Italian Braised Beef Food

GRANDPA'S BRAISED BEEF

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat with a thin layer of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the onions, and garlic to the hot oil and sweat them until very soft and very light caramel in color, 20 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and reserve.
• Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add a thin layer of oil to the pan. Pat the meat dry and season very liberally with salt and pepper. Brown the meat to a deep brown all over, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Peel the potatoes and very thinly slice them lengthwise into planks. Slice the tomatoes working over a bowl to catch their juices.
• Arrange 1/2 the onions over top of the meat, season with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon thyme. Arrange 1/2 the potatoes over the onions and dress the potatoes with a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon, salt, pepper, rosemary, and a handful freshly grated cheese. Top the potatoes with 1/2 the tomatoes and their juices, and season with salt and pepper. Scatter a few leaves of torn basil. Repeat the layers. Do not add basil to the top layer of tomatoes.
• Cover the pan and roast the meat in the oven until very tender, 4 hours. Cool and store for make-ahead meal.
• To reheat: Reheat, covered, in a preheated 325 degree F oven until warmed through, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take off the lid of the pot, drizzle the top of the meat with oil, sprinkle with cheese, and broil to lightly crust the top. Cut down through the layers of the potatoes, tomatoes, and onions to portion the meat, serve in shallow bowls with crusty bread and pan juices.

ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Make slits in roast with a sharp knife, and insert garlic slivers. Place roast in a pan not much larger than the roast. Pour water into pan, and season roast with salt, black pepper, red pepper, and oregano.
• Cover, and bake in preheated oven for 2 hours, basting occasionally. Remove from oven, and let cool in roasting pan. Meat should be very rare. Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, Remove roast from pan, and slice as thinly as possible. Add a little water to roasting pan, and heat on stovetop, but do not boil. Stir to blend seasonings. When au jus is hot, add sliced beef just long enough to heat through. Serve on crusty Italian bread with au jus available for dipping.

BRAISED ITALIAN-STYLE POT ROAST

Steps:

• To prepare the sacchétto di spezie:
• Combine all the ingredients in the center of a piece of cheesecloth that is large enough to hold the herb sprigs, and tie in a bundle with butcher's string.
• To prepare the pot roast:
• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• 2. Season the beef with salt and pepper, then lightly dust with flour. Melt the butter in a large (6-quart) flameproof casserole set over medium-high heat. When it is foaming, add the beef and brown it on all sides, 5 minutes. Add the celery, onions, carrot, and sacchétto di spezie. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften slightly, about 2 minutes. Raise the heat to high and add the bottle of wine. Cook until the wine begins to boil, about 2 more minutes, skimming off any fat that rises to the surface.
• 3. Strain the porcini mushrooms through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the liquid. Rinse the mushrooms under cold running water to remove any grit, and add them to the casserole along with the strained mushroom liquid, tomato paste, and tomatoes. The liquid should just cover the meat. If it does not, add chicken broth or water. Cover the casserole and bake it in the oven until the meat is cooked through and tender, about 2 hours. Remove the meat from the casserole to a cutting board, cover with aluminum foil, and set aside.
• 4. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the vegetables and herb bag. Pour the broth back into the casserole and set it over high heat. Bring to a boil and add the arrowroot and the 1/4 cup wine. Cook to reduce and thicken the liquid, about 5 minutes. Carve the meat into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Serve immediately, spooning some of the broth over each portion.

ITALIAN BRAISED BEEF

Steps:

• With the rack in the middle position, preheat oven to 325°F.
• In a saucepan (ovenproof) or dutch oven, brown the beef on each side in half of the oil. Add salt and pepper. Set aside on a plate.
• In a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in chicken stock. Set aside.
• In the same saucepan, brown shallots and garlic in the remaining oil.
• Add tomatoes, tomato paste and keep cooking about 3 minutes. Add chicken stock mixture and bring to a boil while stirring. Put the beef back in the saucepan and add remaining ingredients.
• Cover and cook in oven about 4 hours or until meat shread easily with a fork.
• Note: If you want to do it in the crockpot do step 1 to 4. Then on step 5, put all ingredients in crockpot. Cover and cook at low heat 8 hours.

