Girello al limone is an unusual dish from Edda Servi Machlin’s fascinating cookbook, The Classic Cuisines of the Italian Jews: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoire of a Vanished Way of Life.
This recipe was, for me, full of surprises. I was not quite sure what to expect from a braised beef recipe that didn’t call for any sort of soffritto, getting most of its taste from two whole lemons, both the juice—added at the beginning of its long braise—and the zest, added at the end. Lemon can do wonders for as a marinade for chicken, but as a sauce for a pot roast… ?
The result was a pleasant surprise. I half-expected the lemon—two whole lemons for a smallish roast—to make the dish puckeringly sour, but no. The long braise mellows the lemons’ impact, lending sparkle without a trace of sharpness.
Another pleasant surprise was just how moist and flavorful the eye round turned out. I’ve had mixed experience with this tough, lean cut of beef. Cook it too little and it can turn out chewy, too much and it can turn out dry and tasteless. I usually prefer the generously marbled chuck or bottom round for my pot roasts. But here prodigious amounts of oil and broth combine to keep the meat moist during its low and slow braise. And the ample pan juices provide plenty of flavor.
All in all, girello al limone is well worth a try. Like many of Machlin’s recipes, the dish is familiar and yet subtly different from any other in the Italian repertoire.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
1 eye round roast, about 1-1.5 kilos/2-3 lbs
125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
500 ml (2 cups) beef broth, preferably homemade
2 lemons
Salt and pepper
Finely minced parsley (optional)
Directions
Grate the zest from both lemons and reserve. Cut the lemons in half and juice them. Reserve the juice as well.
Season the roast generously with salt and pepper all over.
Over a moderate flame, heat the olive oil in an oval casserole in which the roast will fit snugly. Add the roast and brown it well on all sides. (Be aware that the roast is apt to splatter on contact, so have a lid at the ready.)
Pour over the lemon juice and let it evaporate, turning the roast over as it does so it is covered all over in the pan juices.
Once the lemon juice has evaporated, pour in the beef stock. Cover and let the roast braise until it is fork tender, about 2-1/2 to 3 hours, either over a low flame on the stove or in a low (160C/325F) oven. (With either method, adjust the temperature as needed so that the braising liquid remains at a gentle simmer.)
At the end of the simmering time, there should be ample, but much reduced and intensely flavored, pan juices. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
When the roast is just about done braising, add the lemon zest and continue uncovered for 15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the braising pan and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving it into slices and setting the slices out on a serving platter.
Bring the ample juices back to a simmer, along with the optional minced parsley if using, and nap the slices with the juices, serving the rest in a sauceboat for those who want it.
Notes on Girello al limone
Girello al limone can be served cold, which Machlin says makes it a fine dish for Sabbath, a time when practicing Jews are prohibited from “lighting a fire” which for moderns includes cooking over a stove or other heat source. For the rest of us, Machlin recommends serving serve it hot in the winter and at room temperature in the summer.
Girello al limone is extraordinarily simple, as you will have noticed, so there’s little room for messing up. But one step you should be sure not to skip is the final rest before serving. (Even if Machlin herself doesn’t mention it in her recipe.) As the meat cools off, it will firm up slightly, allowing you to slice it neatly. Fresh out of the pot, the meat would tend to shred. If you serve it cold, you’ll find the meat can be sliced very thin indeed, thin enough for use as a sandwich meat.
Unlike just about every other post on this blog, you will notice that here I’ve specified the amount of oil that goes in. That’s because Machlin does, of course, but also because it’s more than I would have ever thought to use—and I am usually generous in my use of olive oil. Here that prodigious amount of oil is necessary for the dish’s success. It really does keep the eye round moist without resort to larding or other culinary trickery. The optional parsley was my personal touch, to lend color to an otherwise monochrome dish.
And although Machlin’s recipe specifically calls for girello, or eye round of beef, you could easily switch it out for the bottom round or rump, no doubt with equally if not even more delicious results. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m particularly fond of chuck for braised beef dishes. It has tremendous flavor, but with all its connective tissue, don’t expect it to slice up as neatly as you see pictured here. (In either case, you’d call it brasato al limone.)
Edda Servi Machlin and Pitigliano
Edda Servi Machlin grew up in Pitigliano, a town in Tuscany that was known as “Little Jerusalem” because of its centuries-old Jewish community. The Second World War put a brutal end to that community, but Machlin was able to survive by hiding out with anti-fascist partisans. After the war, she emigrated to the United States. She passed away in 2019, at the age of 93.
Pitigliano
And more than just a cookbook, as the sub-title suggests, it is a poignant memoire of a now-disappeared way of life. It is well worth a purchase if you can find it. Used hard cover and paper back copies are available on amazon.com but at exorbitant prices.
Girello al limone
Grate the zest from both lemons and reserve. Cut the lemons in half and juice them. Reserve the juice as well.
Season the roast generously with salt and pepper all over.
Over a moderate flame, heat the olive oil in an oval casserole in which the roast will fit snugly. Add the roast and brown it well on all sides. (Be aware that the roast is apt to splatter on contact, so have a lid at the ready.)
Pour over the lemon juice and let it evaporate, turning the roast over as it does so it is covered all over in the pan juices.
Once the lemon juice has evaporated, pour in the beef stock. Cover and let the roast braise until it is fork tender, about 2-1/2 to 3 hours, either over a low flame on the stove or in a low (160C/325F) oven. (With either method, adjust the temperature as needed so that the braising liquid remains at a gentle simmer.)
At the end of the simmering time, there should be ample, but much reduced and intensely flavored, pan juices. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
When the roast is just about done braising, add the lemon zest and continue uncovered for 15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the braising pan and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving it into slices and setting the slices out on a serving platter.
Bring the ample juices back to a simmer, along with the optional minced parsley if using, and nap the slices with the juices, serving the rest in a sauceboat for those who want it.
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