Stracotto (Italian Braised Beef)

Last night I tried cooking something I had not made before and it turned out great. I watched Jamie Oliver(The Naked Chef) make this dish on Youtube. There really was no recipe, other than watching what he did, so I went through the three and a half minute video a couple of times and made some notes. I added a couple of ingredients and the result was terrific! You braise a chuck roast for about three and a half hours until it falls apart and then you cook some pasta and use the reduced braising liquid as a sauce which you thicken with lots of parmesan cheese and parsley. In the end you have a really complete meal with meat,vegetables and pasta. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

3-3.5 Lb. Chuck Roast

3 Large Carrots, peeled and cut into a rough dice

2 Large stocks celery, diced 

1 Large Red Onion, chopped

1 Fennel Bulb, diced

3 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Cup Red Wine

3 TBSP Tomato Paste

1.5 Quarts Beef Broth

1 Can Beef Consume

1 Large Bunch Fresh Sage

1 Large Bunch Fresh Thyme

1 Lb. Wide Pasta such as Tagliatelle or Fettuccine

1 to 1.5 Cups Grated Parmesan

1 Large Bunch Italian Parsley, chopped

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large cast iron dutch oven or heavy bottomed soup pot with a tight fitting lid. Trim some of the excess fat from the chuck roast and season well with salt and pepper. Brown the roast well on all sides in the hot oil. When roast is well browned remove to a plate and hold. Add all the veggies(soffritto) to the pot and cook over medium heat until veggies are soft and beginning to caramelize. Add minced garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, a minute or two. Deglaze the pot with the red wine, scraping up all of the brown bits and frond on the bottom of the pot. Add tomato paste and mix well with the veggies until they are well coated. Cook for a minute or two. Add the beef broth and consume. Return roast to the pot. Using butcher's twine, tie the sage and thyme into a tight bundle and add to the pot, draping the string over the edge of the pot, so that you can remove the herbs in a bunch when the meat is done. Put the lid on the pot and simmer on medium low heat for three to three and a half hours, until meat is tender and beginning to fall apart.  When the meat is almost done, cook the pasta in a separate pot per the package directions. When meat is done, remove to a platter and ladle a small amount of the liquid and vegetables over the meat. Add the cooked pasta to the braising liquid in the dutch oven and stir well. Thicken with about 1 cup of the grated parmesan and 2/3 of the chopped parsley. Transfer cooked pasta to another platter. Top with more of the sauce and garnish the pasta with the rest of the parmesan and parsley. Enjoy!!

Butternut squash puree

Last night I made breaded pork cutlets with apple fritters and braised red cabbage with onion, bacon and apples. I wanted a little more color on the plate and something to give the pork more flavor, so I came up with a butternut squash puree. It turned out really well and added a lot of flavor when you had a little of it with a bite of the pork. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

2 Lbs. Cubed Butternut Squash(Available at Costco, already cubed)

4 TBSP Butter, divided

2 TBSP Brown Sugar

2 TBSP Maple Syrup

Salt and Pepper to taste

2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Cup Chicken Stock

4-5 Sage Leaves, minced

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400*. Melt 2 TBSP butter and then mix with the brown sugar and maple syrup. In a medium bowl, toss the squash cubes in the butter mixture. Salt and Pepper to taste. Cover a cookie sheet with sides with aluminum foil. Spread the coated squash in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Roast in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until very tender and starting to brown. While the squash is roasting put the remaining 2 TBSP butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Saute the minced garlic and minced sage in the butter until the garlic is fragrant and turning translucent and the sage is crispy. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and keep warm until squash is ready. Put the roasted squash into a blender. Add about half of the stock mixture and puree the squash. You will probably need to add more of the stock a little at a time until you get the texture you are looking for. You want a smooth silky puree but it shouldn't be runny. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Use this puree as a standalone side dish or as a base upon which to serve pork tenderloin, chops or cutlets as pictured above. Enjoy!!

