Braciole: I Can’t Stop Thinking About You

All pictures are courtesy of Joe New. Thanks Joe for documenting for me!

Amazing things happened this past Sunday.  The Giants beat the Patriots, a huge group of us watched The Godfather, and I made braciole.  We decided to have a themed Italian evening because our friend Ali had never seen The Godfather.  And obviously we decided to make a sick Italian meal, which I immediately volunteered to spearhead.  I hadn’t made a decent red sauce in forever, and with the drop in temperature it was the perfect opportunity.

All last week I tried to think about what I wanted to make.  I relived fond memories from Sunday nights when I was in high school, sitting down at our family table to the most epic feasts.  We took The Sopranos very seriously at that time, and found ourselves eating decadent Italian meals on those Sunday nights.  My sister would make a vat (I’m not exaggerating about this) of red sauce with hidden treasures floating around inside.  Sausage, homemade meatballs, and braciole would float merrily for hours in a simmering sauce.  By the time dinner was ready the scent danced all through our house.  And it was always insanely good.  It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized I was spoiled when it came to dinners with my family.

I decided I wanted to relive those fond memories.  Our friends were going to contribute to the meal, so the entree was all I needed to concern myself with.  I asked my sister if we used to make the braciole she added to her sauce all those years ago.  She said we didn’t, but wasn’t sure where my parents got it.  I realized I hadn’t eaten it since I lived at home, which is going on 7 years now.  I eventually found out from my mother that not only is it sold at Shop Rite, but they have three different options to choose from!  Yet another reason why the East Coast (and let’s be honest it’s really all about Jersey) trumps most other places.  So it was decided.  I was going to make braciole.

I found a simple yet satisfying looking recipe from Giada.  I trust most of what she makes even though she puts carrots in her red sauce.  I can never get behind that.  But this recipe was a winner.  So much so, that I have been thinking about it all week.  Like after an amazing first date, I have dreamily been wondering when I would see it next again.  You can find Giada’s original recipe HERE.

As previously stated, I refuse to make her sauce, and stick to my family’s recipe.  Italians always have the most simple recipes that just shouldn’t taste as good as they are.  I’ve never been able to understand it, but when I ask my grandmother for recipes she just rattles off only a few ingredients each time.  And with that, here is how we make our red sauce:

• 2-4 cans of crushed tomatoes (in Jersey we favored Tuttoruso, but I can’t find that here so I usually go with Hunts)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 brown onion chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• fresh basil, torn
• quick pour of red wine
• sugar as needed
• salt and pepper to taste

The great thing about making a red sauce is that you really rely on your palette to make it great.  It’s a lot of adding one ingredient, letting it sit, and then tasting to find out where to go next.  And all the ingredients vary based on how much sauce you’re making.

To begin, heat some oil in a pot and add your chopped onion.  Stir frequently and let soften a little before adding the garlic.  Keep stirring so nothing browns.  You just want them to get a little bit of color before adding the crushed tomatoes and paste.  I often have a heavy hand with the paste, resulting in a very thick sauce, so use at your own risk.  Most of the time you rarely need more than half of one of those very small cans.  Mix this and bring to a boil.  Watch out.  Like a volcano, the sauce will get angry out of nowhere and blow up all over your stove.

Bring to a simmer and add a quick pour of red wine.  This particular occasion I used a sweet Spanish red that basically sweetened the sauce enough without the addition of sugar.  I usually use a cab, but feel free to use whatever you’ve got.  Let that simmer for a while partially covered.  Then take a taste.  Make an educated decision about how much salt and pepper you’d like to add.  This is usually where I add my basil as well.  More simmering.  More tasting.  More adjusting.  If you’ve got the time, the best results come from letting a pot of sauce simmer for hours.  It makes for a great Sunday night meal because of just that.  Every couple hours, take a taste and adjust as you see fit.  I had my friends take a taste towards the end and help me adjust.

Now for the braciole:

• 1/2 c dried Italian bread crumbs
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 2/3 c of grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/2 c of grated sharp Provolone
• 2 Tbs fresh Italian Parsley- chopped
• 4 Tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 (1 1/2 lb) flank steak
• 1 c dry white wine
• 3 1/4 c of red sauce

Giada doesn’t have you pound the beef (a phrase I took to saying all day because sometimes I really am that immature), but I cried bull roar.  So I took out my mallet and went for it.  And then I had Joe New pound some meat (I’m sorry but I had to) while I got to fixing the filling because I was running WAY behind schedule.  The flank I picked up was a little less that 1 1/2 lbs, but it was the last one in the store so I had to make it work.  I was serving five and knew it was going to be tight.

 

I mixed the bread crumbs, garlic, cheese, and parsley in a bowl.  It formed a really dry paste and spread that over the flattened steak.  Then it’s just a simple jelly roll.

I cut a few pieces of twine and tied them around the roll to keep it in place.  Then I heated some olive oil in a skillet and browned the roll on each side.  I added the cup of white wine (We conveniently have a giant bag of white wine that sits in a cardboard box with a picture of a barrel on it.  It IS an optical illusion as well as being borderline awful.  But who am I to complain about free wine?) and then the red sauce and covered the roll in these delicious liquids.  Then I tented the pan with aluminum foil and popped it into the oven, which had been preheated to 350.

Now Giada tells you to really take your time.  Let this baby roast for an hour before removing the foil and keeping in the oven for another 30 min.  I halved this.  Like I said I was running late!  So I popped it in for 30 minutes, basted, and took the foil off for another 15.  It worked out well.

