Dinner party, part three: Getting my braise on!

Do people in Florida or San Diego ever braise anything? Is it ever cold enough to get your juices flowing for a slow cooked hunk of protein? Where you want to walk into a warm kitchen filled with the smells of savory ingredients slowly coalescing into a greater good? Hey, the South: do you? I know slow cooking is traditional in lots of Latin American countries, so I assume it works. I suppose it has to do with the fact that as soon as it's nice enough to cook outside here in Portland, say in July, we tend to abandon our ovens here and fire up the 'ques.

That thought just fired across my synapses because in the cold and wet that seems unending this winter, I not only feel the need to braise, it's almost like I HAVE to braise. I need that warmth and comfort that mysteriously gets transferred from my Le Creuset into my body. For the entrée portion of our dinner party last Sunday, I had meat on my mind. Slowly simmering, tender, robustly satisfying beef. Barolo Braised Beef, which I've made before, seemed the perfect solution. It's always amazing that you can take a chunk of tough, inexpensive chuck roast, and through a few simple steps, a few hours where it is left alone, and a little bit of kitchen love and turn it into something so good. This recipe is money. I've dome it three times now, and each time it turns out spectacularly well.


the tool of choice...9-1/2 quarts of high performance pleasure!

One note: as Bill Buford gave up in his excellent book Heat, where he spent time in the Babbo kitchen working the line, DON'T use Barolo for the red wine called for. You may have enough $40+ bottles of Piedmont greatness in your basement, but I don't, and neither does the Babbo kitchen. As Buford points out, they use cheap merlot in the Babbo version and it works just fine. I had an inexpensive southern Italian Nero d'Avola and it was fine.

Wine Pairing: In this night of a mind-numbing number of bottles of wine, I started this course with a fabulous magnum of 2004 Ugo Lequio Barbera d'Alba that was absolutely perfect. Where we went from there starts to get a little bit hazy. The point is this sublime bottle only confirmed my opinion that Barbera from a good producer in a good vintage may be the best food wine in the world!
*** *** *** *** ***
Barolo Braised Beef
adapted from epicurious
from epicurious: "Beef improves in flavor if made 3 days ahead. Cool completely in sauce, uncovered, then chill in sauce, covered. Reheat, covered, in a preheated 350°F oven until hot, 25 to 30 minutes, then slice meat."

mise en place (or prep as most of us call it), the key to stress free cooking








ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (3- to 3 1/2-lb) boneless beef chuck roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 lb sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 (4- to 6-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
2 (6- to 8-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups Barolo or other full-bodied red wine such as Ripasso Valpolicella, Gigondas, or Côtes du Rhône (or as noted above, cheap-ass red!-bb)
2 cups water

Special equipment: a 4- to 5-qt heavy ovenproof pot with lid

method:
1-Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

2-Heat oil in pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Meanwhile, pat meat dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown meat in hot oil on all sides, about 10 minutes total. (If bottom of pot begins to scorch, lower heat to moderate.) Transfer to a plate using a fork and tongs.

the flavoring agents bubbling away right before the addition
of our beefy guest of honor

3-Add pancetta to oil in pot and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and fat is rendered, about 3 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sauté, stirring, until garlic begins to soften and turn golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until liquid is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add water and bring to a simmer, then return meat along with any juices accumulated on plate to pot. Cover pot with lid and transfer to oven. Braise until meat is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

4-Transfer meat to a cutting board. Skim fat from surface of sauce and discard along with herb stems. Boil sauce until reduced by about one third, about 5 minutes, then season with salt. Cut meat across the grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices and return to sauce.

notes: I was cooking for 7 and grabbed a 4-1/2 pound piece of chuck roast from my meat guy. Don't forget that as the meat braises merrily away it also shrinks in size. We had a couple of meager slices left. For a piece that size I also bumped up all of the other ingredients proportionally, except I didn't add any extra water. Also you will probably have some sauce left over. If yes, I added some canned San Marzanos to bump it up the next night and made a bad-ass pasta sauce!-bb
##### ##### #####
one year ago today @ E.D.T.: Crack olives...just add gin!

A few small bites....

