Stracotto (Italian Pot Roast) over Pappardelle. (June)

It evens gets cold in Florida and when the temperature dropped the other day, I was thinking of "comfort food".  One of our favorite restaurants, Brio Tuscan Grill, had sent an e-mail with this recipe and it sounded perfect for a chilly Sunday dinner.

Ingredients

3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Lbs Chuck Roast
1 Cup Chopped Onion
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup Chopped Carrots
4 Cloves Garlic, Sliced
1 Cup Beef Broth
1 Can (16 oz) Tomatoes, Diced
3 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tsp Chopped Garlic
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1/4 Cup Chopped Parsley
1 Lb Pappardelle (recipe below for homemade or use store bought)

Heat oil in a Dutch oven.  Add chuck roast, sear on all sides, remove & set aside.

Add onions, celery, carrots & slivered garlic to the pot.  Cook until soft - about 10 minutes.  Remove from pot and set aside.

 

Place rack in bottom of the pot. (I didn't have one so I used a small, disposable aluminum pan)  Place roast on rack & add beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.  Remove roast and cut into 1/2" slices.  Remove rack and return sliced meat to the pot.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped garlic, pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaf, red wine and cooked vegetables to pot. 

Bake covered for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is falling apart. Discard bay leaf.  Add parsley, heat through.  Cook pappardelle according to recipe or package directions.  Serve the meat and sauce over the pappardelle.

 

 

Homemade Pappardelle

 

1 3/4 Cups All-purpose Flour

1 Cup Semolina Flour

6 Large Eggs

4 tsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

Sift both flours together on a large work surface & make a well in the center.  Place the eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a bowl and break up with a fork.  Gradually add the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Using your hands works best!

 

 

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Divide dough in half and pat into balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.  (you can freeze one ball for later, or roll both and freeze cut pasta)

 

 

 

Place one ball of dough on lightly floured surface and dust with flour and roll dough into a sheet.  Continue to roll the dough until you can see your fingers through it.  We used our pasta maker to roll out ours.  Let dry about 10 minutes.

 

Dust the top of the sheet with flour and loosely roll into a cylinder.  Using a sharp knife, cut into 3/4 inch wide slices.  Unroll, dust with semolina and lay on a sheet pan until ready to cook. 

 

Not the perfect, even length pasta you might buy, but it was more fun to make it!

 

 

 

Confession!  We didn't get ours thin enough and it took forever to cook.

Pork Belly Confit with Truffle Honey [Zack]

Confit pork belly is one of the best things you can make in your kitchen.  The belly of a pig is what is commonly used to make bacon.  Instead of the usual curing and smoking process to make bacon, you should try confit. 

When you look at the cross-section of pork belly, you’ll see alternating layers of meat and fat.  The confit process transforms the meat part into a delicate pulled pork-type texture and the fat becomes soft and creamy.  When you want to serve the belly, cut it into cubes, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and crisp the outside.  You can choose to top it with a sauce or glaze, or just eat it right out of the pan.  I chose to drizzle the crispy belly with truffle honey.  That was a good decision.

This is a 5-ingredient recipe: pork belly, some type of cooking fat, salt, pepper, and truffle honey.  It takes a bit of time to make, but it’s all idle time, not hard work.

Process:

Ask your butcher for as much pork belly as you’d like to cook (a.k.a. how big is your pot?)  Make sure they take the bones out of the underside so you don’t have to deal with those later.  The more square the cut is from the butcher, the better your outcome will be in the end.  But I never bother with a square cut – I consider the extra scraps I cut off bonus nibbles.

Take the belly home and cure it.  I covered it with a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper and put it in a covered container in my fridge.

After about 2 days, take the belly out and wipe off the excess salt.  Place the belly in an oven-proof pot and submerge it completely in fat.  I used a combination of pork fat and canola oil, but any non-flavored oil will suit.  Bring the pot to a gentle simmer.

Cover the pot and place it in an oven at 300F/150C.  The cooking time will vary depending on how thick the belly is.  Mine took around 5.5 hours.  You know it’s finished when a knife slides into the meat side easily (similar to ribs). 

Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool off.  Place the belly in the fridge – it will keep for a week or so.  Theoretically it should not spoil as long as it’s submerged in fat and you discard the meat juice. 

The belly is easier to slice if it’s straight out of the fridge.  Remove the skin.

Cut the pork belly into cubes or strips.

Place it into a cold frying pan with a little bit of the confit fat and crisp all of the sides over medium heat.

If you’re using a glaze, pour off the excess fat and gently coat all sides of the belly.  If you can find some truffle honey, use that.

Drizzle the honey over the pork belly when it's still hot.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pork belly (skin on or off, up to you)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Pork fat or other type of non-flavored oil

Truffle honey

Glaze ideas:
A sticky hoisin sauce glaze (from this recipe)
Roasted red pepper puree and honey
Honey with rosemary and garlic

Song: Paolo Nutini - Let Me Down Easy 

Crispy Duck Confit Pasta with Morel and Spinach Cream Sauce [Zack]

If spaghetti carbonara is the king of pasta, and bucatini amitriciana is the queen, then duck confit pasta with morel cream sauce could very well be the prince.  There are a lot of elements in this dish that mimic the savory deliciousness of carbonara:  crispy duck confit = bacon, parm reggiano = pecorino cheese, and creamy egg yolk = creamy egg yolk.

I used a good amount of chicken stock to add flavor and to replace a portion of the cream.  I found jarred morels, but if you can find fresh ones, that's even better.

In case you need a recipe on how to make homemade duck confit, check out my recipe.

Process:

Take your duck confit out of the fat and place it skin down in a cold pan.  Start the pan over medium-low heat to render the fat from the skin and to crisp it up.

Break the duck leg apart with a spatula so you can crisp maximum surface area.

Cook for about 10 minutes after you break it up, making sure to turn it over every few minutes.

Slice your shallots, chop your morels, and wash your spinach.

Start the shallots in a pan with 1T of garlic butter and a little bit of olive oil over medium heat.  Saute until they develop a little bit of color.  Add in the morels and the spinach.  Cook for another 5 minutes until the spinach has mostly wilted.

Add in your cream and chicken stock, and reduce for another 5 minutes.  Throw in the grated cheese.

Cook your pasta al dente according to the directions on the package.

Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce, top with the duck confit, crack black pepper all over, and serve with an egg yolk per portion.

Ingredients:
.5 lb / 250g pasta
4/5 cup / 200 ml chicken stock
2T cream
1/2 cup grated reggiano
1 cup chopped morels
3 shallots
1T garlic butter (or 1T butter, 2 cloves garlic, mashed to combine)
2 egg yolks
cracked black pepper

Song - I said prince of pasta, not Prince, but oh well here goes anyways:  Prince - Breakfast Can Wait

Friends of MT: Pete Patel's Spicy Chili [Pete]

Intro by Zack:

As a first entry to the “Friends of Mama Tommys” page, it’s appropriate to have someone very close to me post.  Pete and I were roommates for 3 years while we worked together in New Jersey.  He is one of my best friends and was a blast to live with.  Always up for a cooking adventure, we had some really fun dinner parties (and Wacky Wine Wednesdays).  We both learned a lot together in the kitchen and he taught me quite a few tricks.  My BBQ ribs would probably still be average if he had not taught me his methods.  Also, I attribute my ability to eat very spicy food to him.  I remember going through bottles of sriracha like it was ketchup – adding it to everything from eggs in the morning, to stir fries at night.  His training paid off – when our lease ran out and his parents took both of us in (while I was in transition to Europe for 3 months), his mom didn’t back off on the spice in her daily meals.  That was a huge compliment!

One night, Pete, Lauren and I had a chili contest.  We invited over about 15 friends, told them to bring some beers, and each of us made our favorite chili recipe.  Pete’s chili was spicy (as always) and a crowd favorite for sure.  He's been gracious enough to share his recipe with everyone.

