Italian Beef Roll-Ups and Parmesan Spinach (Spiendini)
Description
Spiendini are thin slices of breaded meat wrapped around a filling of tomato sauce, onion, breadcrumbs and cheese. They can be served as appetizers or as the main dish. Serve with the Parmesan wilted spinach.
Ingredients
Italian Beef Roll-ups:
1/4 c. olive or vegetable oil, or more as needed
3 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs, or more as needed
1 lb. beef cutlets, very thinly sliced and pounded to 1/8-1/4 in. thick (eye round cutlets- sandwich steaks or any cut as long as they're nice and thin)
2 c. tomato sauce
1 large yellow onion, finely minced
4 oz. Pecorino Romano cheese, chopped into small chunks
20 slices Genoa salami, very thinly sliced, optional
dried bay leaves, optional
Parmesan Spinach:
4 T. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. baby spinach
1 large bunch farm fresh spinach leaves, washed and large stems trimmed, or 2 lb. baby spinach
2 oz. high-quality Parmesan cheese, such as Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano, grated, divided
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
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Wash spinach, drain and dry with paper towels. Peel and mince or grate onion. Peel and mince garlic.
Italian Beef Roll-Ups:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking dish.
Breading for cutlets:
Fill a medium, shallow bowl with oil; fill another medium, shallow bowl with about 2 c. bread crumbs. Working 1 at a time, dip each cutlet into the oil, allowing the excess to drip off, and then dredge in the bread crumbs. Set aside.
Filling:
In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, onions and cheese. Add a few handfuls of seasoned bread crumbs a little bit at a time until the mixture is the consistency of runny oatmeal. Don't make it too wet because if it's too saucy, it will ooze out when rolling up.
Assembly of Roll-Ups (Spiedini):
Place a stack of breaded cutlets next to a stack of sliced salami, and the bowl of filling.
Place a few cutlets down on a cutting board, then lay a 1-2 pieces of salami on top. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on top of the salami, being careful not to put on too much. Roll them up like cigars.
Place spiedini into the prepared baking dish seam side down, packing tightly to help them cook evenly. Spoon all extra sauce, onion, or breadcrumb mixture into any holes in the pan. If no mixture is left, mix together a little sauce and breadcrumbs. No need to chop more onions and cheese for this part if you don't want to.
If desired, break up some pieces of dried bay leaves and tuck them in between each spiedini. This is optional, but gives them a nice, subtle flavor.
Cover pan with foil; bake 15 minutes. Remove the foil; bake 10 minutes or so until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Serve hot or warm.
Parmesan Spinach:
In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter; add garlic; season with salt; saute until it just starts to turn golden brown, 1 - 2 minutes. Add spinach; toss until it begins to wilt, which will happen very quickly. Grate a little more than 1/2 of the Parmesan over the top; toss some more to combine.
Remove from the heat to prevent overcooking, so that spinach is just wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
Place spinach and all juices into a serving bowl; grate remaining Parmesan over the top.
Serve hot.
Makes 4 entrees or 8 appetizers.