and the cooked onions along with 2 more tablespoons of oil.

In order to make the steaks rollable, you'll first need to pound them flat. (Don't skip this step!) Once they're about ¼-inch thick, top each one with a piece of provolone and ¼ of the breadcrumb mixture. Roll up the stuffed steaks, then use toothpicks or metal skewers to pin them closed and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan and heat it over medium-high. When the oil is hot, sear the beef rolls until they're brown on all sides. You may need to do this in a few batches unless you have an extra-large pan.

When all of the steak rolls are brown, take them out of the pan and pour in 2 more tablespoons of oil. Cook the rest of the onions for 5 to 7 minutes until they are translucent, then stir in the chile paste and smashed garlic. Cook the mixture for 2 minutes or until the chile paste looks darker. Add the wine and use it to de-glaze the pan, then cook the sauce for 5 minutes. Open up the can of tomatoes, pour it into the pan, then fill the can with water and dump that in, too. If you swish it around to rinse it out, you won't waste any of the tomato that sticks to the can.

Now put the meat back in the pan along with the cheese rind. Taste the sauce and add as much salt and pepper as you feel it needs. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and let the meat simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours. At the end of this time, it should be pretty tender.

When at least 1 ½ hours of cooking time has elapsed, stir the basil into the sauce and taste it again, adding even more salt and/or pepper if necessary. Take the toothpicks or skewers out of the steak rolls, then cut these up into 1-inch pinwheels. Spoon the sauce over the braciole, garnishing the dish with any extra parsley or basil you have on hand. (This step is optional, so don't worry if you've used up either or both of the herbs.) You may also sprinkle the dish with additional grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

To make a complete meal out of this dish, just add pasta. As Ryu tells us, "I cook a box of rigatoni or any small tubular pasta and mix it with the sauce." She then tops the sauce with ricotta or burrata and then puts the braciole on top. Leftover braciole can be refrigerated for three days, but if you need to keep it for a later date, you can always freeze it, too.