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Falsomagro, a Sicilian stuffed veal roast

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Falsomagro

Who knows me knows that I’m not a meat eater.

When I was child my favorite dish was pasta, any kind of pasta.

At family dinners I was known by cousins ​​and uncles for my habit of asking for bread and oil instead of the “secondo” or my ability to eat just the fried bread of the cutlets, leaving the meat untouched.

Growing up, my taste is not changed. If I can choose, you will find me craving pasta, vegetables or cheese happy to leave beef steak or chicken to my diners. Few meat dish can capture my attention: meatballs, involtini … maybe nothing else.

Even nowdays when I write down a menù for a family dinner,  for my cooking classes or private chef service, the primi and the desserts bring out the creative “me”.

So just few weeks ago, looking for a meat dish idea for a dinner, the “falsomagro” came back to me, a famous Sicilian dish.

I usually explain during my cooking class how much  the variety of the Sicilian gastronomy is due to the several colonization: Greeks, Arabs, French, Spanish … in this extraordinary melting pot of cultures it’s hard to identify without any doubt the origin of a dish.

And the Falsomagro is not an exception. 

A first theory support the French origin of this dish where the word “falso” came from the french “farce” – filling that became “farsu” in the Sicilian dialect.

Another theory says that the word “falsomagro” come from the union of two words “falso”- fake and “magro”- lean.

Even if the dish looks just like a lean veal roast, it’s stuffed with minced meat, spinach, ham, cheese and boiled eggs! Really rich and tasty.

The falsomagro can be cooked “white”, just with lots of sliced onions and white wine- our family favorite version – or red, with crushed tomatoes or , better, tomatoes paste, and red wine.

Even if wrapping and tie this roast require some skill, the dish can be cooked in advance so it’s a perfect solution when you have guests for dinner.

Here my personal version, give it a try!

FALSOMAGRO

4 eggs – 800 g. veal – one very thin slice  – 100 g. minced beef – 100 g. minced pork – 3 slice of bread, soaked in milk – 2 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese – 1 tablespoon  chopped parsley  – 100 gr. cooked ham – 100 gr. provolone cheese, sliced – 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – 2 onions – 3 garlic cloves – 1 glass dry white wine.

Cook 3 eggs in boiling water for 6 minutes. Drain and put the eggs in cold water to stop the cooking, peel them and set aside.

Prepare the meat: place a parchment paper on a kitchen board, then the veal slice and cover with another parchment paper. Flatten the meat pounder more that you can.

In a bowl combine the minced beef and pork, the bread squeezed and crumbled, parmesan cheese, parsley, the whole egg. Season with salt and pepper and mix with your hands until homogeneous.

Spread this mix all over the slice of veal in a thin layer. Cover with one layer of cooked ham and another one of provolone cheese. Using your hands make a long indent in the middle and place in the eggs, one close to each other, in one line.

Place the boiled eggs in the middle. Roll tightly and tie the roll.

Slice the onion and the garlic cloves. In a heavy pan heat the extra virgin olive oil. Brown the meat on each side and set aside. In the same pan cook the onions and garlic at medium- low flame until soft and translucent. Put again the meat in the pan, turn to high flame, add the wine and let it evaporate. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook for 1 hour, adding little water if necessary.

When the meat will be cooked take the onions, garlic and cooking juices and mix with an immersion blender until creamy. Slice the falsomagro and serve with the sauce on top. It’s perfect with roasted potatoes or peas.

Falsomagro, a Sicilian stuffed veal roast