 
 

Grandstand Burgers

Today was a beautiful day in Kansas City and neither Jan nor I were busy, so we decided to have a little lunch outing. I had read an article earlier in the week that talked about two Kansas City area restaurants having hamburgers that were listed in the top 100 hamburgers in the country. They were Town Topic and Grandstand Burgers. Grandstand Burgers had been recommended to me by a friend and when I also saw it was one of the two mentioned restaurants on the list, I knew we had to try it. 

Going to Grandstand is like taking a trip back in time. As you can see in the photo above, this is not a fancy place. It is very small, has no indoor dining, no drive up window and the building is original. There is room for one customer at a time to go in the door and order at the counter. The rest of the building is taken up by half a dozen people working at flattop griddles and deep fryers. Every burger is cooked to order and it is not a fast food restaurant. It took about 15-20 minutes to get our food. There are 8 or 10 picnic tables outside where you can eat if you don't want to sit in your car. 

In the article, the author recommended the Kelly Burger. I ordered it as a combo. The Kelly, it turns out, is a double cheeseburger with a thin slice of ham between the patties and bacon on top. The available toppings are lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard and mayo. I went with ketchup and pickle only as I wanted to really taste the burger. The combo comes with a drink, your choice of fries or tots and a couple of onion rings as well. What I didn't realize, was that each patty was somewhere between 6 and 8 ounces. When the burger came out I was astonished at the amount of meat. It was more than I could eat and it turns out that they have a Kelly single, which I will get next time. Jan was wiser (there's a shocker), and she went with a single burger with everything except onion and cheese. She got a side of onion rings to go with the burger. 

The burgers were delicious and we both thought they were the best we had had in the Kansas City area. The patties were thick but cooked nicely all the way through. They were juicy to the point of dripping and the flavor was terrific. I expect the fat content was quite high. The buns were toasted to be nice and crispy. The tots and onion rings were deep fried and crunchy. Everything came out piping hot. All in all it was great. Not health food but really tasty. 

If you live here or are visiting the Kansas City area I highly recommend you give Grandstand a try. Don't expect anything fancy but the food is excellent and very plentiful !!

 

Stir Fried Rice

Stir Fired rice is a very versatile dish that can be a really tasty one dish meal. You can use leftover rice or just about any leftover meat you may have. I especially like to use leftover pork or chicken to add protein to the dish. Shrimp is also a delicious addition. We got the recipe from the Kansas City Star a couple of years ago, where it was attributed to James P. Dewan of the Chicago Tribune. Give it a try and feel free to use any vegetables you like and any meat you want or any combo you can come up with. Just use this as a basic recipe and use your imagination from there. 

Ingredients:

1 OZ. Soy Sauce

2 OZ. Chicken Stock

1 OZ. Oyster Sauce(optional)

2 OZ. Peanut Oil or other vegetable oil

2 Eggs Beaten

Salt as needed

8 OZ. Onion, cut into a medium dice

1 Carrot, Cut into a medium dice

1 TBSP Minced Garlic

1 TBSP Peeled and Minced Ginger

1 Cup Peas(I use frozen)

3 to 4 Cups Cooked Rice(Leftover from carryout Chinese works well)

1 TBSP Sesame Oil

2 Green Onions, sliced on the bias

Preparation:

Combine soy sauce, chicken stock and optional oyster sauce in a small bowl and set aside. Heat a large skillet or Wok over high heat. Add one TBSP of the oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add eggs and season to taste with salt, and cook until lightly scrambled. Transfer eggs to a bowl. 

Return pan to high heat and add another TBSP of oil. Stir in onion and carrot; saute until tender. If you are using uncooked meat, you would add it at this time too and cook until done. Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant.

Add Peas, rice, cooked eggs and reserved soy sauce mixture and saute until warmed through and liquid is absorbed. If you are adding  cooked meat you would add it here as well. 

Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil. Check for seasoning and adjust with soy sauce, additional sesame oil or hot sauce as desired, Garnish with the sliced green onion then serve and enjoy.