SG Archives:Polenta with Two Ragus

What's in a Name?



Seriously Good is kind of an odd name for a blog. It occurs to me it may sound boastful, as though I'm claiming everything posted here is worthy of culinary note in some way. But the truth is that the name refers more to a search for food that is seriously good than an assertion that every recipe included here is due that accolade.

I started using the phrase "seriously good" to refer to those recipes I occasionally ran across or created that I thought were, well, seriously good. A meal that is seriously good demands second helpings, perhaps even thirds. It's something so good you don't want to stop eating it. I sometimes call this "food that hurts" — a reference to the way something sweet can make your teeth ache or something tart make your jaws ache or eating too much can make your belly ache.

I started using the phrase "seriously good" to refer to those recipes I occasionally ran across or created that I thought were, well, seriously good.

I had a friend who described such food as, "so good you want to rub it in your hair." It's food that elicits unconscious moans and sighs. It's extreme food. Not by being outr&ecute;, but by suffusing your sense of taste and smell, feel and sight.

Last night I had such a meal. It looked juicy and appetizing, it smelled marvelous, and the flavors and tastes combined in such a way that it seemed more than the mere sum of it's ingredients. It's a recipe that's been gestating in the back of my head for some time and yesterday it finally hatched.

Polenta with Two Ragus
Serves 6.

1 1/2 c Ragu Bolognese
6 oz provolone — sliced 1/8" thick
6 oz mozzarella — sliced 1/8" thick
Polenta:
2 1/4 c stone ground corn meal
4 c water
1 tsp salt
1/2 c shredded Parmigiano
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp butter
Mushroom Ragu:
1/2 lb button mushrooms — sliced
1/2 lb sm. Portobello mushrooms — sliced
1/2 lb shitakes —sliced
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp thyme
1tsp white pepper (chosen for it's mild taste)
1/2 c red wine

Make Ragu Bolognese.

Polenta:
While Bolognese is cooking, dissolve salt in water in a pot. Whisk in corn meal and place over medium heat. Cooking, whisking nearly constantly, until polenta begins to thicken. Switch to a wooden spoon and continue stirring until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and stir in Parmigiano, pepper, and 2 tablespoons butter until melted. Allow to cool slightly.

Grease an 8 x 10 casserole dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Spread half of polenta in bottom of casserole. Place a layer of foil over polenta, spray with baking spray, and spread remaining polenta on parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Mushroom Ragu:
Place a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat and add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Cook stirring frequently, until mushrooms begin to give up their liquid. Drizzle with olive oil and add thyme, and pepper. Continue cooking until mushrooms begin browning. Add wine and cook until most of the wine has evaporated.

Heat oven to 400F.

Carefully remove top layer of polenta and set aside. Spread mushroom ragu over botton layer. Layer sliced provolone over mushrooms. Carefully remove parchment paper from polenta and place polenta on top of current layers. Spread Bolognese over polenta and then layer with mozzarella. Bake until mozzarella browns — about 30 minutes.

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Zeppole

Fat Tuesday, Italian, Deep Fried



Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday this year. Apparently the tradition behind the name is to use up all your sinful ingredients (sugar, butter, spices) before beginning Lent. In England Fat Tuesday is often celebrated as Pancake Tuesday and a recent press blurb I received noted that beignets are the New Orleans' tradition on Fat Tuesday.

I'm not Catholic — at least not beyond being catholic in my tastes — but I do love food-oriented occasions and I often have pancakes on Pancake Tuesday. But the PR notice reminded me that as long as you have something suitably sinful you have indeed given the occasion it's proper due. (I have a masochistic friend who so enjoyed giving things up for Lent he had to give up Lent for Lent. Ba-da boom!)

I ended up eating half the batch I'd made one after another. By the time I went to bed that night all 30 were gone.

At any rate, when I read "beignet" my mind immediately leapt to zippole. I was teaching a class on cooking with cheese several years ago and needed something sweet using cheese — preferably not something as common as cheese cake. And in casting about I found a recipe for an Italian fritter named zeppole at AllRecipes and featuring ricotta cheese. I ended up choosing something else for the class that didn't involve deep-frying, but I just had to try zeppole myself.

So one morning I made up a batch and I haven't made them since. I ended up eating half the batch I'd made one after another. By the time I went to bed that night all 30 were gone. They were clearly highly dangerous. But that was four years ago so I'm thinking I'll make a batch tomorrow. Maybe they weren't as good as I remember. Maybe, even if they are, I'll have more resistance to them having eaten them once. But if you don't see a fresh post here tomorrow, then I OD'd on ricotta fritters. Send help.

Zeppole
Makes 24 - 30.

2 qt vegetable oil for frying
1 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 c ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 c powdered sugar for dusting

Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and nutmeg. In a small bowl thoroughly mix the eggs, ricotta cheese, and vanilla. Gently stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until a sticky, fairly thick, batter forms.

Drop by tablespoons into the hot oil a few at a time. Fry until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes — the Zeppole will turn over by themselves. Drain on paper towels and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm. Or room temp, if they last that long.

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Ragu from Bologna

In the Flesh



Yesterday some friends were passing through Knoxville on their way to Memphis from Winston-Salem, North Carolina so of course I invited them to have supper here and stay the night. Actually, I didn't know him but I've known her for about five years — we'd just never met I the flesh before.

This is old-hat for me. I'd guess that over the past 15 or so years I've met over 50 people that I first got to know on-line. But Angela was nervous about it and her husband, Frank, was downright skeptical about the whole idea of making friends on-line — much less planning on staying the night with a "stranger." Some folks just don't understand how genuine friendships can be based on e-mail.

I'd guess that over the past 15 or so years I've met over 50 people that I first got to know on-line.

