Beef Braciole Italian Stuffed Beef Roll

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Braciole is a traditional Italian thin beef stuffed and rolled with chopped onion and parsley simmered in a rich tomato pasta sauce. Braciole meat is delicious, filling Italian meat rolls cooked in a rich Italian tomato sauce, served over pasta. A Classic Homemade Southern Italian dish perfect for the company. 

Sliced flank steak. Your butcher or any large grocery store will package this thin meat labeled Braciole meat. The beef can be cut from a beef rump, top round, or bottom round beef. I have never cut this myself our local grocery has it around the holidays and they will cut it for you if this is not in the meat counter. 

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Step by Step to Make Traditional Italian Braciole

• First Assemble all you need before you begin. You need to get all your ingredients and utensils out and ready to do.  Once you start handling the beef you do not want to have to wash your hands every two seconds. And, of course, you do not want to be touching the drawers, cabinets or other utensils with hands that have raw meat on them. 

• Wash and Chop the onion and the parsley. If the parsley and onion are a fine chop it helps when rolling the Braciole meat up into a tight little package. 
• Make a clean workspace. I like to cover my countertop with wax paper or plastic wrap to make sure that everything stays clean.  Having a layer over your counters keeps you working in one area and makes for easy cleanup. 
• Have two 6 inch lengths of cooking twine cut for each piece of meat.  If you are making 10 rolls you will need 20 cut pieces of twin. 
• Find a Helper. Once you have all your items ready and the counter covered with wax paper this is where you will want to ask someone in your home to help. It saves a lot of time and handwashing if a person with clean hands uses the salt and pepper mills for you.

• Get the kids involved in cooking. Even a young child can handle this part as long as you make sure they do not overdo the spices. But a little bit of instruction and you have a helper for life. Having the kids help with this part gets them involved in the cooking process. You can also explain your family traditions around cooking and where your recipes originated from.

This Braciole recipe was a family tradition from the Bounpanes. My mother-in-law learned from her husband, who taught my husband who taught me. I have passed it on to my children and even though we are not all Italian we have an old-world traditional meal for our favorite holidays. 

• Making the Braciole Beef Rolls.  With the thin meat laid out on your covered counter, have your helper salt and pepper the meat. I like to use fresh ground pink sea salt and fresh ground peppercorns.  

• Parsley and Onion. Layer about 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon of onion on the seasoned beef. 

• Make a roll. Take the short end of the meat and roll up, not too loose but it does not have to be tight. 

• Wrap roll with Twine. Lay your roll of meat that is filled with parsley and onion on top of two lengths of twine. Bring the twin to the top and make a double knot. Next, cut the ends of the twine above the knot so the loose ends are short. Repeat this process until all your thin strips of beef are tied up into nice rolls. 

• Brown in Olive Oil.  In a large skillet brown all sides of each roll.  This should only take about a minute aside. Brown the beef rolls in several batches so you do not crowd the pan, but brown a few at a time. Removed the browned meat and set on a separate dish. 

Make a Simple Tomato Sauce For Cooking the Braciole Meat

We make a simple tomato pasta sauce to cook our Braciole meat roll. I take one chopped onion and one chopped green pepper and saute them in olive oil in a saucepan until the onion and peppers are soft. Add 1 tablespoon of each basil and oregano and one garlic sliced. Cook for about 2 minutes and add two 32 oz of chopped tomatoes. We use our own canned tomatoes so we add one can of tomato paste. When all mixed add the beef rolls to the sauce and cook on simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours. 

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes. 17 recipes that we all love and remember from family childhood dinners and new modern favorites.   Made easy with simple ingredients and modern appliances for busy families.  Grab your copy right now to get a jump on holiday planning.

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