Braised Beef and Onions

Why?
I bought a nice, little chuck roast on sale, brought it home and had no idea what to do with it. I had some onions in the house so I googled “beef chuck roast onions”. My big constraint was I had only ½ bottle of wine in the house and didn’t feel like running out for more. That 375ml of red was for drinkin’, not for cookin’! Well, I hit the jack pot with this gem of a recipe (to which I of course added a few of my own ideas).

What?
It's really just four main ingredients, beef, onions, garlic, and allspice. The allspice kind of threw me at first, but I thought what the heck. After hours in a hot oven, the beef comes out just falling apart and covered in silky, sweet, roasted onions. For my second go-around with this recipe I added a few potatoes and some carrots to the pan about an hour before it was done making it a one-pot meal.
You’ll notice the picture of the Ommegang ale; it doesn’t go in the beef, it goes in the cook (though it would be tasty either way.)

How Much?
I bought the beef and vegetables at Giant, but picked up allspice at Yes! Organic; they’re a great source for fresh spices in bulk. I bought about 3oz of allspice for $2.20 but the recipe only uses about ¼-oz.

Boneless Chuck Roast – 10.74
Onions - $3.10
Garlic - $1.00
Allspice - $0.25
Parley - $1.99
Total - $17.08


The Recipe:

Braised Beef and Onions
Makes 4 servings
active time: 15 min
total time: 3 hrs

Ingredients
1 (2-2 ½ lb) well-marbled boneless beef chuck pot roast
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon pepper
3 very large onions, sliced ¼ inch thick (6-8 cups)
3-4 large garlic cloves, slivered
2 bay leaves (optional)
4 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preparation
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
1) Stir together allspice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. (Optional substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoons chili powder for the allspice.)

2) Pat meat dry. Using a small paring knife slice deep cuts into the meat and stuff slivers of garlic into the cuts working your way around both sides of the meat until it is evenly studded with garlic. (Any leftover garlic can be added to the onions later.) Rub the allspice mixture all over meat.

3) Spread half the onions in a 13- by 9-inch roasting pan and arrange meat on top. Spread remaining onions over meat (and if using, add bay leaves and any remaining garlic). Tightly cover pan with a double layer of foil and roast for 1 hour.

4) After an hour, turn the meat over and spread some of the onions from the pan over the roast. Recover the pan tightly with foil and cook until meat is very tender, about an additional 1 1/2 hours. (Optional: remove the foil for the last 1/2 hour to allow pan juices to reduce a little and onions to caramelize.)

5) Skim fat from pan juices. Slice meat across the grain and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with onions and pan juices.

Stuck a feather in my cap and called it ravioli!

Why?

Because I love fresh pasta, but it can be a chore to make (and besides my pasta maker broke and went in the recycle bin two months ago!). So, do we do without homemade ravioli? Not on your life. Wonton wrappers to the rescue.

What?

This recipe was inspired by a cooking class I took at the Food and Entertainment Expo last year. In the class we made fresh pasta sheets and hand chopped all the ingredients. It made for a fun time chatting with other students, but who has time for that on a regular basis? With a food processor and wonton-wrappers these raviolis are quick and versatile. The recipe below calls for walnuts, but you could easily substituted left over rotisserie chicken or cooked winter squash or sautéed mushrooms. I served mine with left over ragù (see my Going for Baroque! post from 1 Nov.) but you could easily doctor up some store bought sauce with sautéed sausage or hamburger.

How Much?

Wonton Wrappers – $3.99

Ricotta Cheese - $2.49 (8oz container)

Walnuts - $3.79 (8oz container)

Parmesan Cheese - $4.99 (6oz container)

Pesto - $3.29 (10oz jar)

Total - $15.26

The Recipe:

Pesto and Walnut Ravioli

Serves 2 (generously!)

Ingredients

8oz Ricotta cheese

8oz Walnuts

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish)

3 tablespoons pesto (homemade or store bought)

½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

24 wonton wrappers

For filling:
Place all ingredients, except wrappers, in a the bowl of a small food processor fitted with a steal blade and process until very well mixed and finely chopped. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.

For ravioli:
Arrange 6 wonton wrappers on work surface. Place approximately 1 tablespoon cheese filling in center of each wrapper. Using fingertip, dampen edges of wrappers with water. Fold in half, pressing out air, and pinching edges to seal tightly. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

Cook ravioli in a large pot of gently boiling, generously salted water until tender, about 3- 4 minutes. Transfer ravioli to plates and top with a sauce of your choice. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

A Must-See Seafood Stew

Why?
I found the delicious seafood stew recipe hiding in my giant Gourmet Cookbook. Though the name Cioppino sounds Italian the recipe is from San Francisco. The legend is that name comes from when the Italian and Portuguese fishermen made a communal meal they’d “chip in” what they could from that days catch.

What?
Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you off. There is a good bit of cutting and chopping, but this stew is pretty quick and easy to prepare. The recipe had some nonsense about a frozen king crab leg; I nixed that all together. Also I had extra green and banana peppers from our last CSA delivery so I tossed those in. It’s a very versatile and hearty dish.
I bought the clams, scallops, and shrimp at Jesse Taylor’s Seafood at the fish market on Maine Ave. The salmon was one of those big farm-raised slabs from COSTCO.

The Recipe:
Cioppino
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 (28- to 32-ounces) can whole plum tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
1 cup bottled clam juice
1 cup chicken broth
18 small (2-inch) hard-shelled clams (1 1/2 pound) such as littlenecks, scrubbed
1 pound skinless red snapper, salmon, or halibut fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20), shelled (tails and bottom segment of shells left intact) and deveined
3/4 pound sea scallops, tough muscle removed from side of each if necessary
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
• Garnish: shredded fresh basil leaves and small whole leaves
• Accompaniment: foccacia or sourdough bread

Preparation
Cook garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and red pepper flakes with salt and pepper in oil in an 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in bell pepper and tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by about half, 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, clam juice, and broth and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add clams to stew and simmer, covered, until clams just open, 5 to 10 minutes, checking every minute after 5 minutes and transferring opened clams to a bowl with tongs or a slotted spoon. (Discard any unopened clams after 10 minutes.) Lightly season fish fillets, shrimp, and scallops with salt and add to stew, then simmer, covered, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then return clams to pot and gently stir in parsley and basil.
Serve Cioppino immediately in large soup bowls.

Going for Baroque!

Baroque Ragu

Why?

Now that the weather is getting cooler and it’s time to eat heartier food, I’m planning to make a variety of ragùs. They are a perfect fix for our cold, damp, Mid-Atlantic winters. I’ve never made these rich meat-based Italian sauces before so I decided to start with a classic one.

What?

I turned to my The Splendid Table cookbook. It concentrates on food from the “Heartland of Northern Italy” and has several ragù recipes (all of which I want to try in the next few months). For my premier sauce I selected a Baroque Ragù. With four different meats plus sausage, pancetta, and cream, this sauce served over pasta with some grated Parmesan will surely melt any blizzard!

This is definitely a make-it-on-the-weekend dish as the recipe spans two full pages. One short cut I took was to use a “meat loaf” mix of ground pork, beef, and veal rather than chopping my own (even in the food processor that takes time). Also I got my chopped vegetables from the salad bar at the grocery store. I forgot to by the pancetta, so I substituted bacon. As well I used a combination of store bought beef and chicken stock as apposed to homemade as the recipe calls for.

How Much?

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep all my receipts together so I can not give you a cost break down for the meal, but as you can imagine with all of the meat it wasn’t cheap. However, it made a very hearty dinner for two and an additional 4 – 5 moderately sized lunches.

The Recipe: