This dish sounded so appetizing to me that I had to try it. Traditional Braciole (pronounced bra- jol) is an italian dish of stuffed tenderized beef, browned and then braised in tomato sauce. I decided to try to make a gluten free version with a veggie stuffing. Seems like a long list of ingredients, but it is only really about 3 steps.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb bottom or top round steak (you can use chicken breast or boneless pork instead)
- 2 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 package chopped spinach, thawed
- 1/4 c. raisins or currents
- 3 tbsp shredded or grated parmesan
- teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dry oregano
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- pinch Splenda or Sugar
- tbsp canola oil
- optional: one package thicker rice noodles (like spaghetti or linguini style), to serve as a pasta in the sauce
Prep:
- In a small bowl, mix garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, nutmeg and oregano. Set aside.
- Prep onion, carrot, celery, spinach. Thaw and squeeze out the moisture from spinach. Grate carrot. Dice small 1/2 of onion and celery to go in the filling. Chop the remaining onion and celery larger for the chunky tomato sauce. Set aside.
- Place meat between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound the meat thin. If the piece of meat will be too large once stuffed, you might want to cut into 2 portions at this point, then prep two rolls.
Cook:
- Heat up dutch oven and add 1 tbsp oil. Saute small diced veggies, spinach and half of each the raisins and grated carrot til tender but veggies are still intact. Add 1/2 the garlic and large pinch of dry seasoning mix, saute 1 minute more. Do not burn garlic. Turn off heat, remove veggies into a bowl.
- Add all the parmesan to veggies. Mix together.
- Lay out the pounded meat flat. Put filling onto half of the meat (towards yourself). Do not worry if you have extra filling, it can be added to the sauce later.
- Slowly roll up the meat tightly, rolling in the ends a little to keep the filling in. Use butcher string to tie up the roll or use toothpicks to hold together. Season the outside of the roll with another large pinch of dry seasoning mix.
- Heat up pan, add a little more oil if necessary. Brown beef rolls on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add remaining cut veggies, grated carrot and raisins to pan and saute for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, crushing with your hands the whole tomatoes, leaving them chunky. Add all the liquid too. Also add in any remaining seasonings, splenda/sugar and any leftover stuffing mixture at this time.
- Put beef rolls into the sauce, push them into the sauce so they are covered. Cover the dutch oven and slow simmer for 30 minutes.
- At this time, prep noodles til al dente.
- When sauce is done, turn off heat and remove beef rolls. Let sit for 5 minutes, then slice rolls to about one inch thick.
- Add pasta to sauce and mix to coat. Let sit a couple minutes for sauce to absorb a bit into noodles.
- Serve pasta topped with sliced beef roll. Add a little sauce and perhaps a little more parmesan cheese.
Italian food is so delicious and easy to make, yet most of it loaded with gluten and salt. Here is a recipe that I made easy ingredient swaps to make it work for us and has the same taste and satisfaction as the original version.
Ingredients:
1 eggplant, large
4 eggs, beaten
3 slices gluten free bread
3 tbsp corn starch
2 cups tomato sauce (recipe for sauce below)
2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded
olive oil
canola oil
1/2 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano
Prep:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Dice bread up and put in bowl, drizzle a little olive oil on, sprinkle on the garlic powder, onion powder and oregano, then toss. Spread bread out on a cookie sheet, place in oven til brown (about 10 minutes), keep an eye on it, they will burn easily
- Once cooled, pulse bread in food processor to make crumbs
- Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2 inch slices
- Place eggplant in baggie with cornstarch and shake to coat. This will probably have to be done in batches to do it all
- Prepare casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray
- Place 1/2 cup tomato sauce in bottom of casserole dish and spread around to coat the bottom
- Set up 2 bowls, in one beat your eggs with a tablespoon water. Mix your toasted bread crumbs and 1/4 c parmesan in the other
- Heat up frying pan (low to medium heat) and add some canola oil when hot. Keep the heat rather low and take your time... the eggplant can easily burn
- Using a fork or tongs, take eggplant slices and coat with egg, then in bread crumbs..Once coated, place in hot pan. Do no cook all the way through, you only want to brown both sides. Once browned, layer into your prepared casserole dish
- Add layer sauce and cheese between layers, topping with a layer of cheese and any leftover breadcrumbs
- Once layers are done and topped with cheese, place casserole dish in oven. Bake for 40 minutes or until top is browned
- This make about 6-8 large servings
- Optional sides: Pasta w/ sauce (for gluten free, use rice noodles/sticks)
Want to make your own sauce?
It is easy to make your own sauce. I like mine chunky, so I saute veggies first, then add the tomatoes. You can add or exclude any of the *extras* in this easy recipe and have it your way
1 onion diced*
1 carrot shredded*
2 stalks celery, sliced thin*
2 can crushed tomato (low sodium)
1 can diced tomato, incl juice (low sodium)
1/2 c red wine*
2 tablespoons garlic*
1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil
1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
canola oil
few dashes of balsamic vinegar*
*extras
In sauce pot, saute onion, carrot and celery in about 1 tbsp canola oil until softened and slightly browned (when the oil is gone)
Add in wine, make sure to scrape up the goodies off the bottom
Add in remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes
This will make plenty for the eggplant parm dish with some leftover for your noodles