When it was time, I took it out and sliced it into glorious sections.  We paired it with a light pasta side our friend Ali had made.  It was fantastic!  Hearty, but not heavy.  Flavorful, but simple.  Just the perfect dish.  Next time I’ll definitely pair it with spaghetti.  I’d also like to play around with searing it, then cutting it raw and adding it to the sauce to simmer all day.  I bet that would be out of this world!

Pizza Domination Challenge Week 1: Success

Last week I enjoyed my first slice of Domino’s Pizza since I was 15 and as a result wanted to crawl into a hole and die.  Consequentially, this lit a fire in me, and set me on a mission to make my own orgasmic pizza and stomp all over the memory of fast food pizza.  And so it has begun.

I spent the latter of that fateful week thinking of all kinds of delicious things I love to eat.  I wanted my first pizza to be a success on all fronts, so I didn’t want to get too weird with it yet.  (That was will absolutely come, as I have some crazy ideas on the back burner.)

My mind took a creative turn down memory lane to when I was in college and went through a similar obsession but with lasagna– something I’m hoping to recreate based on memory one day.  I took a couple staples from my once classic recipe and added some new loves.  What I decided on was the following:

Asparagus and Pancetta Pizza with Vodka Sauce, topped with Fontina Cheese.

Yes.  I also just involuntarily shivered with excitement.

I’ll be honest.  The Fontina Cheese was a last minute addition thanks to my roommate who got all kinds of excited about the melty cheese/ asparagus combination.  And thank god that happened because it was an excellent addition.

So let’s start from the top.  I returned to the pizza dough recipe that was once featured on foodpress.com.  Thank you Janae Monir for bringing this into my life.  This time around (see previous post where I completely blew it) I was very patient and careful.  And with a pizza stone to boot, this pie was about to be unstoppable.  Here is the link for this amazing pizza dough!

While the flour and yeast was having its 2 hour love affair, I prepared my toppings.

Vodka Sauce is fairly easy to prepare and is something I don’t make as often as I’d like.  I could stuff my face with this every day and die happy.  For this, I whipped up a quick red sauce using the following ingredients:

• 1 24 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste
• 1 small brown onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• olive oil
• red wine
• sugar
• basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Throw some olive oil into a saucepan and add your garlic and onion.  Let that saute for a couple minutes on medium heat, but be sure not to burn the garlic!  Next add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir.  Let that bubble up and add your red wine.  There isn’t a real measurement here.  I always just pour a little in to add some bitterness.  I’d say around 1-2 Tb worth.  I had a heavy hand as a youngster which didn’t yield good results.  Then add some basil, fresh if you’ve got it, or the dried stuff if you don’t.  After all, for this purpose your red sauce doesn’t have to be stellar because it’s going to be transformed into greatness.  Toss some salt and pepper in there and add a generous pinch of sugar to start with.   Stir.  Let this bubble for a bit.  It can get really messy, so put a lid on top.  Normally I’d advise against this, as usually you want some liquid to evaporate, but this is going to be a quick sauce so it’s ok. Once the ingredients have had some time to marry, give it a taste.  At this point you’ll be able to decipher if you need to add more sugar or salt.  Make your adjustments and keep your sauce on a low heat until you get just the right combination.  The art of the red sauce is a bit of a beast.  You really need to keep tasting this to get it right.

For the Vodka Sauce you will need the following:

• a lot of crushed garlic- I used 4 cloves
• 1 c of cheap vodka- Thanks Randy
• 1/2 of heavy cream- I used half and half
• red sauce for color

Take a pan and warm some olive oil in there.  Add your garlic and cook until it turns gold over a medium heat, but DO NOT burn.  Next add your vodka and let it simmer until the fumes die down, no more than 10 minutes.  Add your cream and let that boil before turning down to a simmer.  Then spoon in your red sauce until you achieve the desired shade of pink.  See!  So easy!

For the asparagus, I just used leftover grilled asparagus I had made a couple nights earlier.  If I could get a redo on, I’d definitely blanche these babies and season with a touch of salt and pepper.

I bought the circular cuts of Pancetta and no further prep was needed for those.  Although, I do remember seeing a chopped version that may have served this purpose better.

Then I cubed my Fontina Cheese and tried desperately to not eat it while I waited.

I preheated my oven for as high as it would go.  475 degrees.

After my dough was done rising and getting kneaded and rising again, I stretched this mary out.  I had a bit of a hard time this go around and almost ripped her here and there, but finally got a decent layout going.  At this point my camera had just revived so I don’t have as many pictures as I’d like.

Gotta have the gratuitous cheese shot.

I dressed this lady up with all my goodies and popped her in the oven.  I was very careful this time to not overcook my pizza, and checked after 10 minutes.  Things were looking good, but I left her in for another 5 before taking her out.

Side note.  I do not have one of those large wooden spatulas that one usually receives with a pizza stone, in order to remove large pizzas from said stone.  Instead, I received a pizza cutter which I think is a poor substitute.  So I had this double small spatula arrangement going that was failing me as the crust had stuck to the stone.  So after a lot of grunting and close attempts at burning my hands, I just took the whole stone out and proceeded to pry the pizza off of it.  There were barely any casualties so I’m still marking it with success.

I really wanted to take one of those awesome pictures where you have the spatula under the slice as you raise it up over the whole pie, but it's really hard to do on your own. And I'm far too embarrassed to ask someone to take a picture of me holding food.

As far as taste goes, I think this is a winner.  The combination of flavors was excellent and the vodka sauce was a really great touch.  The dough came out perfect.  It was soft and chewy in the middle, yet just the right amount of crisp on the edges.  I was very happy with this and can feel myself jumping into the pizza spiral of carb doom.