Our minds are constructed in such a way that we automatically form mental pictures of people we know even if we've never seen them. Apparently we require some sort of visual image to hang our knowledge, suppositions, and opinions of them on. And no one I've eventually met in person has ever looked or sounded at all like I expected, which isn't particularly odd. What is odd — at least the first few times — is how quickly after that initial meeting the other person's actual physical and, especially, vocal character completely supplant the fictional image you've carried around for so long. Within a few short minutes they're as familiar as they would have been if you'd always known them in person.

As it turns out, Angela is much prettier and more elegant than I'd imagined and has a gorgeous and genteel tar-heel accent — characteristics that completely belie the quirky and somewhat warped sense of humor I knew she possessed. Frankly I was expecting someone a bit more country. And speaking of Frank, he turned out to be a quiet and rather taciturn man with a wickedly ironic sense of humor. They were perfect foils for each other.

They didn't know exactly when they'd arrive — between 5:00 and 7:00, they thought — so I needed to fix a meal that would hold well. Neither of them are foodies, although Angela has an appreciation of food. She warned me, though, that Frank is fairly conservative about what he eats. I decided to make pasta Bolognese.

I'd never made it before — never even eaten it — but it's long been on my list and everybody likes spaghetti so I figured Frank would be Ok with it. I used Marcella Hazan's recipe in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking as the base, but tweaked it a bit. For the pasta, I had some Papardelle that I'd been looking for an excuse to serve and this seemed a good time.

I fixed a salad with raspberry vinaigrette to go along with it and for dessert I made gingerbread cake that I served warm with a sherry sauce. It was all good and we finished off the gingerbread for breakfast this morning before they left.

Ragu Bolognese
Serves 4.

2 tbls olive oil (you can use all olive oil or all butter, here)
1/4 c onion — finely chopped
1/4 c celery — finely chopped
1/4 c carrot — finely chopped
2/3 lb minced or coarsely ground beef
1/3 lb minced or coarsely ground pork
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper
1 c whole milk
1 c dry white wine
1/8 tsp nutmeg
15 oz whole canned tomatoes — roughly chopped, with their juice
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp anchovy paste
1/2 lb parpardelle
2 tbsp butter
Parmigiano

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent — about 3 minutes. Add celery and carrot and cook another two minutes. Increase heat to medium high and add beef and pork, season with salt and pepper, and cook stirring as needed, until no pink remains.

Reduce heat to medium low and add milk. Simmer until little or no liquid remains. Add nutmeg and white wine and simmer until little or no liquid remains. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and anchovy paste, stir to mix thoroughly, reduce heat to low, and simmer for three hours. (Note: the sauce should just barely bubble.) Stir occasionally and add water as needed to prevent mixture from drying out. However, at the end the ragu should not be runny.

Cook pasta and toss with butter. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano.

We had a great time and, because Angela is a photographer and wanted to see how I take my food pictures, I got some photos before having to clear the dining table so we could eat.

Try this ragu with...
Grape & Rosemary Focaccia
Roasted Garlic Bread
Roasted Cauliflower

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | pasta | italian

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Pasta Carbonara

Italian Ecstasy



A number of years ago I spent a week in Italy with my parents. We rented a villa outside of Rome and used it as a home base to explore Rome and southern Tuscany. One morning we visited the ruins of the Emperor Hadrian’s Villa and afterward had a late lunch at a restaurant there. I ordered Fettuccini Carbonara.

This dish had been a favorite of mine since college when I waited tables at a restaurant where it was a specialty. Over the years I’ve made it many times using a recipe based largely on what I remembered from watching the chef fix it. The version I had in Italy was a revelation.

Carbonara has been a favorite of mine since college when I waited tables at a restaurant where it was a specialty.

When it arrived it was a bright lemon yellow. The color turned out to be egg yolks — multiple egg yolks. My version included a single whole beaten egg. What I was served had at least two yolks in it with no whites and no cream. It was unctuously rich and luscious.

The version below is still basically what I’ve made for years, but I learned a lesson about the eggs in Italy.

Fettuccini Carbonara
Serves 4.

8 ounces fettuccini (or spaghetti)
6 ounces pancetta, 1/4" dice
6 egg yolks
2 tbsp olive oil
12 green onions, sliced 1/4" thick
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c heavy cream
4 oz parmegiano — grated
2 oz pecorino — grated
1 tsp salt
Additional salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl mix together egg yolks, cream, and salt.

Add olive oil to a large skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add pancetta and cook, stirring frequently, for two minutes. Add garlic and onion and continue cooking and stirring for one minute. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta, drain quickly, return to pot and add remaining ingredients stirring constantly to prevent egg yolks from curdling. Serve immediately with a healthy grind of black pepper. Fresh asparagus is a wonderful side dish with this meal and a good Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc washes it down nicely.

If you can't get pancetta, you can use ordinary bacon, but ham is a better choice. And if you're feeling rowdy, I sometimes substitute country ham for the pancetta.

Try this Carbonara with...
Baked Baby Artichokes
Green Beans with Anchovies
Roasted Rutabaga

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | pasta | italian

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SG Archive: CostelettesTuscan Lamb Chops

The Girl



It was December of 2001 and, despite having protested for years that I'd never live in California, I'd moved to Sacramento three months before. On this particular day, the Thursday evening after Christmas, I was driving around the town of Sonoma in a steady, chilly, drizzling rain looking for my B&B.

One of the nice things about the publishing business (I was a magazine editor at the time) is that it's no problem for a monthly magazine to just take a week off with minimal notice. I mean lock the doors and leave a message on the answering machine and everyone take a long holiday. Provided you still hit the two or three drop-dead dates for getting the current issue out the door this is relatively painless for a small company. So we'd given everyone the week between Christmas and New Years off and I decided to take my first trip to The Wine Country.

Sonoma has a lovely town square — in the daylight, with the sun shining. But on a wet Thursday night in that purgatory between holidays it's not particularly welcoming.

