Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [187]
4. Take the meat out of the pot and let it rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes. Slice it very thin, then put the slices back in the pot and turn them in the small amount of sauce that will have formed.
Ahead-of-time note You can complete the recipe up to this point several hours before serving. When ready to serve, warm the meat in its sauce over very low heat. If the roast has absorbed all the sauce, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water while reheating.
Beef Roast Braised with Onions
WHAT IS REMARKABLE about this roast is that it is braised with only the juices that flow from the onions on which the meat rests. Eventually the juices vanish, the meat becomes tenderly impregnated with sweet onion flavor, and the onions themselves turn deliciously brown.
The only fat used is the pancetta with which the beef is larded. If you don’t have a larding needle, push strips of pancetta into the meat using a chopstick of the traditional hard Chinese rather than the soft, breakable Japanese kind, or any other blunt, narrow stick, or similar object. Pierce the meat following the direction of its grain.
For 4 to 6 servings
¼ pound pancetta OR salt porkin a single piece
2 pounds boneless beef roast, preferably the brisket
5 cloves
4 medium onions sliced very, very thin
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Cut the pancetta or salt pork into narrow strips about ¼ inch wide. Use half the strips to lard the meat with a larding needle, or by an alternative method as suggested in the introductory remarks above.
3. Insert the cloves at random into any 5 of the places where the pancetta was inserted.
4. Choose a heavy-bottomed pot just large enough to accommodate the roast snugly. Spread the sliced onion on the bottom of the pot, over it distribute the remaining strips of pancetta or salt pork, then put in the meat. Season liberally with salt and pepper, and cover tightly. If the lid does not provide a tight fit, place a sheet of aluminum foil between it and the pot. Put on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven.
5. Cook for about 3½ hours, until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork. Turn the roast after the first 30 minutes, and every 30 to 40 minutes thereafter. You will find that the color of the meat is dull and unlovely at first, but as it finishes cooking and the onions become colored a dark brown it develops a rich, dark patina.
6. When done, slice the meat and arrange the slices on a warm platter. Pour the contents of the pan and the juices left on the cutting board over the meat, and serve at once.
Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine
For 4 servings
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 beef fillets, cut 1 inch thick
⅔ cup flour, spread on a plate
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
⅔ cup full-bodied dry red wine (follow suggestions in wine note to recipe Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Red Wine)
1. Lightly mash the garlic cloves with a knife handle, just hard enough to split the peel, which you will loosen and discard.
2. Choose a sauté pan that can later accommodate the 4 fillets without overlapping. Put in the oil and butter, and turn on the heat to medium high.
3. Dredge both sides of the meat in flour. As soon as the butter foam begins to subside, put in the fillets and the mashed garlic cloves. Brown the meat deeply on both sides, then transfer to a plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula. Season with salt and liberal grindings of pepper.
4. Add the wine to the pan and let it boil away completely while using a wooden spoon to loosen the cooking residues on the bottom and sides of the pan. When the wine has boiled away, return the fillets to the pan. Cook them in the pan juices for about 1 minute on each side, then transfer the fillets with all the cooking juices to a warm platter, and serve at once.
Beef Stew with Red Wine and Vegetables
THE FRESH, clean taste of this stew is uncomplicated by herbs and seasonings other than salt and pepper. To make it, you need good red wine,