- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 red sweet pepper
- 1 yellow sweet pepper
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- ¼ cup of chopped Italian parsley
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 2 cups of bread crumbs
- 6 slices of provolone cheese, chopped
- 1 cup of parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
- 10-12 pieces of very thin beef – Flank steak or Milanese cut steak
- 10-12 slices of prosciutto
- Lots of red gravy (marinara sauce)
Pan prep: olive oil in the bottom of the pan. (I like to use a glass pan. It doesn’t stick as badly, and is easier to clean.)
Saute the first 5 ingredients in a little olive oil, until the onions are clear.
Saute veggies til onions are clear. (There are no streaks that became visible with the bright flash of light. That is an illusion. My stove is spotless.)
Set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, mix the bread crumbs and both cheeses. Add the sautéed mixture, and add olive oil until it is thoroughly mixed and crumbly.
At this point in the recipe, all chopping is completed, and sipping wine is permitted.
Place the meat on a cutting board and spread the stuffing across the entire piece.
Roll it carefully, starting from the narrow end. Wrap each roll in prosciutto to keep the roll from separating while cooking. My mother-in-law Some recipes will tell you to use string to tie the roll closed. DON’T DO THIS. It makes a huge mess and gets red gravy all over everyone’s clothes when you have to remove it.
The prosciutto will tighten and secure the rolls while they cook.
Place the rolls in your pan, and bake in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, until the prosciutto tightens and the rolls are lightly browned.
This is what NOT TO DO. I poured the sauce over the rolls before putting them in the oven to brown. Even though I scooped off as much as I could, there was too much moisture, and the prosciutto didnt shrink enough. Oh, well. They still tasted good.
Remove from the oven, and reduce the temperature to 225 degrees. Pour marinara sauce over all the rolls, and cover the dish with foil. Return to the oven for 1 ½ hours.
Serve with pasta and warm bread. Listen for the yummy noises from your family.
Variations:
You may use a very large piece of beef, and make one family-sized braciole. If you do this, wrap the prosciutto slices along the entire length of the roll. Serve it on a big platter, sliced.
I make some without cheese for one of my kids who can’t have cheese… still yummy!
Next time I’m going to add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the stuffing.
Lisha Writes 
My mother-out-law tells me all the time how hard her recipes are…hoping to prevent me from making them so her son can hold her cooking over me…HAH! I say let her do the cooking! Seriously, this looks delicsious…can’t wait to try it…and tell the out-law how easy it was that even she could make it 🙂
As my MIL got older, the ‘quality’ of her cooking declined. It finally got the point where we rarely accepted an invitation to eat dinner at her house — we would suggest eating out.
The first time I tried this, I did it when no one else was home, figuring that if it was lousy I could toss it and know one would ever know. Now Italian food is my family’s favorite. In fact, I’m making manicotti tonight!
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One of the things I’m most looking forward to during my semester break is cooking again – REAL cooking, not heat-it-up-here-you-go cooking. Alas, my family does not eat red meat, so memories of Grandma’s brociolone will remain memories only, but I’m thinking… boneless breasts of chicken… I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Yummy! Does the butcher cut the meat for you or is this something you do at home? Knives need sharpening around here.
So, do you make your own red gravy?
And no cheese for the boy? Poor dear.
When I want to make a large, family-style roll, I get the butcher to cut it for me. But that means I have to order it a few days in advance. When I make the individual rolls (which my family prefers) I use Milanese Steak, which is really thin cut sheets of sirloin. Those I usually find at the store ready-to-go.
I’ve made my own red gravy a few times. Still perfecting it, but I was really surprised at how easy it is. Next time I do it I’ll actually take notes on what I’m doing so I can re-create it or learn from it. Next time I’ll also make the BIGGEST pot I have, because it’s soooo nice to pull it out of the freezer when I’m ready to use it.
And, yeah, no cheese for Charles. 😦
Lisha,
I suffer from the same feeling of inadequacy when it comes to cooking as good as my Italian mother-in-law. She is a superb cook!!! I cannot wait to try this yummy recipe of yours for Braciole!!! Thanks!!!!
It’s easier than you think. My mother-in-law made it sound like such a production that I was afraid to try it. But it’s really not that hard. You can do it!!