My problem at the moment was I couldn't find the B&B I had reservations for. I had a map I'd printed out from MapPoint but for the first (and so far, only) time MapPoint had led me astray. I tried calling but there was no answer. Finally I spotted a UPS truck and I accosted the driver as he got out to make a delivery. Luckily he knew where the place was and so, about 6:30 I pulled into a gravel driveway next to a rambling house that appeared to be some sort of strange hybrid of Queen Anne and Craftsman bungalow.

I got out, and dashed up the stairs to the front door. Locked. Coming back down I missed a step in the dark and fell, badly bruising my back and hip. I hobbled around back. There was a light over the back door but it, too, was locked. In desperation I limped over to what I'd thought was the garage and found a note on the door addressed to me along with a key to the house and my room. I dumped my bag in the room and sore, wet, and hungry went looking for supper.

Sonoma has a lovely town square — in the daylight, with the sun shining. But on a wet Thursday night in that purgatory between holidays it's not particularly welcoming. More or less by default, I walked into a restaurant named The Girl and the Fig. Surprisingly for a Tuesday night, it was packed. It looked like my day was only going to get worse

There was a large woman in jeans and sweater working as hostess who told me there'd be about a 15 minute wait and asked if I wanted to wait at the bar. Apparently she'd sized up my frame of mind because she escorted me to the bar and told the bartender: "Take care of him." A few minutes later she came back and directed me to an empty bar stool. And I'd just ordered my second bourbon and water when she returned to take me to a table.

The waitress recommended the costelette (Italian marinated lamb chops). They were excellent, the wine recommended by my waitress was a perfect match and her service could not have been better — attentive, competent, and ubobstrusive. When I got the bill, my first drink had been comped. I had been "taken care of."

When I got home I did my best to recreate the recipe.

Costelettes
Serves 4.

8 lamb chops
1 c olive oil
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic — crushed
2 sprigs rosemary — bruised by rubbing between palms
2 generous pinches of salt

Combine everything except lamb chops in a one gallon ziplock bag and allow floavors to meld for several hours. Add chops to bag and marinate for about 3 hours.

Grill chops on a charcoal grill to preference — about 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

It was somewhat cloudy for the rest of my visit, but I had a great time touring wineries and playing tourist.

I went back to the restaurant twice more and took a large party of foodies to the sister restaurant, The Girl and the Gaucho. It was always good. And the hostess who recognized someone in need of some TLC? She was The Girl.

Try these Costelettes with...
Green Beans with Anchovies
Potato/Carrot Gratin
Buttermilk Pie

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | lamb | italian | main dish

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Italian Eating

Boot Licking



I love food from the Mediterranean area whether Spanish, Greek, Moroccan, French, or Italian. These cuisines all share elements in common such as the herbs, lots of garlic, lemons, olives, and olive oil and yet each cuisine manages to be distinct and even have distinct regional cuisines. The food served in toe of the boot is not the same as that served in Tuscany, which is in turn different from the Piedmont. But whatever the region, Italian food delights our senses of taste, smell, and sight. Most of the recipes below are traditionally Italian, although with my own tweaks, but whatever the recipe, they all have Italian roots.

Canapé Toppings: Although one of these recipes is based on Greek cuisine (feta, tomatoes, and basil), the other two have a decided Italian spin. One combines prosciutto and goat cheese and the other is for an artichoke tapenade — the Italians do love artichokes. Spread these on crackers, toast points, or bruschetta; open a bottle of wine; and relax.

Fettuccini Carbonara - Quixotic Quest: Fettuccini/Spaghetti Carbonara had been a favorite of mine since college when I waited tables at a restaurant where it was a specialty. Over the years I’ve made it many times using a recipe based largely on what I remembered from watching the chef fix it. Then, number of years ago, I spent a week in Italy. We rented a villa outside of Rome and used it as a home base to explore Rome and southern Tuscany. One morning we visited the ruins of the Emperor Hadrian’s Villa and afterward had a late lunch at a restaurant there. I ordered Fettuccini Carbonara. It was a revelation.

Ragu Bolognese - In the Flesh: Ragu Bolognese is the fundamental recipe behind meat and tomato sauces. But comparing the slow-cooked, handmade version with what most of us experience is like comparing a Rolls Royce with a Yugo — yeah, they're both cars, but riding in a Rolls is completely different from riding in a Yugo. And eating this wonderful sauce on pasta is much closer to the Rolls experience than the Yugo.

Braciole - Harvesting Ideas: Braciole is not a particularly complicated or elegant dish. It's simply a piece of meat — most often beef or veal and sometimes pork — wrapped around a stuffing and then braised. Sometimes it's made using scaloppini in individual portions and sometimes it's prepared as a large roast. But however you do it, you wind up with tender meat and the most luscious sauce imaginable.

Osso Bucco - Hole in the Bone: It had been at least 20 years since I last made or had osso bucco, literally "hole bone." The name refers to the circlet of bone in the center of each section of cross-cut shank. After cooking, the marrow in the center of the bone falls out or is scooped out leaving a circlet of bone — a bone with a hole. Historically the dish is from Milan and was veal braised with white wine, cinnamon, allspice, and bay. My version is less historical but is still based on Italian recipes.

Milk-braised Pork - Simple, Strange, Delicious: Perhaps it's just me, but braising pork in milk seemed like a strange idea to me. It is also such a simple recipe that (pork, milk, garlic, and salt and pepper) that I wondered how much flavor it would have. But Doc Biggles at Meathenge has never steered me wrong, and I did want something new so I decided to give it a shot. This has since become one of my all-time favorite recipes.

Chicken Picatta - And All that Jazz:I've been trying, but for the life of me I can't remember when I first had Chicken Picata nor where. But it seems like it's been a standard in my recipe repertoire forever. It quick and easy, has tremendous flavor complexity. It's also the most popular recipe I've ever posted. Also, I usually have everything I need on hand (I've usually got two or three chicken breasts in the freezer) so I'll thaw the breast in hot water (this is safe for a small piece of meat that's then immediately cooked), pound it flat, and 45 minutes after pulling the chicken out of the freezer I'm eating.

