I finally got around to making this, and it’s now in the freezer awaiting MIL’s birthday dinner at the end of next week.
This was not my Mom’s braciola. Hers is stuffed with a bread-based mixture but, most noticeably, hers are small, individual rolls. I was quite unprepared for the hugeness of these logs o’ beef!
Flattening the beef, well that was interesting. Much more difficult than doing this with chicken, but DH’s rubber mallet worked well. I needed about 300 whacks per piece to get the meat to 1/2" thickness. I switched arms often to prevent becoming lopsided with my buff bicep muscles!
The best part of this recipe, though was the sauce. OMG, it was so wonderful! Must have been the flavors of the beef, proscuitto, and provolone melted into the tomato sauce. I could have eaten the stuff with a spoon! It is for this reason that I placed pasta back on the menu-- there must be something other than bread to sop this stuff up with!
I've never bought, prepared, or eaten proscuitto before so I called my Mom to ask how much fat to trim off of it before layering it on the flank steak-- she laughed! Oops.
Okay, one menu item down (actually, two since I made the herbed breadsticks as well), and many more to go. It'll be a long 9 days...
Oh, and I forgot to ask---
The braciola and the sauce have been frozen separately. I removed the string from the braciola, but should I replace it before rewarming the meat in the sauce? I don't want it to fall apart.
Also, I cooked the braciola (3 pieces in a large crockpot) for 4 hours (the directions said to cook for 4-5 hours). I was going to reheat the (thawed) braciloa and sauce on high for 2 hours -- does that sound like enough time? Or should it be 3? This is the first time I've cooked anything in a crockpot.
This was not my Mom’s braciola. Hers is stuffed with a bread-based mixture but, most noticeably, hers are small, individual rolls. I was quite unprepared for the hugeness of these logs o’ beef!
Flattening the beef, well that was interesting. Much more difficult than doing this with chicken, but DH’s rubber mallet worked well. I needed about 300 whacks per piece to get the meat to 1/2" thickness. I switched arms often to prevent becoming lopsided with my buff bicep muscles!
The best part of this recipe, though was the sauce. OMG, it was so wonderful! Must have been the flavors of the beef, proscuitto, and provolone melted into the tomato sauce. I could have eaten the stuff with a spoon! It is for this reason that I placed pasta back on the menu-- there must be something other than bread to sop this stuff up with!
I've never bought, prepared, or eaten proscuitto before so I called my Mom to ask how much fat to trim off of it before layering it on the flank steak-- she laughed! Oops.
Okay, one menu item down (actually, two since I made the herbed breadsticks as well), and many more to go. It'll be a long 9 days...
Oh, and I forgot to ask---
The braciola and the sauce have been frozen separately. I removed the string from the braciola, but should I replace it before rewarming the meat in the sauce? I don't want it to fall apart.
Also, I cooked the braciola (3 pieces in a large crockpot) for 4 hours (the directions said to cook for 4-5 hours). I was going to reheat the (thawed) braciloa and sauce on high for 2 hours -- does that sound like enough time? Or should it be 3? This is the first time I've cooked anything in a crockpot.