Involtino

Involtini consist of thin slices of meat wrapped around fillings of various ingredients, such as prosciutto, Parmesan cheese, mortadella, olives, parsley, garlic, sultanas, etc. They are then braised in a tomato sauce or baked. Beef is usually used because it has stronger texture, allowing it to cook slowly without breaking and leaking the filling. When very small, the rolls are also called bocconcini.

Involtini in regions such as Puglia or Calabria are mostly of lamb offal, including the heart, liver, lung and even testicles, tied together with a piece of gut, salted and spiced with pepper, chilli and parsley and then grilled over charcoal or baked in the oven. In Puglia these parcels are called gnemeridde; in Calabria, ghunerieddi or ghunerielli; and in Sicily stigghiole. For Neapolitans, involtini di carne are a festive must, usually on Sundays, and they cook them for a long time in a tomato sauce to be then eaten with pasta, usually penne or rigatoni.