Saltimbocca - Jump in the Mouth: Saltimbocca is an Italian word meaning "jump in the mouth" and is the name of a Roman dish classically made with veal, prosciutto, and sage. It's also sometimes made with chicken or pork and cheese is a frequent addition. I have trouble finding good veal so I usually use chicken, but either is great. Garnish the dish with a couple of fried sage leaves.

Green Beans with Anchovies - Umami, Whoa-o: The Italians love anchovies. For that matter, they're beloved around the Med. Anchovies are high in umami, the fifth taste, the savory taste. Whether pack in oil or salt, Mediterranean anchovies aren't as fishy as the American version, but that easy to deal with, cut back a bit. The purpose of anchovies isn't so much to add flavor as to enhance existing savory flavors and these wee, little fishies do that beautifully. These beans also feature olive oil, garlic, and pancetta — they're way good.

Potatoes Parmigiano - Simple Perfection: I was at the farmers' market and stopped at stall where a fellow was selling potatoes. Aside from the fact he had all his teeth, he was the epitome of a hillbilly. Long and lanky with a long gray beard that would make ZZ Top envious, he completed the picture by wearing overalls. He also had some of the prettiest little Yukon Golds I've ever seen. Although, I came up with this recipe from scratch, it certainly tastes Italian to me.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | Italian

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Penne with Sausage

Summer's Gift



I bought a Grainger County tomato yesterday afternoon. Grainger County has a micro-climate that allows tomatoes to ripen about two weeks early and at one time we food freaks sought them out for our first taste of summer. Sadly, the secret got out and today Grainger County tomatoes are mass-produced and only slightly better (because they're harvested only a couple of days early instead of a couple of weeks early) than the standard supermarket tomato imported from Florida or California. For lunch today I made a BLT with that tomato (because it needs the help of bacon, lettuce, bread, and mayo to be its best).

But genuine local tomatoes have begun peeping out at the farmers' market. They aren't quite in season yet and the ones I've seen were picked earlier than the ideal (except for the green ones) but I'm guessing they'll be on every farmer's table by the week after next.

I'll stuff my face with good tomatoes until my skin turns red.

If you haven't guessed, I happen to be a tomato-eating fool. I'll stuff my face with good tomatoes until my skin turns red. Once they're readily available my lunch almost every day for a month will be sliced tomatoes with basil and cheese dressed with salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. The only variation will be in the cheese: feta, fresh mozzarella; or chèvre. I'll also snack on "cherry" tomatoes most afternoons.

And tomatoes will appear in my suppers. I've got a Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup recipe that I'll be passing on here later and I make gazpacho two or three times every summer — both are great with sandwich suppers. But something I made last year and never got around to writing about is first on my supper list this year. It's simple but incredibly intense and really makes the best of the ingredients.

Penne with Sausage and Roasted Tomato Sauce
Serves 6.

3 links Italian Sausage (about 3/4 lb) — cut into 1/4" slices
8 lg roasted tomatoes with oil
1 md green bell pepper — 1/2" dice
1 md yellow onion — 1/2" dice
3 anchovy filets — rinsed and minced
3 lg cloves garlic — finely sliced
1/4 c red wine
1 lb penne or rigatoni
Leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
shredded Parmigiano Reggiano

Roast tomatoes and pour off oil, reserving. Coarsely chop tomatoes in a blender or food processor.

Brown Italian sausage in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat then drain on paper towels.

Pour off rendered fat, reserving about a teaspoon and add oil from roasted tomatoes - you should have about 2 tablespoons of oil in total. Add pepper, onion, and anchovies and sauté over medium heat until onions are lightly browned. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

Add red wine and deglaze skillet. Add chopped tomatoes and sausage and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done, drain. Add fresh oregano to sauce, spoon sauce over pasta, and top with shredded Parmigiano.

Try Penne with Sausage with...
Feta Stuffed Peppers
Fraised Brussles Sprouts
Grape/Rosemary Focaccia

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | pasta | main dish | italian

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Chicken Piccata

And All That Jazz



I've been trying, but for the life of me I can't remember when I first had Chicken Picata nor where. But it seems like it's been a standard in my recipe repertoire forever.And "repertoire" with its allusions to music strikes me as a particularly good choice of words in this case.

Think jazz. Imagine a small combo: Bass, piano, guitar, drums, flute. Pick a simple tune — a lively old standard such as Blue Skies or Elephant Dance. Lay down a bass line. Get the feets tappin' and fingers snappin'. A chicken breast from a free-range bird will work.

Repertoire with its allusions to music strikes me as a particularly good choice of words in this case.

Dredge the breast in flour and Parmigiano seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika enhancing the bass with brush and snare. Now brown it in a hot piano and the melody will flood your senses.

The sauce is last. Wine and capers for the guitar, and instead of flute, lemon juice calls to mind a fife — high, tart, pure, and just a bit painful.

Chicken Piccata
Serves 4.

4 6-oz chicken breast filets
1/3 c flour
4 tbsp finely grated Parmigiano or other dry cheese
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cold butter
salt and pepper
2 tsp paprika
2 lg lemons — juiced
4 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp capers

Heat oven to 225.

Place a breast between two sheets of moistened plastic wrap and pound to 1/4" thick. Repeat for remaining breast[s].

Moisten chicken breasts with water, then lightly season chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika. Dust with Parmigiano and pat lightly to make it adhere to the chicken. Dredge in flour. Allow to rest about two minutes and dredge again.

Meanwhile, heat oil in 10" skillet over medium heat until hot. Add 2 breasts to hot oil and cook for about one minute until oil side is golden brown. Turn and repeat for other side. Place breasts on a plate in oven to keep warm. Repeat for remaining breasts.

