Chops with Apulian sauce 😋❤️

The chops with sauce are undoubtedly the dish of the Apulian Sunday.  In Salento they are generally accompanied by orecchiette. You can make both veal and pork, the choice is yours! Very easy to make and super tasty, they will give the sauce a delicious 🙂 taste. Generally they are an "accompaniment" to pasta but, if you do not want to exaggerate, you can enjoy them as a second course!

The chops with sauce (in dialect "brasciole") are one of the most appreciated dishes of the Bari culinary tradition, and I, as such, can not help but sing the praises by proposing this recipe. These are veal rolls (although the original Bari recipe includes horse meat) with a filling of parsley, garlic and pecorino cheese. They are then cooked, very slowly, in the tomato sauce that will become a sort of meat sauce, thick and tasty (other pieces of meat can also be added in addition to chops, such as pork shoulder, and lamb to flavor the sauce, but I prefer it simpler and lighter). They can also be enriched with pancetta (as I did), lard, mortadella and much more.

They are the typical "Sunday dish" and their unmistakable scent is irresistible and comes from the kitchen as a call! You can simply enjoy them as a second course, accompanied by homemade bread croutons or, as "the Apulian tradition" requires, with orecchiette.

Preparing chops is very simple. 😉

Ingredients

For the chops:

8 slices Beef (veal breast)

8 slices Rolled pancetta

Pecorino cheese

Parsley

Garlic

Black pepper

For the sauce:

1 l Tomato puree

400 g Tomato pulp

1Onions

2 bay leaves

Dry white wine

Fine salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

Take a slice of meat and flavor it with a little garlic. I usually peel the cloveor garlic, cut it in two, and crush it with a garlic crusher. Alternatively, you can also use the powder one. Add a few leaves of parsley, ground pepper and grated pecorino cheese or in thin flakes. We arrange the dressing in the central part or in the narrowest part of the slice of meat. We finish by adding a slice of rolled pancetta. At this point, we close the slice of meat, in the sense of width. Then, wrap it on itself, lengthwise, starting from the smallest part of the strip of meat. As we roll it up we tighten well (especially in the thickest part, with the seasoning). We will have to form a sort of roll. Finally, stop the chop with a toothpick. We continue like this for all slices of meat. Let's now dedicate ourselves to cooking the chops in the tomato sauce. Peel an onion and chop it finely (we must cut it into very small pieces, so that, during cooking, it almost dissolves in oil). In a large non-stick pan brown the onion with a little oil. After a few moments of browning, lower the heat to a minimum and add half a cup of water. Let the onion stew slowly, until it is well withered. We can then raise the heat and add the chops and two bay leaves. Let them brown well on all sides, for a few minutes, over high heat. Deglaze with a little white wine. Once evaporated, add the tomato puree, tomato pulp and a little water (about 3 glasses). Let the chops cook slowly, covering them with a lid, over very low heat, for about 3 hours (from time to time, turn them gently). After this time, we also add a little salt. The chops will be ready when the sauce has thickened and the meat will be very tender. The chops with sauce are ready to be enjoyed! Embellish them, directly on the plates, with a sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese. The Apulian chops will be perfect as a second course, perhaps accompanied by a seasonal salad and their delicious and tasty sauce will be perfect for seasoning orecchiette. Don't forget to buy bread! 

You just can't give up the ''scarpetta''. 😀

Tips

With kitchen scissors we remove from each slice of meat the fattest and most nervous part (only if present on the meat, otherwise it will not be necessary). If the slices of meat are too thick, we place a sheet of baking paper on a cutting board, folding it in half. We lay the slice inside and with the help of a meat mallet beat outwards in order to widen the meshes and make the slice thinner.

Notes 

The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the chops and also on the type of meat you use, For example horse chops require cooking of 4-5 hours. As an alternative to veal you can use beef or horse meat (as required by the Bari tradition). Thin slices suitable for rolls!