The rolled meat with sauce is a tasty and genuine second course, widespread throughout Italy – in Naples and Southern Italy known as “braciole with sauce” – and in Rome, at least in my experience, one of the typical Sunday lunch dishes. A symbol of practical and flavorful homemade cooking, the Roman-style rolled meat with sauce is perfect for those who want to serve both the first and second courses with a single preparation. It is customary to cook them in plenty of tomato sauce that, enriched by the flavor of the meat, becomes an excellent dressing for pasta, much like the Neapolitan ragù. The rolled meat with sauce is prepared with slices of beef or veal (the rose or pezza are the best cuts) and requires slow and prolonged cooking to remain tender and succulent. The traditional filling of Roman-style rolls includes a slice of prosciutto, a piece of celery, and one of carrot, but instead of prosciutto, many use pancetta. As previously mentioned, the Roman-style rolled meat with sauce requires long cooking to be tender, making them ideal for the slow cooker if you have one. If you are short on time, you can achieve a similar result using a pressure cooker. In the article, I detail all three cooking methods. Serve the rolled meat as a second course and use their flavorful tomato sauce to dress a nice plate of spaghetti: a combination that will win everyone over at the table!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stove, Slow Cooking, Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Lazio
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
- Energy 826.84 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 11.06 (g) of which sugars 0.96 (g)
- Proteins 44.53 (g)
- Fat 67.99 (g) of which saturated 25.98 (g)of which unsaturated 26.14 (g)
- Fibers 2.44 (g)
- Sodium 1,099.12 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 230 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Roman-style Beef Rolls
- 28 oz beef slices (or veal)
- 5.3 oz prosciutto
- 2 carrots
- 1 stalk celery
- 18 oz tomato puree (5.3 oz if using slow cooker)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste pepper
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pan large with lid
- Kitchen Twine
- 1 Non-stick Pan
- 1 Slow cooker at least 3.5 liters
- 1 Pressure Cooker 7 liters
How to Prepare Roman-style Rolled Meat with Tomato Sauce
To prepare the rolled meat with sauce, start by scraping the carrot and celery and cutting them into sticks (1). Lightly pound the meat slices and salt them a little inside (2). Don’t overdo it because prosciutto is already very flavorful. Place a slice of prosciutto on it without letting it overflow (3).
Position a piece of carrot and a piece of celery about 2/3 of the way down the slice (4) and start rolling it up on itself (5). Finally, close it with a piece of kitchen twine (6). If you prefer, you can secure them with a toothpick. Continue in the same way to form the other rolls.
In a large pan, brown the peeled garlic clove in the oil, along with a piece of carrot and a piece of celery (7). Then add the rolls (8) and brown them well on all sides. Then increase the heat and deglaze with white wine (9).
Let it evaporate for a minute or two, then lower the heat to medium and add the tomato (10). Salt, pepper, and extend the sauce with half a cup of hot water (11). Cover with the lid and let the rolled meat stew in the sauce for at least 1 hour over low heat, turning them occasionally and adding more hot water little by little if the sauce thickens too much. After the cooking time, turn off the heat (12) and, if you want to use the sauce to dress the pasta, remove the rolls along with some of their sauce and keep them warm.
To cook the rolled meat with sauce in the slow cooker, you will need to brown them first in a non-stick pan and deglaze them with wine (follow the traditional recipe up to step 9). After the wine has evaporated, transfer them to the preheated slow cooker. Add 5.3 oz of tomato puree, mix well and close with the lid. Then cook the rolls for 6 hours on low or 3 hours on high.
If you want, you can save some time by cooking the rolled meat with sauce in the pressure cooker: brown them directly in the pressure cooker (without the lid) following the same steps as the traditional cooking up to step 10. Then add 7 oz of hot water, seal tightly, and from the whistle, cook for 20 minutes.
As always when using the pressure cooker, from the moment it starts whistling, lower the heat just enough to maintain a constant whistle. After the time has passed, turn off the heat, open the steam valve, and let it out until the safety valve lowers. Then open the pressure cooker and let the sauce thicken over low heat for a couple of minutes if needed.
Storage
You can store the rolled meat with sauce in the refrigerator, sealed in an airtight container, for about 3 days.
Tips and Variations
Instead of white wine, you can use red wine, which will give the sauce a darker color and a richer taste. If available, use a good meat broth instead of water to dilute the sauce. Many add a minced garlic clove to the filling of the rolls.