Add wine, lemon juice, and capers to skillet — scraping up fond — and reduce. Remove from heat and swirl in butter. Plate breasts and drizzle with sauce.

Note 1: To fancy-up the dish, pare the skin and pith from a lemon and cut out segments (these are called "supremes"). Add them to the skillet and cook about one minute before sauce is finished.

Note 2: When fixing this for more than four I find it best to use two skillets.

Try Chicken Piccata with...
Italian Sausage Pilau
Sauteed Greens
Coffee Granita

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | chicken | italian | main dish

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Braciole

Harvesting Ideas



Sometimes an idea infiltrates your consciousness. Starting like an inconspicuous tuft of green in a stone wall it begins to climb spreading shoots and runners until one day you notice it as though it sprang overnight to cover the entire collection of stones. This is how braciole grew in my mind.

I first heard of it on a cooking show but, involved with something else, I wasn't really watching. I heard the name, noticed a couple of the ingredients, and looked up at the end to catch a glimpse of the finished dish. That was around nine months ago and during the time the idea of braciole had grown until it was something I had to fix.

I suspected the rolling, which would in effect change it from a steak to a roast, would improve results. I was right.

Braciole is not a particularly complicated or elegant dish. It's simply a piece of meat — most often beef or veal and sometimes pork — wrapped around a stuffing and then braised. Sometimes it's made using scaloppini in individual portions and sometimes it's prepared as a large roast. I had guests coming for dinner last weekend and decided it was time to harvest.

I looked up a dozen or more recipes in books I had and on the Web. I began my search with a couple of prejudices that had already formed in my mind. First, I wanted to do a roast and not individual rolls. Second, the sauce should be based on fresh tomatoes (that's one reason I hadn't already made it). Eventually I put together a recipe.

For the meat I decided on round steak. This isn't a cut I use often. It has a good flavor — nice and beefy — but as a working muscle it's tough. Furthermore, it has little fat to lubricate and ameliorate the tough fibers and because it's a steak and not a roast, slow cooking typically just wrings what juice it does have out of it. But I suspected the rolling, which would in effect change it from a steak to a roast, would improve results. I was right.

The meal and the braciole were a success. The meat was reasonably tender and richly flavored with a luscious broth (serve with plenty of bread for sopping).

Braciole
Serves 6.

2 lb round steak
3 lg ripe tomatoes — cut into chunks, not seeded
5 lg cloves garlic — coarsely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 c finely chopped mixed fresh herbs — thyme, oregano, parsley, lavender, sage
1/2 c grated pecorino romano
1/2 c red wine
4 - 6 thin slices prosciutto

Heat oven to 350F.

Pound round steak to 1/2" thick. Season with salt and pepper. Line with prosciutto, then sprinkle with 1/2 cup mixed herbs. Sprinkle with pecorino. Roll up and tie with twine.

Heat oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven. Add roast and brown on all sides. Add wine and reduce, scraping up fond. Add tomatoes, garlic, and remaining herbs. Cover and place in oven. Cook for 2 hours, checking one or twice to make sure there's plenty of liquid in the pot. (Add beef broth is you need to replenish liquid.)

Remove roast from broth and allow to rest for minutes before removing twine and carving.

Try Braciole with...
Cece Fritos
Vidalia Artichoke Tart
Italian Apple Cake

And here's another take on Braciole.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | beef | italian

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Chicken Parmigiano

How Did I Miss It?



Wednesday night I taught a class on cooking fish. The class was packed — 22 students — and as usual, great fun. I began with sautéed jerked shrimp, moved on to broiled tilapia with arugula pesto, did salmon in parchment, grilled tuna and topped it with Romesco sauce, and ended with poached tilapia with a lemon/cream sauce. The only significant technique I didn't cover was frying fish and there was simply no way to fry at that venue for that many people. All together I cooked served 16 pounds of fish.

I was standing behind the counter after serving the last dish, trying a bite of it and listening to the "hmms" running around the room and couldn't resist saying, "You know, I get to eat like this all the time." And you know, I do and that's the point.

I was surprised a week ago to realize I'd never made Chicken Parmesan — in fact, somehow I'd never even eaten this Italian restaurant staple.

The underlying theme that links all of my classes, the articles I write, and even the food I prepare for my personal chef clients is simplicity. Like Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee I'm sensitive to the demands of schedules, the lack of good kitchen training, and the desire for bold flavors. Unlike them, I think you can cook such meals without taking shortcuts. At the Pasta and Herbs class I did a couple of weeks ago the students kept noting how easy the dishes were and yet full of flavor: "I could come home from work and make this."

So I was surprised a week ago to realize I'd never made Chicken Parmigiano — in fact, somehow I'd never even eaten this Italian restaurant staple. I did some research and came up with this recipe, which is largely based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. The egg dip enables lots of cheese to adhere to the chicken and produces a wonderfully crisp crust.

Chicken Parmigiano
Serves 4.

4 chicken breasts — pounded to 1/2" thick
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs — whisked
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated parmigiano
1 tsp. dried thyme
Marinara sauce

Heat oven to 225F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Place 1/4 cup flour in a pie pan. Put egg in a pie pan. Combine 2 tablespoons flour, Parmigiano, and thyme in a pie pan.

Season breasts with salt and pepper. Coat 2 breasts in flour and shake off excess. Dip in egg and coat thoroughly. Dip in Parmigiano and coat thoroughly. Cook two breasts for about 4 minutes per side until lightly browned. Transfer to an oven proof-plate and keep warm in the oven. Repeat for other breasts.

Serve, topped with warm marinara sauce.

This version is boldly but simply flavored. Each element from chicken to cheese to sauce works in harmony. An Oregon Pinot Grigio would be a perfect wine.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | main dish | chicken | italian

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Osso Bucco

Hole in the Bone



In the past three years I've seen veal shanks at the supermarket exactly once, last week. So of course I had to buy them.

