Bragioli served on a plate
The traditional Maltese beef dish, Bragioli takes some time to cook but preparation is simple. You end up with a rather exotic, deliciously tasting dish.
Bragioli is often called beef olives although the dish has no olives in it all. The olive refers to the stuffed beef slice but sometimes people use it as a name for the whole dish.
The term "olive" (in the context of this and similar recipes) dates back several hundred years in the English language and describes a stuffed meat dish. Quite why why the word olive is used is not clear because in no way does it resemble an olive.Bragioli is the best known example of Maltese cuisine.
4 Thin slices of beef topside
200g / 7oz Minced pork
2 Medium diced onions
1 Medium dced carrots
3 Slices stale white breadcrumbs
2 Hard boiled eggs
6 Bacon rashers
1 Good handful parsley chopped
2 Garlic cloves
2 Bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
½ - 1 Glass red wine
Raw steak for Bragioli
Chop the bacon, garlic and parsley.
Chopped bacon, garlic and parsley
Grind the bread to crumbs, then prepare the stuffing by mixing the crumbs with the chopped bacon, garlic, parsley and seasoning, but not the bay leaves.
Blend the Bragioli stuffing
Put a heaped tablespoon or two of the stuffing onto each beef slice, and top with a slice or segment of hard-boiled egg.
Filling and egg placed on steak
Roll up the meat slices lengthwise over the stuffing, and fasten together with wooden toothpicks, this is a little bit fiddly, but worth spending the time to get it right.
Roll beef over filling and egg
Pour some oil in a large pan, and brown the beef olives all over in this, together with the bay leaves.
Brown the beef olives
Put the browned bragioli and bay leaves into a casserole dish. In the frying pan, and in the same oil, fry the sliced onion and carrot. Pour the wine over the frying vegetables.
Let the sauce bubble for 10 minutes, and then pour this over the bragioli in the casserole dish. Stew very gently for 1½ hours. You will probably need to add a little more wine to top up the braising liquid, but don't add too much, otherwise the bragioli will not braise correctly.
Cook the Bragioli and sauce in a casserole
Remove the bay leaf and serve with your favourite vegetables or even a large portion of chips and salad.
Bragioli served on a plate