Tuscan Beef Stew With Polenta Spezzatino Di Manzo Toscano Con Polenta Food

SPEZZATINO DI MANZO CON LA POLENTA (BEEF STEW WITH POLENTA)

Steps:

• Pour a generous amount of olive oil (or a mixture of butter and oil) into a sauté or braising pan. Add the onion, carrot and celery and sauté very gently until the vegetables are very soft and the onion translucent. Adding a pinch of salt and a spoonful of water helps the vegetables cook and avoids browning.
• Now add the beef cubes and turn them with a wooden spoon or spatula so they are nicely coated with the vegetables and flavored oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Raise the heat a bit and let the beef brown very lightly, turning constantly to avoid burning.
• Now add a splash of wine and let it evaporate. Then add enough broth to almost cover the meat and, if using, nestle your fresh herbs among the beef cubes. (NB: Most Italian recipes call for much less broth than this, but this way will give you abundant sauce for pouring your polenta: see Notes below.)
• Cover, turn down the flame as low as it will go, and let the beef simmer very gently until fork-tender. Most recipes say an hour and a half, but I find two to three hours is more like it.
• When the meat is tender, uncover and check the consistency of the sauce. If it is rather thin, you can either raise the heat and let it evaporate and/or add a spoonful of corn or potato starch, dissolved in an equal amount of water, to thicken the sauce. If, on the other hand, you want more sauce, then just add more broth or water and let it simmer, uncovered, for a few minutes. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
• Remove the fresh herbs, if used, and serve your Italian beef stew over a nice, hot bed of freshly made polenta (see recipe here).

TUSCAN BEEF STEW WITH POLENTA (SPEZZATINO DI MANZO TOSCANO CON POLENTA)

Steps:

• Trim the excess fat off the beef and cut into 1-inch cubes. In a heavy, large saucepan over moderately high heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and saute, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Add beef and saute, stirring occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 5-6 minutes. Add wine and thyme, stir well, and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper, then lower heat to moderately low, cover, and simmer, stirring every 15 minutes, until beef is tender, about 2 hours. Prepare the Polenta: Pour olive oil into large serving bowl and swirl to coat. Set aside. In a heavy, large pot over moderately high heat, bring stock to a boil. Lower heat to moderate and slowly add polenta, stirring constantly. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until polenta thickens and pulls away from sides of pan, about 10 minutes. Transfer to oil-coated serving bowl and keep warm. When beef is tender, use tongs to remove tomato skins and thyme sprigs. Transfer stew to large serving bowl. Serve polenta alongside. Makes 4 to 6 servings. That's it!

PEPOSA DELL'IMPRUNETA (TUSCAN BLACK PEPPER BEEF)

Steps:

• Place meat in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle all sides generously with 1 tablespoon kosher salt.
• Place chopped garlic and a pinch of salt in a mortar and mash with pestle until pastelike. Add tomato paste; mash until blended. Transfer mixture into bowl with beef and rub onto all sides of meat. Add crushed peppercorns and ground pepper. Distribute evenly over all sides of beef. Transfer to a deep skillet or Dutch oven bone side down. Tuck sage leaves, rosemary, and dry bay leaves between pieces of meat. Carefully add wine along the side of the pan to avoid washing over the top of the meat.
• Place pan over high heat and bring to a simmer; reduce heat to low. Cover tightly. Cook until meat is fork tender, turning pieces every 30 minutes or so, about 3 1/2 hours. Transfer pieces of meat to a warm bowl.
• Increase heat to high and bring braising liquid to a boil. Simmer until liquid is reduced by about half or until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove bones from meat.
• When sauce is thickened, transfer meat back to skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low and spoon sauce over meat. Cook until until heated through, about 5 minutes.

GIADA'S CHICKEN SPEZZATINO (STEW)

Steps:

• Saute celery, carrots and onion in a large saucepan/stockpot in oil over medium heat until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in salt, pepper, tomatoes, broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme.
• Add chicken breasts with ribs and press them down to submerge under the liquid and bring liquid to a simmer.
• Reduce heat and gently simmer the chicken, turning them over often for about 20 minutes, or until chicken breasts are almost cooked through.
• Add kidney beans and simmer for 10 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.
• Take chicken out of saucepan and let cool 5 minutes, then cut chicken into bite-size pieces and discard bones and skin.
• Discard bay leaf and put chicken pieces back into stew and bring back to a simmer, adding salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with biscuits for dunking and enjoy!