It's been at least 20 years since I last made or had osso bucco, literally "hole bone." The name refers to the circlet of bone in the center of each section of cross-cut shank. After cooking, the marrow in the center of the bone falls out or is scooped out leaving a circlet of bone — a bone with a hole.

In the past three years I've seen veal shanks at the supermarket exactly once.

Historically the dish is from Milan and was veal braised with white wine, cinnamon, allspice, and bay (called in bianco) then served on rissotto alla Milanese and garnished with gremolata (a mixture of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic). These days the recipes are often less traditional. The "sweet" spices are skipped and tomato is added in some form. This modern version, which includes tomatoes from the New World, is most often served on polenta, made of corn from the New World.

I decided to go a step further and rather than using polenta, I made grits that I flavored with Parmegiano and Fontanella cheese and freshly ground black pepper. This is a wonderful meal on a cold rainy night.

Osso Bucco
Serves 2.

1 lb. veal shank (ideally one section, 3/4 to 1 inch thick)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 oz. pancetta &mdash diced
1/2 md. onion — finely diced
1 sm. carrot — finely diced
1 clove garlic — finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh sage
1/2 cup veal stock
1/2 cup vermouth or white wine
1 Tbsp. tomato paste

Tie veal with twine to keep is from falling apart, season veal with salt and pepper, and then dredge in flour. Tie rosemary, sage, and bay leaf in a square of cheesecloth (a bouquet garni).

Sauté pancetta in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat until browned. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon. Increase heat to medium-high and brown lamb shank on both sides. Add to plate with pancetta.

Reduce heat to medium and sauté onions and carrots for five minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute longer. Add vermouth (or white wine) and deglaze pan. Return veal and pancetta to pan, add veal stock, bouquet garni, and tomato paste to pan.

Reduce heat to low and partially cover pan. Barely simmer for one hour then serve.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | osso bucco | veal | main dish | italian | paisano

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Paisano: Guazzetto

Gesundheit!



Paisano and I were cruising through the meat department trying to decide what to fix for dinner when Paisano cried "GwaCHETto," to which I responded with a polite, "Gesundheit."

"No, no, no. Oxtails! GwaCHETto!"

"Ok, so what's that?"

Turns out it's a pasta sauce, or soup, or maybe stew made with oxtails, or fish, or maybe beef or pork ribs. I even found a recipe for frog legs. As I later learned, guazzetto as it's actually spelled means "splashed" and specifically splashed with wine and tomatoes.

Paisano cried "GwaCHETto," to which I responded with a polite, "Gesundheit."

So we bought the oxtails and returned to his friends' house and made guazzetto, pasta, and baby artichokes. Oddly — well, maybe not so oddly, he is the Paisano after all — he served the guazzetto over browned cubes of stale bread. Pretty damned tasty.

Guazzetto
Serves 6.

1 1/2 lb oxtails
1/2 oz dried porcini
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion — finely chopped
1 carrot — finely chopped
3/4 c red wine
15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp anchovy paste
2 bay leaves
1 whole clove
3 - 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 - 6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 c homemade beef or chicken stock or 2 c canned chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 275F.

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, remove from heat, and add dried porcini. Allow to rehydrate for 15 minutes. Remove mushrooms and reserve. Strain the water the mushrooms soaked in though cheese cloth or a coffee filter and reserve.

Generously season oxtails with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat and brown oxtails on all sides. Set oxtails aside.

Wrap clove, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves in a small cheescloth sack ad tie with string.

Reduce heat to medium low and sweat onions and carrots for 10 minutes with a generous pinch of salt. Increase heat to medium high, add wine, and deglaze pot. Add all remaining ingredients including oxtails, mushrooms, and mushroom liquid. Add enough stock to just cover the oxtails.

Bring almost to a boil and transfer to a lower rack in the oven. Cook for three hours, topping up liquid with water or additional stock as necessary. Remove from oven. Remove oxtails and shred meat, reserving. Place pot on stove top and reduce to about 2 cups over medium-high heat. Add shredded meat and serve over polenta.

Paisano is a ficticious character.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | guazzetto | oxtails | italian | stew | braise | paisano

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Cece Fritos

Ciao! Cece?



I’ve seen it argued that the most important dish in a meal is the dessert. This argument is akin to the idea that it’s best to have the last word in a debate, it is what people leave remembering. I think there’s a lot of truth to this thought, in both debates and meals, but the alternative assertion, that the first statement in a debate sets the terms, also has an element of truth and, in turn, the first thing served at a meal sets the terms for the meal.

Fortunately, at a meal, the cook can set the terms of the debate as well as making the last arugument. When I have a dinner party, or teach a cooking class for that matter, I like to have a munchy or two sitting out for people to snack on as they arrive. It gives them something to do right off the bat, covers my ass if I run late on the meal, and a well-chosen canapé or hors d’oeuvre sets the tone for the rest of the meal.

At a meal, the cook can set the terms of the debate as well as making the last arugument.

I haven’t posted many recipes for appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, or canapé because I seldom have time to take photos when I’m hosting a party or teaching a class. The number of such recipes certainly doesn’t reflect the number of such dishes I’ve made over the past four years. But I taught a class on Italian cooking last week and began with this recipe. When I had un-cooked cece left-over I brought them home and made a small batch. Too small a batch, sadly, because I could have easily eaten an entire can’s worth.

They’re so easy to do that even making them at the very last minute is practical, which is good because they’re best when eaten still warm from the skillet. They’re also messy — a greasy finger food — so provide plenty of cocktail napkins.

Cece Fritos (Fried Chickpeas)

2 cans chick peas/garbanzos (15oz cans)
1/4 c olive oil
2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp thyme leaves
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Drain, rinse, and dry the chick peas. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chick peas and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the peas begin to pop.

