Braciole

Ok, so until I do this a little more I'm not exactly sure what my set-up will be when I'm trying a new recipe (afa my opinions and what happened when I tried it, etc.). So, for now, I'll be putting my opinions in a different color, in parenthesis and italicising them.

Ever since seeing an episode of Desperate Housewives a couple months ago where they mentioned Braciole, I've been wanting to try it. So I searched and searched for a recipe that I thought would work best for me and be most appealing to us all (including the kids). I ended up with one on allrecipes.com. I didn't feel like it was very difficult at all and I have to say that with one bite, it easily became one of our favorites (and that is coming from a family of VERY picky eaters).

1/2 C dried Italian-style bread crumbs

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced

2/3 C grated pecorino Romano

1/3 C grated provolone

(I actually used 1C of Italian blend cheese instead of these two)

2 T chopped fresh parsley leaves

4 T olive oil

salt and pepper

1 (1 1/2 lb) flank steak

1 C dry white wine

3 1/4 C marinara sauce (I used my homemade sauce that I canned over the summer and it was delicious.)

Stir the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl to blend. Stir in 2T of the olive oil. Season mixture with salt and pepper.

Lay the flank steak on the work surface. Pound with a meat mallet to flatten. (I actually lucked out and my Giant Eagle had it already done in a package that said "braciole steaks". I thought it was kismet, so I also bought a lottery ticket while I was there.) Spread the bread crumb mixture over the steak evenly.

Starting at one end, roll the steak like you would a jellyroll, to enclose the filling. Using butchers twine, tie the steak to secure. (Now, this is where it got a little dicey for me. I had forgotten to get the twine, so I ended up securing it with toothpicks. Not exactly my finest moment in the kitchen, however, not my worst either because it did actually work mildly well.)

Preheat oven to 350

Heat the remaining 2T of oil in a heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. (You might want to take extra note here, that it says MEDIUM HEAT. Because apparently, my first grade teacher would be disappointed in my lack of reading skills. I turned it up to high to save time, b/c I was using my cast iron dutch oven which takes for.ev.er. to heat up. But no, no folks. the stupidity doesn't stop there. Not only do I crank that burner up, I also put on the lid. So as you might have guessed, we had a bit of a smoking issue. So incidentally, one of the sides was a little more brown than I would like b/c that sucker sure knows how to hold the heat).

Add the braciole and cook until browned on all sides (about 8 minutes). Add the wine to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir in the marinara sauce. Cover partially with foil (I used the lid and didn't put it on completely). Bake until the meat is almost tender (about an hour and a half), basting every 30 minutes. After 1 hour, uncover.

Remove the braciole from the sauce. Using a sharp knife, cut the braciole crosswise and diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Transfer the slices to plates. Spoon the sauce over and serve. (I served mine over some ditalini that I added butter and Parmesan cheese to and it was a perfect compliment).