Bracciole with homemade sauce and pesto

Written by on in Dinner, Uncategorized

If your kids love pasta as much as I do, you need to think of ways to keep it interesting. Bracciole is a slow simmered beef rolled with tasty spices. I stuffed mine with homemade pesto sauce. This is a great Sunday meal where you can let it simmer all day while you tend to other things.

If you are married from a North Jersey Italian, like I am, you will hear that tomato sauce is gravy, not sauce. Others will call this “Sunday sauce.” Sunday sauce is tomato sauce with whatever meat is leftover from the week thrown in. This is a great way to use up your leftovers.

Bracciole with homemade sauce and pesto
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Bracciole with homemade sauce and pesto

Recipe by The Cooking LawyerCourse: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

4

hours 
Total time

4

hours 

30

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lbs flank steak or pounded into 1/4 in thickness

  • 1/4 cup pesto

  • 8 cups of tomato sauce

  • Pasta of your choice

  • Pesto

  • 1 cup of basil leaves

  • 2 TBS olive oil

  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

  • 2 cloves garlic

  • 1 tsp lemon juice

  • Tomato sauce

  • 1 large can whole tomatoes (see note for using fresh tomatoes)

  • 1 large can crushed tomatoes

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 onion, minced

  • 1 TBS Italian seasonings

  • 1 tsp salt

  • black pepper to taste

  • Non-stick cooking spray

Directions

  • Bracciole instructions (you can roll them the night before)
  • Pound flank steak into 1/4 inch thick
  • Spread 1/4 cup of pesto sauce thinly coating the entire piece of meat being careful to leave about 1/8th inch border so the pesto does not ooze out while cooking
  • Cut 3 8-inch long pieces of kitchen twine. Place the string on a plate about 1 inch apart.
  • Roll the meat tightly and then place onto the top of the 3 strings. Tie each piece of string tightly so that the meat stays rolled while cooking. [You can at this point put in a bowl with a lid, and refrigerate overnight.]
  • Add meat to tomato sauce. Braise the meat in the sauce for about two hours.
  • Homemade pesto sauce
  • Add basil leaves, olive oil, garlic cloves, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice to food processor.
  • Pulse until smooth.
  • Homemade tomato sauce
  • Add minced onion to sauce pot with some non-stick cooking spray.
  • On low heat, sweat down the onions.
  • Once softened, add the garlic. Cook for another 2 minutes.
  • Add tomatoes to the pot.
  • Add Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste.
  • Simmer sauce for 2 hours.
  • Add bracciole.
  • Serve over pasta.

Notes

  • Tip: Help prevent the pesto from oxidizing with the lemon juice. Freeze any unused pesto sauce so you always have some on hand.
  • If you have fresh tomatoes on hand, like Roma tomatoes, you can use them for your sauce. Cut them into pieces. Once you have cooked them down for about an hour, use an immersion blender to blend into a nice sauce. Eight tomatoes will yield a decent amount of sauce for your bracciole.

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