This just in from the New York Times "Diner's Journal" blog: writer Zahra Sethna reports that the world's first testicle recipe collection is being released. Included are preparations for testicle pizza, barbecued testicles with giblets, and, um, battered testicles. To which I can only say, Ouch!
*** *** ***

Locally w and I stopped in industrial northwest PDX for the opening peek at the new shared home Oregon wine producers Grochau Cellars and Boedecker Cellars. I love both those wineries, as much for the people behind them as for the stellar reds and whites they produce. They're calling their joint venture the Portland Wine Project (2621 NW 30th Avenue), and it is the only commercial wine production facility within the city limits. Look for their public opening over the Thanksgiving weekend. John Grochau of GC (far right in pic at right) and Stewart Boedecker and Athena Pappas of Boedecker will begin getting in grapes next week, and as Stewart said "we'll throw the switch and hope everything works!"
*** *** ***
Add Stewart and Athena: Check out this article by Athena in the latest Mix Magazine, our local fishwrap The Oregonian's attempt to be foodie hip and cool (with, may I say, very "mix"-ed results), for some of her families Greek recipes. Can't wait to try her Tzatziki, which in Pappas family tradition is eaten with ridged potato chips, because as Athena told me yesterday "then you can eat even more!". Also looking forward to whipping up a batch of Mama's Meatballs!
*** *** ***
Also had brunch yesterday at that fabulous addition to our upper-Hawthorne neighborhood Por Que No taqueria. The perfect way to start my Sunday? A plate of chilaquillas (pic at left) and a carnitas taco!
*** *** ***
Perhaps the peripatetic Mario Batali should spend more time at his restaurants and less time palling around Europe with Gwyneth. The NYT has just reported that his flagship restaurant Babbo has lost its one Michelin star.

Babbo's Linguine with Clams revealed!

In his book Heat, author Bill Buford in a molto entertaining manner chronicles his Mario Batali fueled journey of culinary discovery. Along the way he dishes some culinary secrets from the time he spent working every stage in the Babbo kitchen, including, somewhat surprisingly in a biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you kind of way, the fact that in the signature Babbo Barolo Braised Beef, it ain't Barolo they're dumping into the pot, it's low end Cali merlot. Never mind that in the finished product it doesn't make any difference, but it reads like a "wow, I can't believe he said that and Mario must be steaming in his clogs" moment. He also revealed the following recipe for Babbo's Clams and Linguine, which I made at home a couple of nights ago.

This is a classic dish served in virtually any Italian restaurant worth its pasta pot, and the styles are legion. I've made my share. Buford's Babbo-inspired version is one of the best, and simplest, I've had. All those fresh Manila clams swimming in the pork, garlic, and chili infused butter/wine sauce, stirred together with some just al dente pasta...fantastico!! Fast and easy, this also should inspire you to pop a bottle of Italia vino bianco, maybe a crisply fresh Lugana or Arneis.
*** *** ***

Linguine with Clams from Babbo
adapted from Heat, via Bill Buford
serves 4

ingredients:
olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped pancetta
"slap of butter" (3 or so tablespoons)
"splash of white wine" (1/3 cup, perhaps)
16 ounces pasta
3 or 4 big handfuls clams (cockles or Manilas, the little ones, are preferred)

from Heat:
...begin by sautéing pancetta in a hot pan with olive oil. After a minute or two add garlic, chili flakes, and onion. Hot oil accelerates the cooking process, and the moment everything gets soft you pour most of the oil away (holding back the contents with your tongs) and add a slap of butter and a splash of white wine, which stops the cooking. This is stage one.

In Stage two, you drop the pasta in boiling water and take your messy buttery pan and fill it with the big handfuls of clams and put it on the highest possible flame. The objective is to cook them fast--they'll start opening after three or four minutes, when you give the pan a swirl, mixing the shellfish juice with the buttery porky white wine emulsion. At six minutes and thirty seconds, use your tongs to pull your noodles out and drop them into your pan--all that starchy pasta water slopping in with them is still a good thing; give the pan another swirl; flip it; swirl it again to ensure the pasta is covered by the sauce. If it looks dry, add another splash of pasta water; if too wet, pour some out. You let the whole thing cook away for another half minute or so, swirling, swirling, until the sauce streaks across the bottom of the pan, splash with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley: dinner.

Warming up to cold weather

You can feel it in the air, can't you? Nights getting colder. Leaves falling. Sidelong glances at your Le Creuset or other braising pot of choice. In my kitchen, they're calling out their siren song and I'm listening. You all know what I mean. Well, excepting you all who live in warmer climes, who probably have no idea what I'm trying to say. Is it ever braising season in Phoenix? I mean, it's going to be 90 degrees there today! These must be zero incentive to throw some meat in your 380 degree oven for three or four hours. All I can say to them is "Poor bastards", because I LOVE this time of year.

Sunday was a perfect day to share some of that love with a group of friends. And what says "I care" more than a 4-1/2 pound hunk of chuck roast that has been cooking in the oven for several hours? For a dinner party, there is nothing easier than a long, slow braise. Not only is the prep incredibly easy, but that long cooking time allows plenty of time to get everything else working and ready for your guests. This recipe for Barolo Braised Beef is a dish I made for the first time late last winter, and it rocked the table. For something so easy, this is guaranteed to get huge praise from your pals.

