Mario Batali's Beef Braciole With Potato Salad 10.12.11

I was drawn to this recipe from the glowing review of the potato salad.  Served warm with a dijon mustard vinaigrette, with raw red onions and scallions and seasoned with fennel seeds.  I was intrigued by the idea of the onions being softened by the warm potatoes.  No cooking of the onions.  As Mario explained, they retained their snap, with just enough wilt to take the raw onion taste out of the finished dish.

And what a winner!  This is a terrific cold weather potato salad.  Served warm, as you can see in the photos, the onions did soften up.

And what a beautiful salad.  The red of the potato skins, the complimentary red of the onions and the contrasting green of the scallions makes this just about the prettiest potato salad I have ever seen.  And with the white of the potatoes, the colors of the Italian flag will make this a saved recipe for my next Columbus day party (any excuse)!

I followed the recipe from the website exactly.  You can see that by clicking HERE.

I did take some liberties with the beef braciole recipe.  No good reason other than economics and that mario gave permission to experiment while he was making the recipe on the show.

An American braciole is a rolled meat dish.  I love rolled meat dishes.  The stuffing inside the meat acts as a marinade from the inside that seasons and flavors the dish while it cooks.  Always the best tasting meat, so filled with flavors!

Mario uses eye of round steak.  I had a couple of 6 ounce KC Strips (also called just strip steaks, NY Strips, Club steaks).  I used a meat mallet to smash them flat.  You only want the meat to be about 1/2 inch thick.

Mario uses sage leaves.  I did not have any, but I did have a few Basil leaves, so basil it is!

Mario also uses pecorino Romano cheese.  I had some feta left over.  Feta is a cheese I love, but do not keep in stock.  Once I had opened the package for a recipe, I was looking for a use for the rest before it goes bad.  This completely changed the taste of the braciole completely.  Not bad, just different.

There are some tips that Mario covers on the episode.  You can see clips, including this segment, on The Chew website for that episode (Click HERE).  Mario grilled his on the stove top... I grilled mine in my grill.

You can read Mario's recipe on The Chew website by clicking HERE.  But as Mario points out on the show, a braciole is a great way to use up leftovers.  Just a little bit goes a long way to making a steak into something special!