Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [196]
3. When you have browned all the meat and transferred it to a plate, put the onion in the pot. Cook the onion, stirring, until it becomes colored a pale gold, return the lamb to the pot, and then add salt, pepper, and the vinegar. Bring the vinegar to a brisk simmer for about 30 seconds, turning the meat and scraping loose browning residues from the bottom and sides of the pot with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat down to cook at a slow simmer, add the green beans with a little more salt and pepper, and cover the pot, setting the lid on slightly ajar.
4. Cook for about 1½ hours, until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork. The juices in the pot ought to be sufficient, but if you find they are drying up, replenish when needed with 2 or 3 tablespoons water. At the end, the only liquid remaining in the pot should be the oil and the natural cooking juices. When the lamb is done, transfer it with all the contents of the pot to a warm platter and serve at once.
Ahead-of-time note The dish may be prepared entirely in advance and reheated gently just before serving. As with any dish with greens, it will taste best if consumed the day it is made without subjecting it to refrigeration.
Lamb Stew with Ham and Red Bell Pepper
UNLIKE MOST Italian stews in which the meat is put into hot fat, this one starts out a crudo, the meat and the oil heating up together, along with the garlic and herbs. There is also a difference to the ending: Strips of ham and raw sweet pepper are added when the lamb becomes tender, and the cooking continues just long enough to soften the pepper without dulling the freshness of its fragrance.
For 6 servings
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes, with the bone in
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
A sprig of fresh rosemary OR ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
4 or 5 fresh sage leaves OR 2 or 3 dried ones
½ cup dry white wine
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 red or yellow bell pepper
¼ pound boiled unsmoked ham, cut into thin strips
1. Put the oil, lamb, garlic, rosemary, and sage into a saute pan and turn the heat on to medium high. Turn the meat several times for about 15 minutes, until it has become colored a deep brown on all sides. Add the wine, and let it simmer briskly for 15 to 20 seconds, while giving the lamb pieces a complete turn. Add salt and pepper, adjust heat to cook at a slow simmer, and cover the pan, setting the lid slightly ajar.
2. Cook for about 1½ hours, until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork. If, in the interim, you find that the juices in the pan become insufficient, replenish them with 2 or 3 tablespoons water.
3. While the lamb is cooking, skin the raw bell pepper using a swiveling-blade peeler. Split the pepper into sections, remove and discard all the seeds and the pulpy core, and cut the sections into stubby strips about ½ inch wide and 1½ inches long.
4. When the lamb is cooked through and through and has become tender, add the strips of pepper and ham to the stew, and turn over all the contents of the pan. Cover and continue cooking over low heat for about 10 or 15 minutes, until the pepper is soft. If at this point, you find that the remaining juices in the pan are rather runny, uncover the pan, raise the heat, and boil them down briefly. Turn the contents of the pan out onto a warm platter and serve at once.
Ahead-of-time note The stew can be prepared up to this point several hours or a day in advance. Reheat gently, but thoroughly before proceeding with the next step.
PORK
Pork Loin Braised in Milk, Bolognese Style
IF AMONG the tens of thousands of dishes that constitute the recorded repertory of Italian regional cooking, one were to choose just a handful that most clearly express the genius of the cuisine, this one would be among them. Aside from a minimal amount of fat required to brown the meat, it has only two components, a loin of