Braised Marinated Beef Roast (Pasticciata alla Cagliostro)
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 2 hours plus overnight marinating
A hearty dish from the Marche region in Italy. Marinating and braising is a traditional way of preparing meat in many parts of Europe. In Italy this age old tradition has been revived with the increasing popularity of the slow food movement.
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 lbs) beef roast
- 125 gr (1/4 lbs) Pancetta cut into small dices of about 1 cm (1/2 inch)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 cloves
- 500ml (2 cups) dry red wine
- 1 medium size onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium size carrot, finely chopped
- 1 celery rib, finely chopped
- 500 gr tomatoes (1 lbs), peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 fresh oregano twigs
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 teasp tomato paste
Preparation:
Mix half of the cubed Pancetta with salt, pepper, cinnamon and the finely chopped garlic. Mix well in order to obtain a coarse paste.
Make 1cm (1/2 inch) deep cuts all over the roast beef. Press the Pancetta paste into the cuts. Salt and pepper the roast surface again.
Place roast in a glass dish just large enough to hold the roast. Pour red wine all over it. Add cloves and let meat rest in the marinade overnight in the fridge. Turn it once in a while. Remove roast from wine marinade next morning and dry it well with kitchen towels. Set aside.
In a saucepan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Brown roast on all sides nicely. Add remaining half of the Pancetta, onion, carrot, celery and oregano, tomatoes and sauté vegetables for about 10 minutes. Add the wine marinade and tomato paste. Taste for salt and pepper.
Place roast back again in saucepan and pour the vegetable-wine marinade around roast. Cook roast over low heat for about 1-2 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove roast from saucepan and let it rest for 15 minutes. Cut roast into about 1cm (about 1/2 inch) slices. Set aside. Pass vegetable-wine sauce through a sieve and squeeze as much juice as possible from the veggies. Remove cloves and discard veggies.
Return roast to sauce and warm it again. Serve with sauce on the side.