Beef Olives (Maltese Bragioli)

Maltese Bragioli also known as beef olives, are slowly braised stuffed bundles of beef. The term olive is a bit confusing as there are no olives in this recipe. It turns out they got their name because they are stuffed and somewhat resemble the shape of an olive when cooked. Whatever you call them, they are delicious bundles of joy.

1 lb top sirloin, thinly sliced
1 onion
1 carrot
3 slices white stale bread, without crust crushed
2 eggs, hard-boiled, sliced
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
1 cup red wine, for braising

Beat the slices of meat with a mallet so they are nice and thin.

In a bowl, add your bread crumbs, chopped bacon, parsley, and a little salt and pepper. This is your stuffing. Place a heaping tablespoon of the stuffing onto a slice of the beef and spread it out along with a couple slices of hard boiled egg.

Roll the meat slices lengthwise over the stuffing and tie it up with cooking string or else secure with toothpicks. Do this with all of the beef, trying to evenly distribute the stuffing.

Pour some oil or lard in a a large pan and fry the beef olives on all sides until nicely browned. Transfer the beef olives into a large stock pot and place them on the bottom of the pan along with the bay leaves.

Using the same pan that the beef was cooked in, fry the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent.

Pour the wine over the onions and carrots and deglaze the pan.

Pour the sauce over the beef olives and put on simmer, you want it to gently for about 1 ½ hours until the beef is beautifully tender. You may need to add a little wine or water if it boils away but not to much you want it to braise not stew.

When finished remove the toothpicks and stings and serve along with the sauce.

Makes 4 servings.