Long-lost grandmother's recipes... braciole and frappe cookies

Hey Matt - I'm looking for an Italian recipe my grandmother used to make - called broscholl (spelling?) - which was thin meat wrapped with string. I believe inside the meat it contained some kind of Italian seeds or nuts.

Also, a second query - there was a type of ribbon cookie that she made; I believe this was deep fried and then some type of molasses was drizzled over and dusted with powder sugar.

Would you have or know a recipe for them?

Thanks!

Response: Hi there, well I've spoken to my mamma-in-law, and I think we've come up with all the info you require. Hope so!

Re: your first question about the meat wraps. These are called 'involtini' (plural of involtino) across Italy, but the word you suggested is, we think, actually 'braciole' (pron. bra-cho-lay), which is the Neapolitan (Naples) name for this same dish.

(Just FYI - a similar rolled-beef style recipe on this site is this orecchiette pasta dish from Puglia.)

Braciole recipe

Braciole, made the Neapolitan way, are very thin slices of beef, stuffed with pine nuts/seeds, a couple of slices of garlic cut into smaller bits (or crushed), some basil leaf, pinch of grated parmesan, and some people also add a raisin or two in there.

- Then roll these slices and close them with toothpicks.

- Next, put a little EVOO in a frying pan, add a tablespoon or two of 'trito' mixture (finely chopped 3-veg: carrot, celery and onion), and when oil is hot, add the beef rolls.

- Fry, turning gently, just to sear (i.e. grey) the meat all around.

- Throw in a little red wine, fry to evaporate the alcohol, then add plenty of tomato 'passata' (pureed tomato sauce) to cover the meat, salt, pepper and basil leaves.

- Cook on a medium heat until the sauce reduces and loses its sourness (I'd guess half an hour ish).

Done!

And re: your second cookie question... we reckon these are carnival cookies. These have two names too - 'frappe' and 'chiacchere' (meaning 'chats').

My Italian mamma-in-law Marisa's hand-written frappe recipe reads like this (you may want to convert from grams into US ounces):

Italian frappe cookie recipe

Ingredients:

500g plain flour
2 tbs sugar
2 eggs
50g butter
50g aniseed (ground/powder) or shot of sambuca
1 grated lemon
A little white wine

- Mix all ingredients into a paste and let it rest for 30 mins.

- Roll dough very thin with rolling pin.

- Cut into 15cm horizontal strips.

- Deep-fry in very hot frying oil.

- When deep fried... carefully remove each in turn, drop in bowl of very fine caster sugar (to coat fully), then pop on serving plate.

- When your serving plate is full, dribble over honey (although you might want to use maple syrup instead if you prefer).

Fat-free they ain't!

Helpful? Buon appetito!

Matt :-)