Traditional Bolognese Sauce

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Bolognese SauceBolognese sauce ranks pretty high on my list of favorite things to cook in the dead of winter.  It’s the ultimate comfort food–hearty, homey, and warming.  Plus, it requires you to spend a slow-paced afternoon in a toasty kitchen with an open bottle of wine.  What more could you ask for?

This recipe makes a big batch of Bolognese sauce that will keep you warm for several winter nights.  It’s a combination of beef, pork, and veal that is slowly simmered with wine and tomatoes until it becomes unbelievably rich and luxurious.   I used half of the batch in the lasagna I served on Christmas Eve and there are 2 small containers of it squirreled away in the freezer that will dress pasta or top polenta some time later this month when I’m snowed in and need nourishment.

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Stout Braised Beef Roast with Cinnamon & Orange

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Stout Braised Beef Roast with Cinnamon, Clove, and OrangeA few days ago, I waited on a woman who warned me of her severe cinnamon allergy.  Cinnamon?!  I’ve been in the service industry for a loooooong time and that was a new one for me.  I was immediately struck by how tragic it would be, especially this time of year.  I’m sneaking cinnamon into everything I make, from chocolate cookies to my latest braised beef, and loving every moment of it.

This is a beef roast inspired by a beef stew I had in Belgium.  It’s a chuck roast that has been braised in a dark, chocolatey stout with orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and cloves.  It’s dusky, spicy, and tastes exactly as December should.  Matt and I ate it on a quiet night in, but I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it for any winter/Christmas dinner party, provided no one on the guest list has a cinnamon allergy.

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Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

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Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

When you’re a kid,  spring and summer stretch out endlessly.  Each day is perfection, filled sunshine and free time.  But suddenly, you realize your childhood is long gone and perfect days like these have almost vanished with it.  I’m talking about days when the weather is gorgeous, there’s no where you absolutely have to be, and nothing you can’t put off doing until tomorrow.  When these gems of days (or even just an afternoon or evening) roll around, you’ve got to seize them–head to the backyard, grab a lawn chair, and fully soak up the perfection.

Now, obviously, we have to eat and days like this call for simplicity.  Delicious simplicity–nothing complicated and nothing that’s going to keep us standing in the kitchen when we should be kicking up our feet outside.  We want something inherently good, like a grilled steak.  We can dress it for perfection with a salsa verde that’ll be put together in less than 2 minutes.

Before we go on, I should remind you this an Italian salsa verde and not to be confused with a spicy Mexican green salsa.  No tomatillos or jalepeños, just a green sauce made with a bunch of fresh herbs, garlic, capers, and olive oil.  Think pesto with fewer rules.

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Red Wine Braised Short Ribs & Cannellini Beans

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For better or worse, I’m not always a very good representation of a twenty-something year old girl.

Example: Instead of going out on the town and cutting loose this past Saturday night, I found myself at home, dressed for comfort, braising beef short ribs and cannellini beans.

Sounds more like an activity for your eighty year old nonna than this vibrant young woman.  And did I mention I sat around drinking tea and flipping through cookbooks while I waited for my dinner?  Oh, well, it’s hip to be square these days, right?

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Steak Tartare alla Roscioli

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Ready?  Come on let’s go.

Let’s twist and turn our way through old streets of Rome until we find a spot for dinner.

Right, left, straight, through the piazza, right, right, oops we’re down a dead-end alleyway.  Admire the beautiful geraniums spilling off the balcony and continue your mission.  Dinner, looking for dinner.

Hmm…this place looks interesting.  Roscioli.  It’s a beautiful deli in front and a cave like dining room in the rear.  There’s an unkempt, surly looking man running the cash register, gorgeous cured meats in the deli case, and huge bowls of Roman artichokes.  This’ll do.

You’ll order quite a bit here.  How couldn’t you?  You are forced to examine everything in the case while the surly guy deliberates over which table to bring you to.  He double checks to make sure you’re both americani.  Check, check.  He shuffles papers, you gasp over the mortadella with a two foot diameter.  Holy baloney!  Your table is ready.  You can stop eating with your eyes and get down to serious business.

Like I said, it’ll be hard to not eat a lot here.  Everything just looks so fresh, so good, so Italian.  You want it all.  You order several things to share.  You eat, you enjoy.

Four months later, you remember this meal.  You remember how happy you were this night, still in the beginning of your two week-long vacation.  You remember how much more pleasant it was to have feet that ached from walking miles over old cobblestones than from wearing bad shoes on a twelve hour shift.  You’ll remember the cool wine cellar you snooped around in (discreetly) while you waited for the restroom.  You’ll remember all of this.

But four months later, only one dish will haunt you.

The steak tartare.  So simple, so fresh, so Italy.  The meat was from a very special herd of cows, of course.  As if you’d want to eat just any cow!  What else?  Ripe, red as the meat, diced tomato.  Fruity olive oil.  A mound of beautifully creamy, oozy Burrata.

So Italian that maybe I shouldn’t even try to recreate at home in the Midwest.  Maybe I should just cherish the memory.

No.  I’ve got to do it and I’ve got to do it now while I can still find a decent tomato in these parts.  This is crucial.  This dish is only going to have a couple ingredients so they had all better be the best I can find.  Go to the butcher for the meat.  Splurge, you only need a little.  Is there a nice cheese shop nearby?  Head there for the freshest, imported Burrata.  Farmer’s market for the tomato.  Wow, even shopping for this dish makes me feel Italian.

Chop the meat.  Peel and dice the tomato.  Grate a little shallot.  Drizzle the oil.  Sprinkle some salt, a pinch of pepper.  Mix and make it look pretty.  Top with a bit of Burrata and serve with a few crostini.

 

 

Talk.  Reminisce.  Plan your next trip to Italy.


Steak Tartare alla Roscioli
 
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Use only quality beef from a trusted butcher. This recipe will serve 2 as a main or 4 as an appetizer.
Author:
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 8 oz. Lean cut of Beef (I use tenderloin)
  • 1 medium Ripe Red Tomato
  • 1 small Shallot
  • ¼ Ball of Buratta
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
  • Coarse Ground Black Pepper
  • Baguette
Instructions
  1. Place beef in freezer for 10-15 minutes. This will make it much easier to cut.
  2. Thinly slice baguette for as many crostini as you feel necessary, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in 400° oven until golden and crunchy, about 10 minutes.
  3. Peel, seed, and dice tomato. Place in medium bowl.
  4. Dice chilled beef, add to tomatoes.
  5. Grate shallot over tomato and beef mixture. Stir to combine. Season with extra virgin oil, salt, and pepper.
  6. Mound tartare on serving plate, making an indent to hold the Buratta.
  7. Gently cut a wedge of Buratta and place in indentation.
  8. Serve with crostini.