2 pounds of flank steak only (do not use top or bottom round)
4 ounces salt pork (7 ounce piece with skin)
5 garlic cloves roughly chopped
½ cup roughly chopped Italian parsley
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
5 slices prosciutto chopped
2 ounces pesto
¼ cup shredded Pecorino Romano
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the tomato sauce:
4 cloves sliced garlic
4-6 basil leaves minced
2 tablespoons mint minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 28-ounce cans ground or whole tomato (if possible, use Pomodoro San Marzano tomatoes such as Cento or Pastene brand)
28 ounces of water (use tomato can to measure)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter to round out flavor if too acidic
Depending on how thick your flank steak is, you may have to butterfly the meat (run a long sharp knife horizontal to meat and board from one end to the other so you end up with two equal flat pieces) If the piece of flank is too thin to butterfly then pounding to desired thickness will do. Regardless, either method will still require further pounding to get the meat to the desired thinness. Cut cross marks every 2-3 inches on the beef against the grain about half way through. Cover with plastic and pound to about ¼ – ½ inch thick. In a small food chopper or mill, make a paste out of salt pork, garlic, parsley and olive oil. (Do not use the salt pork rind.) In a small bowl, mix prosciutto, pesto and Romano. Add pureed salt pork mixture and mix. Sprinkle pounded beef with salt and pepper and spread filling on meat, leaving one long edge free. Roll ending on side with no filling and finish with seam side down. Then, cut beef into six separate rolls. Using butcher’s twine, seal each end of each roll. Place olive oil in 10 quart Dutch oven and heat over medium to medium high heat. Brown braciole rolls until browned on all sides. About 2-3 minutes per side. Set seared beef aside. In same pan, lower heat to medium and add slice garlic, basil, mint and red pepper flakes. Cook for only a minute or less until garlic just starts to turn color. Add tomatoes, water, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Reduce to low heat to simmer. Ideally, place a heat diffuser between pan and flames (indirect heat will prevent the sauce from burning in the bottom of your pan; a diffuser is an inexpensive purchase). In a pinch you can use flattened aluminum cans with the paper label removed and both ends cut off. Bring to a simmer and place seared beef into sauce. Cover slightly and simmer gently for 90 minutes. Remove beef, clip off strings and cut each piece into about four slices for serving. (Alternately the individual rolls may be served as a portion without slicing.) At this point, you have a choice. During cooking, a lot of the fat from the salt pork will float to the top. Remove it if you don’t want all of that pork fat in the sauce (although the flavor is fantastic!). We ladled off about half of it and stirred the rest into the sauce. Puree the sauce with an immersion blender if you used whole canned tomatoes. If the sauce is too acidic for you, add a little butter to smooth out the flavor. Serve beef and sauce over your favorite cooked pasta.