Sunday Dinner (last Sunday)

Sunday Dinner
(no pictures!)
Braciole – idea by Champaign Taste

Recipe by Alton Brown – Food Network
Twists by Susan
3 cups tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups flavored croutons 1/3 cup grated Parmesan 2 eggs 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary 1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme 1 clove garlic 1 pound flank steak, pounded to 1/4-inch thick Olive oil, for brushing Salt and pepper Vegetable oil, for searing
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the tomato sauce in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and place in the oven to heat.
In a the bowl of a food processor mix the croutons, cheese, eggs, herbs and garlic until it forms a paste.
Brush the pounded flank steak with the olive oil and season generously with the salt and pepper. Spread the filling evenly over the meat. Roll tightly and tie with butcher's twine.
In a large saute pan heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and sear all sides of the rolled meat. Remove from the pan.
Add to the hot tomato sauce, cover with a tin foil tent so that the foil is not touching the meat. Braise for 35 minutes or, up to 3 hours.

Twists – I used Prego sauce – no inclination to make my own! I didn’t heat the sauce first. I also used Asiago cheese. Used about 1/3 cup chopped parsley and no other herbs. I used about 3 large cloves garlic. I sprinkled with flour and salt and seared in olive oil and deglazed the pan with about ½ cup dry white wine. I did this all in a big oven proof dutch oven and roasted it in that too, covered with the lid for the pan. I roasted for about 1 ½ hours at 325 and 1 hour at 300 – turning about every ½ hour. I added some more wine and sauce about ½ way through the roasting as it seemed to be getting low and thickening up quite a bit. I served with fettuccine and more grated asiago.

This was delicious, tasty, wonderful! Scott liked it. Seth and I LOVED it and Maya merely tolerated it (as it bore no resemblance to macaroni and cheese).

Thoughts: The flank steak shrank quite a bit. If I was serving more than four, I would make two rolls. I would also use the garlic press or roast the garlic first (I just minced it this time). It was QUITE garlicky! I would also crush the croutons by hand and not use the blender at all. Just mush everything up in a bowl and go from there. Definitely use butcher’s twine. I made the roll early in the day and pan seared it about 2:30 pm. I think chilling the whole thing for a couple hours really helped it maintain its shape. This is a long fairly involved recipe. I love making this type of thing on a Sunday afternoon!

Kids’ reactions: Seth loved it! It tasted like “mushed up meatballs”. Maya tolerated it.

I will definitely be making this one again!