Here is Pete's recipe from that night:

I am a two trick pony when it comes to cooking; I know ribs and Chili. To try and keep pace with the excellent smorgasbord of recipes on Mama Tommy’s I have to bring what I know best (Sorry it is going to be the Chili, the ribs perhaps another time). I will caveat my style of cooking by saying that when I cook I am never able to recreate the same thing twice due the fact that I blackout when I add the spices. That being said, please feel free to adjust the spice section to your taste, as the recipe is more of a base chili guide and the spices are bells and whistles.

Process

Start off by opening one of the beers and taking a sip. Now that we are on the way you can start by cooking all three meats. I usually start with the beef, then the Sausage, and then finish off with the Bacon. Once the bacon is done I put them back on the cutting board and dice them into smaller pieces.

   

While the meats are cooking I start to dice the onions, peppers, and Chilies.  

                

Once the meats are done cooking we can begin to construct the chili. We start a large pot on the stove at medium heat with a little bit of olive oil inside. Once that gets hot enough I add the diced onions, peppers, garlic, and chilies and let them begin to cook. I stir occasionally and let them cook for 3-5 minutes, before moving the next step.

By this time you should at least be done with one of your beers, if not man up and finish the one you started (chug if you have to) then open up the second beer and start sipping.

For the next step, you can begin with adding some beer into the pot but I recommend a very small amount (1/4 of the bottle) just to give the chili some of the flavor.  Now that the veggies have been cooked I add the tomatoes (not the sauce), meat, and beans at this point. Let them heat up together with the veggies for another 3-5 minutes stirring frequently.

Next, I start adding the Sriracha sauce, spicy chili powder, any other spices you want (the ones I put in are pictured below), and tomato sauce. The reason you wait to add the tomato sauce until this point is that the chili will naturally start to create their own juices as the veggies cook. By adding the tomato sauce after everything goes in you can control the “sauciness” of the chili. I personally like it more meaty and chunky, but if you like it saucy, you can do the needful with the tomato sauce.

At this point you are basically done, turn the heat down a little bit and let the chili cook itself and reduce for 10 -15 minutes. Also your second beer should be completed by this point as well, if you haven’t completed it, your desire is in question.

When you are ready to eat put the chili in a bowl and just drop the coriander, chips, and some Cheese on top.

Ingredients

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 Pound Hot Italian Sausage

6 Strips Bacon

1 Green Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper (Or Red Pepper, or whatever color of the rainbow Pepper you like)

1 Yellow Onion

1 Cup Beans (or 1 can of beans)

Garlic powder (or actual crushed garlic)

3 Tomatoes (or Canned Diced Tomatoes)

2 Cans Tomato Sauce

Lemon Pepper

6 Birds Eye Chili’s

Sriracha Sauce

1-6 Tablespoons Spicy Chili Powder (not paprika, this has to have a kick; we buy from the Indian Store)

Coriander

Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese

Chips/Crackers/Cheese-its

2 Beers

Music track: “Low Rider”  by  War

Serving Size: Your family and then some

Wild Boar Stoofvlees [Zack]

Stoofvlees / Carbonnade Flamande is my all-time favorite Belgian recipe.  Imagine a warm, comforting beef bourguignon, but instead made with the famous Belgian dark beer.  Dark beer and carrots add a small amount of sweetness, but all of the rest of the ingredients are designed to umami bomb you.  The combination of fresh and dry mushrooms, fish sauce (only thing that’s not traditional), and browning the meat will add depth to the stew.  Cooking everything slowly in a pot will make the meat impossibly tender, and also develop the flavors.  You’ll get a small herbal note from the bay leaves and the clove.

But, the coolest part of the recipe is how to thicken the sauce.  You place 2 slices of bread smothered with mustard on top of the stew.  It will get absorbed as the Stoofvlees cooks and thicken up the sauce like a roux.

It’s always served with a side of world-famous Belgian French fries and a small cup of mayo (no ketchup!!).  Accompany the stew with a cold dark beer, and there’s really not much better in life.

Process:

Start by prepping everything - cube the wild boar or beef into ~1 inch cubes.  Finely dice the 2 onions and the carrot. 

Put a pot (with a cover) on the stove on medium heat and add the 1T butter and 1T canola oil once it heats up.  Brown the meat on one side, in batches.  Extract to a plate.

In the same pot, saute the diced onion and carrots until they develop a small amount of browning.

