This is a continuing series based on my grandmother's cooking. She was Italian and very frugal and could make anything edible taste fabulous. I am not feeling very optimistic after the events of last week so I think a lot of people made need to change their food buying habits. These recipes might come in handy.
My grandmother made braciole the traditional way with pounded veal steak but it got too expensive. So she switched to pounded flank stead but that got too expensive for her. So she improvised and this is her frugal version of braciole.
1lb ground meat (beef, pork, veal or turkey or any combination)
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs or 2 slices stale bread soaked in water squeezed out
if you use bread crumbs add 3/4 cup to 1 cup tomato sauce or water
1 egg
1/4 cup grated cheese like parmesan, locatelli, romano
1 teaspoon of basil and parsley, 1/2 teaspoon oregano or the equivalent fresh
chopped onion as much as you like
1 cloved garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
Mix as for meatballs. Take wax paper or plastic wrap and lay on counter. Flatten the meat mixture out on this in big oval shape.
Filling - 1 hard boiled egg quartered
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated cheese same as above
1 egg
Mix egg, bread crumbs and cheese into a paste. Add more egg or more bread crumbs to get to a paste consistency. Spread out on meat but leave a border. Place the quartered hard boil egg in a line in the middle. Lift the edge of the wax paper up and close the meat around the filling make the shape of a loaf and seal edges. Carefully lift this into a large frying pan with some oil and brown on all sides. Or you can place in the microwave and brown the outside. Finish cooking in a pot of spaghetti sauce on simmer for a 1/2 hour or more. Take out carefully and slice. It looks very pretty sliced on a plate. Serve with pasta and sauce.
I guess this is more like an Italian meatloaf but my grandmother called it braciole. It's a nice alternative to meatballs.