ITALIAN BRAISED BEEF WITH ROOT VEGETABLES

Steps:

• For Yia Yia's Sunday sauce: Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan or large Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the beef bones. Add the onions and cook until translucent, 2 minutes. Add the salt and garlic and cook until everything is soft but not browned, about 3 minutes. Squeeze the tomatoes one by one into the pan, pulverizing them by hand, and pour in their juice, too. Add the wine, oregano, red pepper flakes, if using, black pepper and bay leaf. Bring the sauce to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to its lowest possible setting, and continue to cook for 8 hours. The sauce should reduce by about one-third. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Remove the bones and bay leaf. Set aside 2 cups. If not using the remaining sauce right away, let it cool, then cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2 months. Yield: 8 cups.
• For the braised beef with root vegetables: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Sprinkle the meat liberally with salt and pepper as much as 1 day in advance. (Cover and refrigerate it if doing so and take the meat out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.) Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. When the oil is on the verge of smoking, sear the meat for about 2 minutes per side. Move the meat to the side (or remove it from the pot altogether if necessary), and add the carrots, celery root and onions. Brown the vegetables for about 3 minutes, and then add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer. Pour in the wine and deglaze the pot, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom. Add Yia Yia's Sunday Sauce, 1 cup water and the bay leaves (and the pot roast if you removed it). Bring the liquid to a simmer and taste for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary. Cover the pot and place it in the oven for 3 hours, basting the meat occasionally during cooking time. When almost ready to serve, make the rigatoni, if using. Boil in salted water according to package directions until al dente. Discard the bay leaves before serving. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and slice into bite-size pieces, or shred with 2 forks. Return the meat to the pot of sauce along with the drained rigatoni. Toss to coat, and serve.

BEEF BRAISED IN BAROLO

Steps:

• Heat the oven, with a rack in the center, to 250°F.
• Season all surfaces of the roast with 1 teaspoon salt. Pour the olive oil into the big pan, and set over medium-high heat. Lay the roast in, and brown it on each side for a minute or two, without moving, until caramelized all over. Remove to a platter.
• Still over medium-high heat, drop in the cut vegetables and garlic cloves, toss to coat with oil, and spread out in the pan. Drop in the rosemary, sage leaves, grated nutmeg, peppercorns, dried porcini, and remaining teaspoon salt, and toss all together. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping up the browned meat bits on the pan bottom, just until the vegetables soften, then lower the heat.
• Push the vegetables to the sides, and return the roast to the pan, laying flat on the bottom. Pour in the three bottles of wine and any meat juices that collected on the platter. The roast should be at least half submerged-add beef stock as needed.
• Cover the pot, and heat until the wine is steaming but not boiling. Uncover the pan, and place it in the oven. After 30 minutes, rotate the roast so the exposed meat is submerged in the braising liquid. Braise this way, turning the meat in the pan every 30 minutes, for about 3 hours, until fork-tender. The liquid should not boil&151;if it does, pour in some cold water to stop the bubbling, and lower the oven temperature.
• After 4 1/2 hours or so, check the beef with a meat thermometer. When its internal temperature reaches 180°F-it should be easily pierced with a fork-take the pan from the oven. Remove the meat to a platter, with intact carrot and celery pieces to serve as a garnish.
• Skim any fat from the braising juices, heat to a boil, and reduce to a saucy consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Pour through a sieve set over a clean container. Press in the juices from the strained herbs and vegetable pieces. Pour in any juices from the meat platter, and season the sauce to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. (If you are not going to serve right away, put the meat and reserved vegetables in the sauce to rest and cool, for a couple of hours or overnight.)
• To serve, slice the meat crosswise (easier when it is cool). Pour a shallow layer of sauce in a wide skillet, and lay the slices in, overlapping. Heat the sauce to bubbling, spooning it over the beef, so the slices are lightly coated. Lift them with a broad spatula, and slide onto a warm platter, fanned out. Heat the carrots and celery in the sauce too, if you've saved them, and arrange on the platter. Serve, passing more heated sauce at the table.