Vegetarian Braciole

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.