Drain chick peas on a paper towel and sprinkle with seasonings, taste, and adjust seasonings.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin weeks | seriously good | appetizer | munchy | chickpeas | garbanzos | italian

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Pork Chops Florentine

alla Fiorintina



A few weeks ago Doc/Rev Biggles of Meathenge posted a photo of a gorgeous grilled pork chop. Then a week ago I received the August 2007 issue of Cuisine at Home that offered a recipe for "Pork Chops Florentine-Style." This was just too much. I haven't eaten a grilled pork chop since last summer and it was clearly time to do it again.

The recipe in Cuisine at Home intrigued me. Bistecca alla Fiorentina is a famous dish made with a thick T-bone or Porter House steak. I started doing research on it.

In this country we associate "Florentine" with spinach and cream sauces because of dishes such as Eggs Florentine or Chicken Florentine. The origins of this association aren’t clear, but according to one tale Catherine de Medici (yes, of those Medicis) brought spinach to the French Court and in honor of her Italian heritage, she called any dish containing spinach alla Fiorintina: "of the Florentines." Apocryphal or not, it probably was the French, those irrepressible arbiters of culinary terminology, who applied the term to any dish including spinach and cream. But no cuisine, particularly not one with the history of an Italian region behind it, can be so neatly encapsulated in a single preparation.

According to Lidia Bastianich, "[Steak Florentine] seems to have its origins with the many people from Northern Europe who fell in love with the countryside around Florence and decided to move to Tuscany. In fact, so many English relocated to the Chianti area that is has been dubbed 'Chiantishire.'" At any rate, ideally the beef for
Steak Florentine is from the Chianina cattle of the region, which were used primarily as draft animals and could be so large that a single steak might weight 6 pounds.

As I expected, the recipes were all over the map. If anyone ever tells you "this is the absolutely authentic and only way" to prepare a dish, put your boots on, the manure is getting deep. But lemon juice and olive oil were common ingredients in most of the recipes. So I took that as a given. The recipes were divided between marinating or not. I decided to marinate. I also decided not to include any acid in the marinade.

The two chops I had were grass-fed Berkshire hog and grass-fed meat tends to be tough. Marinating in acid would have made the meat even tougher. So instead of juice I elected to use lemon zest. To make sure the lemon got into the meat I heated the olive oil to a low simmer and infused it with the lemon zest, fresh oregano, and garlic. That was some damned-fine tasting oil.

Braciola di Maiale alla Fiorentina (Florentine Pork Chops)
Serves 2.

2 bone-in rib chops, at least 1 inch thick
1 cup olive oil
zest of two lemons (reserve lemons)
2 cloves garlic — minced
3 sprigs fresh oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine olive oil, lemon zest, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small skillet and cook over medium heat until it begins to bubble around the oregano sprigs. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into a ziplock bag, add chops, and refrigerate for at least eight hours — turning occasionally to distribute marinade.

Remove pork from fridge an hour before cooking to warm up.

Build a hot fire in the grill. When the coals are ready, remove the chops from the marinade and dry on paper towels. Cook on each side for about 2 1/2 minutes over direct heat — until mahogany brown. Move chops off the direct heat but with the bone facing the heat and cover the grill and cook for four minutes more.

Serve with lemon wedges.

I had tabouleh with these chops — a perfect accompaniment. The flavors from the marinade are mild, but detectable, especially with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top. Encourage your eaters to season generously with salt and pepper. Encourage your eaters to gnaw the bones as I did, searching for that last delectable morsel.

Technorati: Food | recipe | italy | italian | steak | pork | pork chops | florentine

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Ricotta/Apple Cake

Advance Planning



Two dinner parties, two weekends in a row. I’m cooking for both, not paying for the first, and getting paid for the second. This is what I call fun.

The first party is in Houston, Texas where the group I refer to as my “cooking buddies” is getting together for our 7th semi-annual bash. We’ve been meeting somewhere (Charleston, Santa Fe, Napa…) for a weekend of eating and partying for 12 years now. Usually we out, but this time I’ve been asked to plan and supervise a dinner on Saturday night at the home of one of the group so I’ve been having a great old time planning the menu, working up a schedule, and so on. Two of the other cooks will be working with me — which I consider a huge luxury and should also be great fun.

Then the following weekend I'm doing a dinner party for a small family reunion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I've pretty much tied down the menu for that event, but I needed another dessert.

Desserts are always a bit of a quandary for me. I don’t fix them often and never have, so I don’t always have a good feel for how a recipe will turn out after reading it, and I don’t have a good sense for what I can — or should —

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. ~ Virginia Woolf

do to tweak it. Ordinarily this isn’t a big deal because I seldom fix desserts professionally. But I need something seasonal for the Gatlinburg event.

Apples come immediately to mind, and, although I have an excellent Spiced Apple Cake recipe, it's a lot of trouble to make. So I went looking for an alternative and found a recipe for an Ricotta and Apple Cake. Yesterday I gave it a try. I was disappointed.

Part of the reason was the apples. Currently Braeburns are my favorite cooking apple, but I couldn't find any and went with Staymans. Staymans are a fine cooking apple so this shouldn't have been a problem, but these particular apples were singularly bland. The recipe also called for three grated apples. But that was obviously too much apple, and even the two I did use were too much. I think one and a half would have been perfect. Also, the grating was a bad idea, a small dice would have been superior.

So what I wound up with was lots of bland fruit, no textural distinction, and not enough cake. The part that worked was I made the frosting from the Spiced Apple Cake recipe but used mascarpone instead of cream cheese and reduced the sugar by 25 percent. That worked well. So now I'm thinking I'll make a two-layer version (half the size) of the older recipe.

And this is exactly why I don't experiment with desserts when I'm being paid to fix them. I just don't understand this kind of baking well enough to judge a recipe simply by reading it.

Technorati: Food | recipe | dessert | cake | apple cake | italian

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Ragu from Bologna

In the Flesh



Yesterday some friends were passing through Knoxville on their way to Memphis from Winston-Salem, North Carolina so of course I invited them to have supper here and stay the night. Actually, I didn't know him but I've known her for about five years — we'd just never met I the flesh before.

