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.

Cream Puffs [June]

Easy to make dessert that looks like you've been baking all day. This receipe is from my very first cookbook - Betty Crocker.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Water

1/2 Butter or margarine

1 Cup Flour

4 Eggs

Vanilla Pudding

Confectioners' sugar

Makes about 24 mini-puffs or 12 large.

Heat oven to 400. Heat water and butter to rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball.

Remove from heat. Beat in eggs all at one time, continue to beat until smooth. (this might take a little while but just keep beating!)

Drop dough onto ungreased baking sheet. For large puffs, use 1/4 cupful. I made mini-puffs and used a heaping teaspoon.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool and then cut tops off. Pull out any filaments of soft dough. Fill puffs with vanilla pudding (or whipped cream if you prefer). I actually used Pudding Snack Packs. Replace tops & dust with confectioners sugar. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Best-ever Brussel Sprouts [June]

These don't taste at all like the bitter brussel sprouts that alot of us have had that made us never want to eat them again! As we all know, everything is better with bacon and that might just be the key ingredient that makes the difference.

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts (but you knew that) - I used approximately 12

2 Slices Bacon (preferably thick - and more if you like bacon)

1/4 Cup Onion

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Cut stems from brussel sprouts, cut in half and peel away any loose leaves.

Dice bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy. Add onion to pan and cook under translucent. Add sprouts. If it looks a little dry, add a little white wine or vermouth. Saute until sprouts are lightly browned & tender. Add brown sugar and let cook until sprouts begin to caramalize.

We served this as a side with Grilled Curry-Fig Turkey (that Tom posted a couple days ago) and grilled sweet potatoes.

Tilapia en Papillote [June]

This is an easy-to-make recipe that you can make in advance and just have to pop in the oven. No “cooking skills” required!

IngredientsSpinach Leaves
1 Tilapia Fillet per person (or your choice of fish)
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Dill
Fresh Parsley
Lemon Slices
Capers
Butter
Asparagas spears
**Parchment paper

Tear off a piece of parchment paper largest enough to fold over your piece of fish. (each one is done individually). You can either leave it square or cut and make it round. (round was easier to fold)

Fold your paper in half. Place about 8-10 spinach leaves on one side on the paper to create a bed. Top with fish fillet, add salt & pepper, dill, parsley, 2 slices of lemon, capers, a dab of butter and top with asparagus spears.

Fold paper over and begin crimping paper and work all the way around to seal.

Put on baking sheet and cook at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Serve in the parchment paper. Just tear open to eat.