Throw the meat back in, along with the dried mushrooms.  Pour the 2 dark beers in the pot.

Stir everything up.  Slather about 2T of mustard on top of 2 slices of bread.  Place them on top of your stew, along with the aromatics:  2 bay leaves, 3 juniper berries, 2T onion flakes, and the clove.  

Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and let it simmer for about 3 hours.  Stir every 15 minutes or so to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.  It's finished when the meat is very tender (test a piece).  Stir in the 1tsp of fish sauce, a bunch of freshly cracked black pepper, then adjust for salt.

Serve hot french fries with mayonnaise alongside the stew.  I cheat and go to the local Frituur.  I like french fried onions on top of my fries :)

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs wild boar (or beef), cubed
1T butter
1T canola or other non-olive oil
2 onions
1 medium carrot
.5 cups dried mushrooms
2T dried onion flakes
2 bay leaves
3 juniper berries
1 clove (more if you're into that)
1tsp fish sauce
2 bottles Belgian brown beer
2 pieces of bread, with 2T mustard spread on top

Song:  My favorite Belgian artist should accompany this recipe:

Lentil Veggie Harissa Soup [Zack]

We just got back from vacation, where we over-indulged (to say the least).  We are always looking for something healthy and comforting to welcome us back into the house.  Lentils are most often our go-to play.  They are easy to cook, and since they are dried, you can keep them in the pantry to be available when needed.  Toss in some other veggies, add some stock, and you have a quick meal to return some sanity to your diet.

Process:

Chop and dice your peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and tomatoes.  Start your pressure cooker or pot on medium heat with a little bit of oil on the bottom.  Saute the red peppers, onions, and mushrooms until they develop a bit of browning.

Add 1T of harissa powder and the chopped garlic, and stir until fragrant.  Harissa powder is a Tunisian mix of chiles, cumin, garlic, coriander, caraway, and cinnamon.  If you can't find the powder, just use chiles, cumin and garlic powder in even quantities.

The tomatoes go in next, along with the lentils.  Stir in your chicken (or veg) stock and water.  Cover the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes.  If you're using a normal pot, it will take a bit longer, but just taste the lentils to make sure they are cooked through.  Don't forget to shake the pot around so the lentils don't burn on the bottom.

When it's finished, stir in some keffir or yogurt and sprinkle some extra harissa powder on top if you're feeling brave.  An avocado will boost your veg count.

Ingredients:
2 red peppers
2 cups brown mushrooms
3 red onions
4 medium-sized tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1.5 cup lentils
2 cups chicken stock (or veg stock)
2 cups water
1T harissa powder
keffir or plain yogurt
1 avacado to garnish

Song:  The Cardigans - Love Me

Cinnamon Rolls from Pizza Dough + Yogurt Icing [Zack]

Lauren makes the best cinnamon rolls.  When she makes them, we bash them.  Even after she made a round for some guests we had for a brunch, I still had a hankerin'.

We had some pizza dough that I had made a few days ago sitting in the fridge.  Since we weren't in the mood for pizza, but were in the mood for cinnamon buns, we transformed the dough to the naughty side.

Here's a quick run-through of how it's done!  Measurements were on the fly, so you'll have to just work your way through it.

Process:

Start kneading your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface.  Put about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar on the board and work that into the dough.  It will sweeten it up a bit.

Roll out the dough out into a rectangle, and cover the whole thing with melted butter.  Don't be stingy.  Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon and coat the entire area of the dough.

Butter a baking dish.  Roll the dough like a cigar and slice into rounds about 1 inch thick.

Place them into the baking dish and let it rest for 30 mins while your oven heats up.  If you want, you can brush the tops with butter and add more brown sugar/cinnamon to the top.  I did.

Heat up your oven to 400F / 200C and pop the cinnamon buns into the oven for about 15 minutes.  When the tops are starting to brown and aren't doughy, they are finished.

Meanwhile, mix some powdered sugar into plain vanilla yogurt.  The powdered sugar will thicken up the mixture and make icing.  I added some of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture because I made too much.  The yogurt makes it nice and tangy!

