Italian Beef & Broccoli Rabe Savory Crostata
By: Angela LeMoine
Published: Monday, September 2, 2013 - 7:47pm

Ingredients




For the beef:
~ 1 1/2 lb london broil
1 onion, quartered
2 carrots, peeled, cut in half
2 stalks of celery, cut in half
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 cup water
For the crostata:
1 refrigerated pie crust round
1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, remove some of the stem
1- 1 1/2 cups prepared shredded beef
3/4 cup shredded provolone

Preparation

1 Into the slow cooker... pour in the water, onion, carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaf. Season the London broil with Italian seasoning and place on top of the veggies. 2 Set the slow cooker on low for 5 hours. At the end, remove the bay leaf, I leave the veggies in tact in there.  Shred the meat right in the pot and let it soak up all that yummy broth. Now I dare you to not dip your fingers in there and have a taste! ;-) 3 Now for the savory crostata! Preheat your oven to 385 degrees. 4 Cook the broccoli rabe in boiling salted water until tender. Drain very well, you do not want mud moisture when you put it on the pie dough. I season lightly with salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. 5 Get some of that fabulous shredded beef, again draining the liquid. 6 Time to assemble! Roll out the dough onto a lined baking sheet. Layer on the shredded cheese, broccoli rabe and the beef leaving a little bit of the edge bare because we are going to fold that up. 7 Fold the edges up slightly, the center will still be open. Press the dough together a bit so it stays in place. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the dough is golden.

About

Slow cooked Italian beef, slightly bitter broccoli rabe and sharp provolone all wrapped up in a flaky pie crust! So good!! There is plenty of beef left over after making this, I stirred the extra shredded meat in with a basic tomato sauce for a nice hearty bolognese.