Bottega - Michael Chiarello [10]
Remove any debris, skin, or blood vessels from the tuna using your fingers. Divide the tuna among 5 or 6 pint-sized canning jars and pour enough olive oil into each to completely cover the tuna. Refrigerate the jars for up to 1 month, or follow the canning jar manufacturer’s directions for longer storage.
The Support of a Family
Before we opened Bottega, I was like a kid watching a soccer game from the wrong side of the fence. I wanted to open another restaurant but knew the toll this would take on my family. My youngest daughter, Giana, who was very young when I worked at Tra Vigne, told me, “Go, Dad. Open your restaurant. Your family supports you.”
My wife, Eileen, understood and whole-heartedly supported me. She not only gave me her blessing but helped us set the tone for Bottega in so many ways: She chose the lighting, finishes, chairs, and fabrics. Eileen created the link between the design, the visual experience, and the food. Her thoughtfulness shows in so many of the details of Bottega that whenever I glance around the room it feels like an embrace from her.
Salsa di Pomodoro della Nonna (My Grandmother’s Old Hen Tomato Sauce)
MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS
I remember the day my grandmother Vicencina proved to me that an ornery chicken made the best-tasting brodo. While my grandmother gathered eggs, one bird made the fatal mistake of pecking her ankle, poking a hole in her thick brown support hose. I was small, but even I knew that the bird’s hours were numbered. I don’t know if the sauce my grandmother made that day was so good because revenge added its own seasoning or just because it was that hen’s time, but the flavor of that rich chicken has stayed in my memory all these years.
My mom made this sauce often for gnocchi, and whenever she did, she would pull the hen out of the sauce at the last minute, keep it warm, and then serve it as the secondi, or second course, with fresh-chopped parsley and a little basil. I suggest you try this, too.
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
One 4-pound chicken, quartered
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup peeled and finely diced carrot
¼ cup finely diced celery
½ cup finely diced yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
½ cup dry red wine
Two 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes, put through a food mill, with juice reserved
¼ cup torn fresh basil leaves
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pot and lightly brown on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a plate.
Place the Dutch oven over medium-high heat and sauté the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the rosemary, bay leaf, and red wine. Stir to scrape up the browned bits, then return the chicken to the pot. Cook to reduce the wine until the pot is almost dry. Pour in the milled tomatoes and season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Make a sweating lid to fit the pot. When the sweating lid is in place resting on top the chicken, slide the pot into the oven and cook for about 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked through. (You can use a regular pan lid if you don’t want to cut a sweating lid from parchment, but allow a little more cooking time.)
Using tongs, transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. You can keep the chicken warm and serve it as a second course, or let cool, wrap, and refrigerate for another use. Add the torn basil leaves to the sauce and use this in place of any marinara sauce.
CHEF’S NOTES: Tomatoes put through a food mill have the right consistency for the sauces I make. If you don’t have a food mill, you could pulse tomatoes just 3 or 4 times in a food processor (don’t overprocess them), but to get the same