Remove the rolls from the oven, let them rest for as long as you can stand, and then top with the yogurt icing.

Ingredients:

pizza dough
cinnamon
brown sugar
yogurt
powdered sugar
butter

Song:  Tyrese - Signs of Love Makin'

Spinach Fettuccine w/ Seared Scallops [Matt]

I've never attempted to measure my ingredients for making pasta. Half the fun comes from getting your hands into the dough and adding pinches of things as you go along. Here's my best attempt at the process of making fettuccine (supplement with YouTube videos if you're more of a visual learner).

Fettuccine Ingredients:

4 Whole Eggs

3 Additional Egg Yolks

3 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/3 Cup Half-&-Half

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

(For Spinach variation, food process 2 cups spinach into a minced consistency and add to the bowl)

Since I have no one to impress with fancy cooking antics, I mix my dough in a large mixing bowl. This saves me from dealing with the mess of yolks ingrained into my counter top and keeps flour from going in every direction.

Dump the 3~ cups flour into the large mixing bowl. Make a divot in the center of the flour to put your eggs. Add in the 4 whole eggs and 3 additional yolks (please, do yourself a favor and splurge on the 'cage-free organic'. It REALLY does make a difference with end pasta texture). Add the olive oil, half-&-half, sea salt and spinach (if you're swinging that way).

I use a solid-state whisk to slowly start blending the eggs together. You want to gradually start pulling in flour until it clumps to the point where you wonder why I told you to use a whisk in the first place. Scrape the dough off the whisk with your fingers. Start mashing the dough together in the bowl with your hands until it doesn't really seem like any more flour is getting added to your ball. 

Remove the semi-dough ball from the bowl, flour your counter, and pretend your dough ball is a Bop-It (twist-it, turn-it, mash-it, press-it, etc?). Once your dough ball has reached the strange state of firming up, yet a bit smooth when pulled, put the ball aside under a damp dish towel. Let it rest while you set up your pasta crank.

Once your pasta crank is together, make sure you have some place to rack your pasta. I use pasta rack trees. They're dope.

Take a pinch of dough, you'll really have to eyeball it, and run through the crank in descending numerical order. Fold the dough over a few times when putting it through the initial notch 8, eventually progressing down to notch 2 (second to last as far as thickness).

I recommend dusting your counter / the bottom of the rolled pasta sheet with flour. This will help prevent the pasta sheet from sticking as it slides through the machine.

Run the sheet of dough through the fettuccine crank attachment. Take the shaped pasta and hang it on your drying rack(s). Do this until you're out of dough. 

Scallop Ingredients: 

1 lb Large Bay Scallops

Butter

Salt

Pepper 

Get a big pot of water boiling - add in a splash of olive oil and pinch of salt. This helps the pasta from sticking to itself and raises boiling point. 

Take out your favorite large searing pan. Lightly coat the bottom with melted butter as you bring the heat up to med-high. Lightly dust both sides of the scallops with salt and pepper, then plop them onto the pan. It's key not to shift their position or turn them over until the bottom of scallops have a proper light brown sear, otherwise the meat will tear. The sear will take around 2 - 3 minutes on each side pending heat. The key is to get that golden brown without over cooking the scallops. 

When you are about to turn your scallops over, add your pasta to the boiling water. The pasta, since it's fresh, should only take 2 - 4 minutes to cook (depends on thickness of pasta vs. water temp). Pull out a strand or two and be sure to try it before dumping it into the sieve. 

Time to multi-task. Flip your scallop, then start to heat up a third pan. Add in a splash of olive oil on medium heat to the fresh pan. When your pasta finishes boiling, sieve it, then shake it to get any remaining water out. Dump the pasta into the heated oil. Sauté the pasta for about a minute and a half, then plate. Your scallops will probably finish cooking before the pasta, so put them to the side to rest.

To go next-level, like the dish below, you can sauté onion, asparagus and prosciutto before adding in you pasta. This will take a bit more planning and should be started right around when you dump you pasta in to begin boiling.

Finish with some fresh grated lemon zest and parmesan reggiano.

Best of luck and feel free to experiment once you get the hang of it!