Vegetarian Braciole

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  • #609640
    rebdoniel
    Member

    Braciole is an Italian recipe involving a thin beef cutlet/steak rolled with parsley, bread crumbs, garlic, and nice, sharp cheese.

    In my quest for authentic kosher Italian cuisine, I created a milchige version of the dish, using a seitan cutlet.

    a) Sauce

    The Sauce is the backbone of Italian cooking.

    You need a good amount of EVOO, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and red wine (Rashi works great here). Sugar, salt, pepper to taste, and fresh basil leaves, are also essential, with the sugar needed to take the bitter/acidic taste out of the sauce. And believe it or not, a few minced anchovies make this sauce good. Italian anchovies in olive oil (OU) are widely available, and they make proteins taste more meaty.

    Sautee your vegetables first, add the paste and anchovies, fry for 15 minutes, deglaze with wine and crushed tomatoes, and season with other ingredients.

    For the seitan cutlets: For this, you need to make your own, in order to fill with the stuffing.

    DRY:

    2 1/2 c vital wheat gluten

    1/2 c tapioca flour (available at health food stores)

    1/2 c rolled oats

    1/4 c nutritional yeast

    2 t onion powder

    1 t garlic powder

    1 t sea salt

    WET:

    1 1/2 c cold water (not warm or hot)

    3 T red wine or 2 T water with 1 T balsamic vinegar

    3 T soy sauce (tamari is best)

    1 T toasted sesame seed oil

    2 T worcestershire

    2 T water with 1 T parve beefy concentrate (or mushroom or vegetable; I use beef Osem)

    Put the wet ingredients in the bottom of a bread maker and then add the dry ingredients. Put the machine on ‘Dough’ cycle.

    Put the gluten on your board. Cut a piece off. Begin to smooth the gluten out, trying to smooth in only one direction – either up and down OR left and right. The more you stretch and knead, the chewier the seitan becomes.

    Repeat, until you’ve made a few seitan “Cutlets.”

    Stuffing:

    8-10 Dried mushrooms, preferably Porcini, reconstituted and chopped, soaking liquid reserved and added to the sauce.

    Italian seasoned bread crumbs

    1 cup Grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I use the Cheese Guy brand)

    Grated sharp Provolone (1/2 cup)

    4 T EVOO

    4 cloves garlic, chopped

    1 large onion, chopped and sauteed in EVOO until dark and sweet

    Plenty of chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

    Italian seasonings to taste

    salt and pepper

    Mix the stuffing and place at least 1 heaping T in each seitan cutlet. Roll, stretching and tucking as you go.

    Fry them in a mixture of EVOO and some butter.

    Place fried seitan braciole in the sauce that you’ve added the mushroom broth and 1 T. of Osem beef powder to.

    Braise the seitan in the sauce on a slow and low flame for 4 hours or so, until the sauce is a dark, rich color. Or you can cook them in a Dutch oven in a 200 degree oven for 3 hours.

    Prior to the braising, you can also add vegetarian meatballs done with Yves crumbles, bread crumbs, herbs, onion, garlic, parsely, cheese, EVOO, and more or less, the same stuffing as above. I add pine nuts and raisins to my meatballs.

    The braised fake meats, with a rich tomato sauce, and Rigatoni, make a delicious meal. Be sure to top with fresh chopped parsely and plenty of grated Romano cheese.

    #958716
    oomis
    Participant

    Yum…

    #958717
    rebdoniel
    Member

    Another option would be to top the entire Dutch oven worth of braciole in sauce with mozzarella and provolone mixed. That sounds absolutely delicious to my hears right about now.

    #958718
    playtime
    Member

    deliciousei!

    ..something tells me that rebdoniel shares his YWN account with his wife..

    #958719

    playtime: he said he cooks a lot himself.

    I also cook quite often, but not nearly on that level. As a matter of fact I cook most of the week, including for shabbos quite often. This despite me working 9 and travelling 2 hours per day. I do it intentionally, because I like it. I’m also quite lazy though, so my culinary creations tend to be a bit less fancy.

    #958720
    rebdoniel
    Member

    I am unmarried, and do all my own cooking.

    #958721
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    In my quest for authentic kosher Italian cuisine

    If you’re using fake beef or cheese, how can it be authentic?

    Anyhow, broccoli is parve, and shouldn’t be so complicated.

    Also, you spelled it wrong.

    🙂

    #958722
    rebdoniel
    Member

    I spelled what wrong?

    Broccoli doesn’t go in braciole.

    For those of us who want to keep kosher and enjoy good food, there is a need for creativity. My mother’s family is Neapolitan; I know a thing or 2 about Italian food, which I’d say is my favorite, along with Greek, Syrian, and Temani.

    Carrots with oleo and sugar, baked chicken in sugary sauce, and noodle kugel isn’t my idea of good eating.

    #958723

    Um…pretty sure DaasYochid was making a joke…

    Anyway, this recipe looks super complicated and honestly not worth the effort, especially since it calls for some exotic and expensive ingredients that most people don’t keep in the pantry (and, although I haven’t tasted beef in years, I highly doubt that the seitan can mimic it closely enough to be called “authentic”).

    #958724
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Um…pretty sure DaasYochid was making a joke…

    Or at least trying…

    #958725
    rebdoniel
    Member

    It surprisingly tastes close enough to the real thing. I don’t like simple cooking. I make an effort to make gourmet meals.

    The recipe I use for seitan reminds me of the “beef” I get at Buddha Bodhai, which at least in terms of texture and umami, approximates beef well enough for those of us who want a dairy/vegetarian alternative.

    The way the braciole is stuffed is certainly authentic. Pecorino Romano honestly imparts the most authentic taste here. And I am not seeking criticism for recipes. I like sharing recipes so that others looking for delicious recipes can find them.

    All of these ingredients are available at any quality kosher market. I get Auricchio Star K, cholov yisroel provolone at Pomegranate.

    Admittedly, I could never live in a yennevelt place where kosher food is hard to come by.

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