Chef Graziella
Anelletti al Forno
The Sunday pasta of Palermo, where tiny rings of dried pasta bake with meat ragù, sweet peas, and melting cheese until a burnished crust forms that families fight over at the table.
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Involtini alla Siciliana
Created by
Thin-pounded beef wrapped around a filling of breadcrumbs, pine nuts, and currants, threaded on skewers between bay leaves, and charred over open flame. Eight centuries of Sicilian history in every bite.
Main Dishes
Italian, Sicilian
Weeknight
Dinner Party
45 min
Active Time
15 min cook•1 hr total
Yield6 servings (about 18 rolls)
Sicily is not Italy. It is something older, stranger, and more complex. For two hundred years, the Arabs ruled this island, and they left behind more than architecture. They left an entire vocabulary of flavor: sweet with savory, nuts with dried fruit, spice with meat. These involtini carry that inheritance in every bite.
The filling is deceptively simple: breadcrumbs, cheese, pine nuts, currants. But when you taste them together, wrapped in thin beef and kissed by live fire, you understand why this combination has persisted for eight centuries. The pine nuts give richness, the currants give sweetness, the cheese gives salt and depth. The bay leaves, charred between the rolls, perfume everything with their resinous breath.
This is street food in Palermo, where vendors thread these little rolls onto skewers and cook them over braziers while crowds gather. But it is also home cooking, Sunday cooking, the kind of food that brings families around the table in Sicily's interior. The dish has many names: some call them braciole, some say spiedini, but involtini captures what they are: little bundles, little packages of flavor rolled tight and grilled fast.
The Moors occupied Sicily from 827 to 1091, transforming the island's cuisine with ingredients like pine nuts, dried fruits, and the sweet-savory combinations that define Sicilian cooking to this day. Involtini alla Siciliana descend directly from this influence. The pairing of meat with dried currants and nuts appears nowhere else in Italian regional cooking with such prominence.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beef top round
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 18 slices)
fine dry breadcrumbs
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
caciocavallo cheese
Quantity
3 ounces
cut into small cubes
pine nuts
Quantity
1/3 cup
dried currants
Quantity
1/4 cup
Pecorino Romano
Quantity
1/4 cup
freshly grated
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
3 tablespoons
finely minced
yellow onion
Quantity
1 small
grated on large holes of box grater
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
minced to a paste
black pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground
kosher salt
Quantity
to taste
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus more for brushing
fresh bay leaves
Quantity
18 to 24
red onion
Quantity
1 large
cut into 1-inch squares, layers separated
lemon wedges
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beef top roundsliced 1/4-inch thick (about 18 slices) | 1 1/2 pounds |
| fine dry breadcrumbs | 1 1/2 cups |
| caciocavallo cheesecut into small cubes | 3 ounces |
| pine nuts | 1/3 cup |
| dried currants | 1/4 cup |
| Pecorino Romanofreshly grated | 1/4 cup |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely minced | 3 tablespoons |
| yellow oniongrated on large holes of box grater | 1 small |
| garlic clovesminced to a paste | 2 |
| black pepperfreshly ground | 1/4 teaspoon |
| kosher salt | to taste |
| extra virgin olive oil | 1/4 cup, plus more for brushing |
| fresh bay leaves | 18 to 24 |
| red onioncut into 1-inch squares, layers separated | 1 large |
| lemon wedges | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Meat mallet or heavy skillet for pounding
- •Metal skewers (flat blade type prevent rolling)
- •Charcoal or gas grill
- •Box grater for the onion
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the beef slices
Place each beef slice between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound gently with a meat mallet until uniformly thin, about 1/8 inch thick. The slices should be roughly 4 by 5 inches. If they tear, do not despair. You can overlap pieces. Season both sides lightly with salt.
- 2
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, cubed caciocavallo, pine nuts, currants, grated Pecorino, parsley, grated onion, and garlic paste. Add the pepper and a pinch of salt. Pour in the olive oil and mix thoroughly with your hands until the mixture holds together loosely when squeezed. It should be moist but not wet.
The filling should taste assertively seasoned. It will be surrounded by unseasoned meat, so boldness here is necessary. Taste and adjust before stuffing. - 3
Form the rolls
Lay a beef slice flat on your work surface, short end toward you. Place about two tablespoons of filling near the bottom edge, leaving a half-inch border on each side. Roll up tightly from bottom to top, tucking in the sides as you go. The roll should be compact, about the size of your thumb. Set aside seam-side down. Repeat with remaining beef and filling.
- 4
Assemble the skewers
Thread the rolls onto metal skewers, alternating each roll with a bay leaf and a piece of red onion. Place six rolls per skewer, starting and ending with onion. The bay leaves should lie flat between the rolls. Press the components together firmly so they touch.
Fresh bay leaves are essential. Dried leaves will scorch and turn bitter over the flame. If you cannot find fresh, soak dried leaves in warm water for 30 minutes, but know the result is compromised. - 5
Prepare the grill
Heat a charcoal or gas grill to high heat. If using charcoal, let the coals burn until covered with white ash. Clean the grates well and brush with oil to prevent sticking. You want intense, direct heat.
- 6
Grill the involtini
Brush the assembled skewers lightly with olive oil on all sides. Place on the hot grill. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side, rotating to develop char on all surfaces. The total cooking time should be 10 to 12 minutes. The beef should be cooked through but still tender, the onions lightly charred, the bay leaves darkened and fragrant.
Do not walk away from the grill. These cook quickly and can go from perfect to overdone in under a minute. Stand watch. - 7
Rest and serve
Transfer the skewers to a platter and let rest for 2 minutes. The bay leaves are for flavor, not eating. Warn your guests to remove them. Serve with lemon wedges alongside. A squeeze of lemon is traditional and necessary. The acidity cuts through the richness and awakens everything.
Chef Tips
- •Ask your butcher to slice the beef on a meat slicer. Hand-slicing to the proper thinness requires skill most home cooks do not have. Uniform thickness matters for even cooking.
- •Caciocavallo is the traditional cheese, a stretched-curd cheese from southern Italy with a mild, slightly tangy flavor. If unavailable, provolone is an acceptable substitute. Mozzarella is too mild and melts too quickly.
- •You may cook these under a broiler if grilling is impossible, but something essential is lost. The open flame chars the bay leaves and creates flavors the broiler cannot replicate. A cast-iron grill pan, heated until nearly smoking, is the next best option.
- •The currants are not raisins. Dried currants are smaller, less sweet, and have a slight tartness. They are worth seeking out. If you substitute raisins, chop them small and reduce the quantity by half.
Advance Preparation
- •The filling can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using.
- •The rolls can be assembled and skewered up to 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.
- •These do not reheat well. Cook only what you will serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 195g)
Calories
515 calories
Total Fat
29 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
22 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
610 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
35 g
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