Farsumagru Saia

            This is another dish I tailored to accompany a fine wine. I found this pairing to be particularly beguiling. The Farsumagu is scrumptiously divine by itself, but is enhanced by the spectacular sauce designed to stand up to the intensity of SAIA Nero d'Avola!

            Nero d'Avola is a grape grown in Sicily which produces a dry red wine, sort of like Chianti on steroids, if you'll pardon the non-wine terminology. SAIA is produced by Antonio Moretti on the estate Feudo Maccari in the extreme Southeastern tip of Sicily. See the red blob on the map. The volcanic soil and cooler sea breezes produce an interesting grape which is hand-harvested and after a long maceration on the skins and fermentation, is aged for 15 months in Oak. The result is a deeply colored and voluptuous wine. This wine needs to be carefully decanted for at least a few hours, and will gain in nuance as the evening progresses (if it lasts that long!).

Saia Nero d'Avola

            Interestingly, one side of my Mother's family has the name: Saia, although they emigrated from Cefalú well over a century ago. I circled Cefalú on the map to show that it is nowhere near the estate of this wine. As I researched "Saia", I discovered that the name is an ancient Arab word for the viaducts built to hold water during the scorching summer months. I never knew that! Now to the dish:

            Farsumagru is simply a roulade of meat with a savory filling. There are many incarnations of it, since it is found all over Sicily. Often made with veal, I chose to use beef to achieve a deeper flavor. The stuffing is the key here. Traditionally we would expect a certain few ingredients and then additional support. The customary fill is hard cooked eggs, sausage and Caciocavallo cheese. I have enhanced that with ham, olive paste and a few minced mushrooms. The Farsumagru will braise in sautéed onion, ham, mushrooms, carrots, beef stock, tomato paste and our Saia Nero d'Avola wine, with a few sprigs of rosemary and parsley. After braising, we'll strain the liquid and add it to a roux of equal parts butter and flour. We will favor this gravy with a splash of Marsala and a tablespoon of butter. Then we will slice the roulade and place it on a bed of couscous and cover with the gravy.

            The photo of the ingredients shows round steak in the foreground and then from left to right: Mushrooms, Parsley, a Sausage patty (my homemade Italian Sausage), sprigs of Rosemary, hard cooked Egg ready for slicing, about ¼ pound of Ham, a Carrot, large Vidalia Onion, Tomato paste, Couscous and Pecorino cheese. To the right are ingredients for a simple salad: Radishes, Capocollo Ham, smoked Caciocavallo cheese, Lettuce and for the dressing, Lemon and the finest Olive Oil.

            A word about the cheese: Caciocavallo will be very difficult to find. In fact, the cheese store that sometimes carries it around here only had smoked caciocavallo the day I shopped for this dish. That's pretty good, but I didn't want the smoked flavor in the filling, so I replaced it with a Pecorino (sheep's) cheese. While caciocavallo is a Sicilian cow's cheese, it has a sharp pungency not unlike a pecorino cheese. I bought the smoked cheese anyway and used it in my salad!

            Special Note: I'm sure anybody can roll and tie a piece of meat better than I. My wife Sandy was always in charge of this, since I am so inept. I apologize ahead of time!

Ingredients:

       For the Farsumagu

            1 thin piece of Round Steak (braciole cut)... mine was less than 1/2 pound

           ¼ lb. Ham (ham steak has a better flavor, but deli ham would do in a pinch)

            1 Italian Sausage (if you use a link, remove from casing)

            ½ large Onion

            2 cups Beef Stock

            1 medium Carrot

            6 small Mushrooms

            1 hard cooked Egg

            1 raw Egg

            about ¼ cup Breadcrumbs

            Olive Paste

            ¼ lb. Caciocavallo (or a meltable pecorino) cheese

            1 Tbs Tomato Paste

            ¼ cup Red Wine

            1 Bay leaf

            3 sprigs each fresh Rosemary and Parsley

            ½ cup Couscous

            ¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

            Butter

           Splash Marsala wine (Porto or Sherry would work, but this is Sicily!)

            Salt, Pepper and Savory

Method:

1       Gently pound round steak to make an even oval shape and thickness.

Beginning the filling

2       Sauté ¼ onion (small dice) and 3 mushrooms (small dice) in regular extra-virgin olive oil. Meanwhile, mince half the ham and the sausage and place in a medium bowl. When the sauté is finished, add to the bowl. Season with a little salt, pepper and a pinch of Savory. After this cools a little, mix in a beaten egg and enough breadcrumbs to bring together.

Ready for rolling!

3     Lightly coat the beef with Olive Paste. Place sliced hard cooked eggs in a line on the Paste. Then spread the ham filling over this, and finally top with chopped cheese. Carefully roll and tie the meat.

4       Preheat oven to 350 F.  Warm a casserole with 1 Tbs each Butter and Olive Oil. Carefully brown the rolled meat on all sides. Get some good color on it. Meanwhile, chop ½ the carrot, remaining 3 mushrooms and remaining ham into larger dice. 

                                          

        When meat has browned, remove it and then add the chopped ingredients to casserole, browning them and scraping up all the browned bits into the mixture. (A splash of brandy can help here.)

        Now add the red wine and tomato paste and blend well. 

Red wine and Tomato Paste added

    Then add about 1¼ cups of the beef stock (you want to reserve about ¾ cup for the couscous). Place the beef roll on top of this sauce and add bay leaf and sprigs of rosemary and parsley. The casserole is now ready for the oven. 

Ready for Oven

       Cover and place in the 350 F oven for about 2 hours. After one hour, gently turn the roll onto its other side and add more liquid if it needed.

5       While the Farsumagru bakes, put the reserved stock into a small saucepan and add the remaining ½ carrot, chopped into very small dice. 

    

      Grate about ¼ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese and reserve. About 20 minutes before beef is done, bring stock and carrots to a gentle boil and cook, covered.

6     I had a salad and some garlic toast. This is the time to prepare salad ingredients and place in refrigerator to crisp up nicely. Squeeze about ¼ cup lemon juice and reserve for the dressing. For the toast, I mixed a small bowl of the finest Olive Oil and added some chopped garlic and a teaspoon of sea salt and mixed well. 

For Garlic Toast

         

     

        I cut my bread and placed it in the toaster, ready for toasting at the last minute.

7      When the meat is done, remove it to an ovenproof pan and cover meat with foil. Place it back into the turned-off oven to keep warm. 

         At this point add the couscous to the stock & carrots, turn off heat and cover.

8       Strain cooking liquid and reserve. Add about 1 Tbs each of soft butter and flour to the casserole over moderate heat and stir constantly, scraping up as much as you can. 

        After about 5 minutes, add the cooking liquid and mix well, making the gravy. After the gravy has come together, add a splash of Madera, if you wish, and a Tbs. of butter.

9       Turn on the toaster. Toss the salad with lemon juice and Olive oil and sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add most of the Romano to the couscous and mix well. When toast is done, brush on the garlicked olive oil and sprinkle the remaining Romano over this.

10     Slice the Farsumagru into ¾" thick slices.

11     Spread the Couscous over the entire plate. Place Farsumagru slices, overlapping, down the center and cover both with lots of that wonderful gravy. Enjoy!! (I know you will... these flavors are great!)

12     Enjoy with Saia Nero d'Avola. If you can't find it, I would recommend Borolo or a fine Barbera d'Asti rather than a different Nero d'Avola, because these would be closer to the explosion of flavor found in Saia.

- Love Dave