Gazpacho Anne Burrell Food

BRACIOLE

Steps:

• For the beef rolls:
• Coat a large saute pan with olive oil, add the pancetta and bring the pan to a medium heat. Cook the pancetta until it gets brown and crispy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onions and crushed red pepper and toss to incorporate with the pancetta. Season with salt, to taste. Cook the onions until they are soft and very aromatic, about 7 to 8 minutes.
• While the onions are cooking, in a large bowl, combine the bread and the milk. Toss to combine and let sit until the bread has absorbed the milk and is very soft. Use your hands to get in there and really squish everything together. Reserve.
• Add the garlic to the pan with the pancetta and onion and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with salt, to taste, and saute until the mushrooms are soft and have let off their moisture, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the spinach.
• Add the onion/mushroom mixture to the reserved bread and stir to combine. Add the pine nuts, provolone and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and stir to combine. Taste to make sure that the mixture is delicious and season with salt, to taste, if needed. Set aside.
• Lay the beef slices between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and gently pound with a meat mallet to flatten and even out the slices. Put about 1/4 cup of filling on 1 end of each of the pounded beef slices and roll up. Secure the rolls with toothpicks. Repeat this process with the remaining beef and filling.
• Coat a large, wide pot with olive oil and put over medium-high heat. Season the beef rolls with salt, to taste, and brown them on all sides. When the beef rolls are brown on all sides, remove them from the pan and reserve. Make the sauce in the same pot.
• Remove the oil from the pot that the beef was just browned in. Add a light coating of fresh olive oil and add the onions and crushed red pepper. Season with salt, to taste, and put the pot over medium heat. Sweat the onions until they are translucent and very aromatic, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and red wine, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and 2 cups of water and season with salt, to taste. Return the beef rolls to the pan and snuggle them into the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the beef is very tender and flavorful, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove the toothpicks before serving. To serve, arrange 2 or 3 braciole on each serving plate. Halve 1 or 2 rolls to expose the stuffing. Spoon on some of the sauce and garnish with Parmigiano-Reggiano and chopped parsley.
• Wow! That's a great braciole!

GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!
• After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

GAZPACHO WITH GARLIC CROUTONS

Steps:

• For the soup: In a large bowl combine the tomatoes, garlic and the coarsely chopped cucumbers, peppers and onions. Toss the veggies together. Using a blender or food processor in batches, puree the veggies with 1/2 cup of tomato juice in each batch until smooth. Season each batch with salt. Continue until all the veggies are pureed. If you have any tomato juice left, toss it into the mix, if not YAY!
• Add the olive oil, sherry vinegar and hot sauce to the puree and stir to combine. Taste and season with salt if needed (it will.) If the soup is a bit too vinegary add another pinch of salt (it offsets the acid). Stir, taste again and re-season if needed. Cover and refrigerate until the soup is cold, at least 1 hour.
• For the garlic croutons: Add the olive oil to a large saute pan. With the side of a large knife, smash the garlic cloves to break them. You should be able to smell the garlic....YUM!!! Add the smashed garlic cloves to the pan and bring it to medium heat. Cook the garlic until it is golden and very aromatic, 3 to 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan and ditch it. It has fulfilled its garlic destiny. Add the diced bread to the garlic-perfumed oil and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Season with salt. Remove from the heat and reserve.
• To serve: Remove the soup from the fridge, taste it and adjust the seasoning if needed. (When things are cold they taste less, so do not be alarmed if the soup needs a little more salt.) Place the corn, all the finely diced veggies, croutons and sour cream in ramekins or little bowls and allow people to garnish their soup as desired. It's a DIY situation!!!
• Gazzzz-PACH-ooooooooo that's good!!!