Chef Jim’s Delicious Braciole

Chef Jim Gray prepares a delicious braciole, an italian dish consisting of savory thin slices of steak rolled around a spinach parmesean mixture and simmered in a rich tomato sauce.

Kitchen Guy’s Braciole Recipe
Recipe adapted from Chef Sandy Hall

Ingredients
1 large bunch baby spinach
1 1/2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. olive oil
6 medium garlic cloves crushed and chopped
3/4 cup panko (Japanese-style) breadcrumbs
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup dry red wine
1 28 oz. can or jar of tomato sauce
1 1/2 lbs. sirloin steaks pounded thin enough to roll

Preheat oven to 400. Sauté the spinach in the olive oil until the spinach wilts. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste and sauté a bit longer until the spinach is completely softened. Add balsamic vinegar and simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat to cool.

Mix in breadcrumbs, red pepper flakes, toasted pine nuts and Parmesan. Pound the beef between two sheets of plastic wrap until it is about 1/4 inch thick and elongated. Remove plastic wrap and lightly salt and pepper the meat. Put a generous heap of the filling in the center of the meat, lift the end closest to you over the filling and roll, sealing with toothpicks or tieing with butcher’s twine. Drizzle olive oil in a glass baking dish and lay the meat rolls in a single layer. Pour wine until it comes about halfway up the sizes of the meat. Spoon tomato sauce over the top, covering completely.
Tightly cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 250 degrees and continue braising for 4 hours.