This is old-hat for me. I'd guess that over the past 15 or so years I've met over 50 people that I first got to know on-line. But Angela was nervous about it and her husband, Frank, was downright skeptical about the whole idea of making friends on-line — much less planning on staying the night with a "stranger." Some folks just don't understand how genuine friendships can be based on e-mail.

Angela is much prettier and more elegant than I'd imagined and has a gorgeous and genteel tar-heel accent — characteristics that completely belie the quirky and somewhat warped sense of humor I knew she possessed.

Our minds are constructed in such a way that we automatically form mental pictures of people we know even if we've never seen them. Apparently we require some sort of visual image to hang our knowledge, suppositions, and opinions of them on. And no one I've eventually met in person has ever looked or sounded at all like I expected, which isn't particularly odd. What is odd — at least the first few times — is how quickly after that initial meeting the other person's actual physical and, especially, vocal character completely supplant the fictional image you've carried around for so long. Within a few short minutes they're as familiar as they would have been if you'd always known them in person.

As it turns out, Angela is much prettier and more elegant than I'd imagined and has a gorgeous and genteel tar-heel accent — characteristics that completely belie the quirky and somewhat warped sense of humor I knew she possessed. Frankly I was expecting someone a bit more country. And speaking of Frank, he turned out to be a quiet and rather taciturn man with a wickedly ironic sense of humor. They were perfect foils for each other.

They didn't know exactly when they'd arrive — between 5:00 and 7:00, they thought — so I needed to fix a meal that would hold well. Neither of them are foodies, although Angela has an appreciation of food. She warned me, though, that Frank is fairly conservative about what he eats. I decided to make pasta Bolognese.

I'd never made it before — never even eaten it — but it's long been on my list and everybody likes spaghetti so I figured Frank would be Ok with it. I used Marcella Hazan's recipe in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking as the base, but tweaked it a bit. For the pasta, I had some Papardelle that I'd been looking for an excuse to serve and this seemed a good time.

I fixed a salad with raspberry vinaigrette to go along with it and for dessert I made gingerbread cake that I served warm with a sherry sauce. It was all good and we finished off the gingerbread for breakfast this morning before they left.

Ragu Bolognese
Serves 6.

3 tbls olive oil
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1/3 c finely chopped celery
1/3 c finely chopped carrot
1 lb beef — minced or coarsely ground
1/2 lb pork — minced or coarsely ground
1 1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 1/2 c dry white wine
1/4 tsp nutmeg
28 oz whole tomatoes — roughly chopped, with their juice
3 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp anchovy paste
1 lb parpardelle
4 tbsp butter
Parmigiano Regiano

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent -- about 3 minutes. Add celery and carrot and cook another two minutes. Increase heat to medium high and add beef and pork, season with salt and pepper, and cook stirring as needed, until no pink remains.

Reduce heat to medium low and add milk. Simmer until little or no liquid remains. Add nutmeg and white wine and simmer until little or no liquid remains. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and anchovy paste, stir to mix thoroughly, reduce heat to low, and simmer for three hours. (Note: the sauce should just barely bubble.) Stir occasionally and add water as needed to prevent mixture from drying out. However, at the end the ragu should not be runny.

Cook pasta and toss with butter. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano.

We had a great time and, because Angela is a photographer and wanted to see how I take my food pictures, I got some photos before having to clear the dining table so we could eat.

Technorati: Food | recipe | main dish | pasta | bolognese

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Vitello con Carciofo

Serendipity



It was about 8:00 pm, 10:00pm my time, on a Tuesday night and I was in Scottsdale, Arizona. I'd only been to Scottsdale once before, when I interviewed for the job that brought me here on this October evening. I'd been driving around for about an hour getting a feel for the area and looking for a place to eat.

Sadly, nothing caught my eye. There were the usual collection of fast food joints, pizza joints, and family-style joints. But as hungry as I was, I couldn't persuade myself to stop at any of them. I was heading back to the hotel when I noticed a little restaurant hidden in a strip mall -- an Italian joint. Don't ask me why, but I made a U-turn and stopped there.

It was a tiny place with three tables in front by a bar and another 15 or so tables in back. There were, perhaps, four tables seated. The bartender greeted me and when I asked for a smoking table waved me to a table up front by the bar. Then he brought me a menu and took my drink order.

The bartender was not your typical college kid. He was a dark, well-built middle-aged man wearing a starched white shirt, a starched white apron, and a conservative tie. He had an Italian accent. So when he brought my drink I said, "Grazie." He responded with, "Prego."

The menu wasn't the typical Italian-joint fare either. I asked the bartender for a recommendation and he suggested the veal. I've had good veal dishes, but never in this country. The veal is usually so bland as to be tasteless. But I took him at his word and ordered it. It was excellent and, when I asked, the chef was kind enough to tell me what went in it.

Veal Scaloppini with Artichokes

2 ea veal scallopini (1/4 lb each)
1/4 c flour
2 ea jars marinated artichoke hearts -- quartered
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 ea lemon -- juiced
1/4 c white vermouth
parsley -- chopped

Lightly season both sides of scaloppini and flour lightly, shaking off excess.

Heat 2 tablespoons of artichoke marinade and olive oil over medium heat. Saut´ veal for two minutes on each side. Do not overcook! Remove to warm dish.

Place artichokes in skillet; add extra oil if necessary, cook, stirring gently, until warmed through. Add lemon juice and wine and scrape up fond. Return veal to pan and heat everything together briefly. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with rice or buttered noodles. Serves 2.

I can't say what prompted me to stop at that little unassuming restaurant, but the impulse was a good one. Although I didn't live in Scottsdale, the job brought me there another half a dozen times and I always made a point of eating at least one meal in what became my favorite Italian restaurant.

Technorati: Food | Main Dish | veal

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