Muffuletta-Style Braciola

The October issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray had a piece about how to make Muffuletta-Style Braciola that looked tasty, so we thought it would be a great way to use up a leftover piece of flank steak.


I was all set to be in charge of this meal but then I read the directions - prep time 30 minutes, cook time an hour and 25 minutes. No exactly something I could whip up after a long day at work.

That meant SP was in charge. He hates when I choose a recipe and he ends up cooking it because inevitably something goes wrong. Tonight's mishap was only partially his fault. The instructions were not clear about pounding the meat. Pounding should not be an ingredient, it should be a step. In every other reference we checked they go so far as to do a photo essay to illustrate the proper technique for a braciola. This recipe doesn't even have a photo of the finished product on the web yet there's step by step instructions in the magazine but no recipe. Someone needs to rethink this.

So the meat was a little bit thicker then recommended. It was still incredibly tasty. We especially liked the filling of deli meats and cheese combined with bread crumbs and cheese:


I asked SP to boil potatoes for mashed potatoes and they were great for sopping up the extra sauce (which will also be making an appearance on tomorrow's pizza...there was a lot of leftover sauce). We were going to have salad but neither of us were terribly hungry so we went without.

In addition to the meat pounding issue SP took exception to a few other things with this recipe - he feels that red wine would have worked better then white since red is more traditional with beef. While I thought the white was fine, I agree that the red would have added more oomph. This was one of the only RR recipes I've ever seen where she doesn't tell you to cook the bacon in oil, something we never do since bacon has enough fat. Surprisingly, the extra oil was necessary in order to brown the meat.

We really liked all the flavors and will definitely make this again, but I need to rework the recipe so it's easier to follow.