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My Maltese bragoli with spaghetti

my maltese bragoli with spaghetti

My Maltese bragoli with spaghetti

Let’s get back to some Maltese food… this time with my Maltese bragoli with spaghetti! This is one of the most popular dishes here in Malta: some may know it as Beef Olives (although there’s no olives in this dish!).

When I first arrives to Malta, I spent just over 1 month living the tourist life. So I had a chance to visit lot’s of places and taste quite a lot of food! Of course, I had to try all these new dishes that were in all the menus around the island. One of them was this famous Bragoli or Beef Olives. With two names, so different from each other, I really didn’t knew what to expect. The only clue I had: it’s a meat dish made with beef! When I questioned the waiter about this dish, the answer I got was: it’s stuffed beef… ok, let’s try it! But the description didn’t match the dish, at least not completely. Yes, it is stuffed beef but Maltese bragoli are much more than that. What I had in front of me were thin slices of beef, stuffed with hard boiled eggs and bacon braised in a rich tomato sauce and a side of mash potatoes. Oh, I found it really delicious…

Like always I had to try to cook it myself. I found lot’s of different recipes online and this one is my own mixture of all the information I got. Sorry Maltese friends if i got it all wrong! I have also tried to find out the origin of this dish but there’s not much information online. The only thing I could find out, this is a dish inspired in the Sicilian Braciole. Usually, 2 courses can be done when cooking bragoli: a starter of spaghetti with the sauce and main course of the actual beef bragoli. But this time I decided to use it all in one so here you have my Maltese bragoli with spaghetti

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My Maltese bragioli with spaghetti

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Category: Main Course

Cuisine: Maltese, mediterranean

Yield: 4 people

Ingredients

10 thin slices of rump steak (I used good quality minute steak)
Stuffing:
1lb/220g minced beef
6 bacon strips
2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg (raw)
Sauce:
2 large onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tsp tomato paste
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 cup of peas
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Worcestershite sauce
1/2 cup red wine
100g spaghetti per person
Flour, as needed

Instructions

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients used for the stuffing making sure is very well combines
Pound and flatten the slices of steak.
Spoon about 2 tbsp of the stuffing on each meat slice and roll making sure the stuffing is encased.
Use kitchen string or toothpicks to secure the meat. Flour each roll and set aside.
In a large pan, cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes in enough water to just cover the onion.
Add the beef rolls and brown them over medium heat.
Remove the beef rolls from the pan and set aside.
Add the tomatoes, carrots, tomato paste, herbs, worcestershire sauce and wine to the pan.
Season with salt and pepper, stir gently and cook for about 10 mins.
Return the bragioli to the pan, add the peas and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is cooked thoroughly - in my case, I cooked it for 30 mins - if the sauce begins to dry, add more wine and let it cook for a bit longer.
Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions in the pack. Drain and return to the pan.
Add some of the bragioli sauce to the spaghetti and serve sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley

 

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