Before I get to the instructional part of this missive, a note on the name. Barolo braised beef. Rule 1: Don't use Barolo!! My $40 bottles of red wine generally don't end up in a cooking pot. Any rich, full-bodied wine will work. I used an awesome Languedoc red from France ($11.95). According to Bill Buford in his book "Heat", at Mario Batali's Babbo in NYC, they use cheap merlot in their "Barolo" braised beef. Now that I've saved you all that money, here's the goods.....

********************

BAROLO BRAISED BEEF
adapted from epicurious

ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (3- to 3 1/2-lb) boneless beef chuck roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 lb sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 (4- to 6-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
2 (6- to 8-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups Barolo or other full-bodied red
2 cups water
*Special equipment: a 4- to 5-qt heavy ovenproof pot with lid

mise en place (aka prep)...the key to stress free cooking!










method
1- Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

2-Heat oil in pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Meanwhile, pat meat dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown meat in hot oil on all sides, about 10 minutes total. (If bottom of pot begins to scorch, lower heat to moderate.) Transfer to a plate using a fork and tongs.

Sautéeing the flavoring agents. Getting closer..........







3- Add pancetta to oil in pot and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and fat is rendered, about 3 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sauté, stirring, until garlic begins to soften and turn golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until liquid is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add water and bring to a simmer, then return meat along with any juices accumulated on plate to pot. Cover pot with lid and transfer to oven. Braise until meat is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

All that's left: slicing, reducing, consuming!









4- Transfer meat to a cutting board. Skim fat from surface of sauce and discard along with herb stems. Boil sauce until reduced by about one third, about 8-10 minutes, then season with salt. Cut meat across the grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices, arrange on platter, pour most of sauce generously on top and serve remaining sauce in bowl.

*Cooks' note: Beef improves in flavor if made 3 days ahead. Cool completely in sauce, uncovered, then chill in sauce, covered. Reheat, covered, in a preheated 350°F oven until hot, 25 to 30 minutes, then slice meat.

Turning up the "Heat"

For the food obsessed among you who might be looking for that perfect summer vacation read to stuff in your bag, then Heat by Bill Buford is the choice! I just got done with it last week, and LOVED it. Buford writes of being a kitchen slave in Mario Batali's NYC restaurant Babbo, where he worked his way through virtually every position in this most "professional" of restaurant kitchens. Professional if you ignore the rants, raves, and irrational emotional torture that happens when Batali or any number of coworkers vent, which they seem to at any moments notice. Buford also spends time trying make perfect pasta in Italy, and working with a half-crazed Tuscan butcher in the village of Panzano, where he finds himself becoming almost as obsessed as the characters who populate this tale. The book keeps coming at you, giving great insight into what happens in a real restaurant kitchen, the things the public never sees. He doesn't pull any punches, calling out Batali's sometimes boorish behavior, chronicling his prodigious drinking capacity, and sending praise to this most idiosyncratic of chefs.

Perhaps my favorite passage, and something anyone who hasn't worked in a restaurant should read, because folks, this is SO true :
"Around midnight, the kitchen was something of a demilitarized zone, meant to be closed but still serving food, owing to the insistence of the maitre d', John Mainieri, who sometimes accepted late seatings and was openly loathed by members of the kitchen staff as a result. In theory, it is possible to argue your way into a restaurant just as the kitchen is closing. But I urge you, the next time you find yourself trying to persuade the maitre d' to accommodate you, to recognize that members of the kitchen know you're there. They are waiting for your order, huddled around the ticker tape machine, counting the seconds, and heaping imprecations on your head because you cannot make up your mind. They are specualting- will it be something light, a single course perhaps? ("That's what I'd order." someone says, and everyone loudly agrees.) Will I be able to drain the pasta machine? Will the grill guy be able to turn off the burners? Or will the diners- and late ones are simply referred to as "those fuckers" - be so clueless as to order a five-course tasting menu? It happens, and the response of the kitchen- a bellowing roar of disgust - is so loud veeryone in the restuarnt must hear it. By now the kitchen is different. At eleven, beer is allowed, and for nearly an hour the cooks have been drinking. The senior figures have disappeared. No one is in charge. The people remaining are tired and dirty. The floors are greasy and wet. The pasta machine is so thick and crud-filled that the water has turned purple and is starting to foam. Do you need more details? Let me rephrase the question: Do you think, if your meal is the last order received by the kitchen, that it has been cooked with love?"

God, so fucking true. This book comes at you with one insight after another. Buford tells a great story and whets your appetite at the same time. Grab a copy, and get hungry!