Beef braised in red wine, Italian style.
I'll be the first to admit that I am one of life's omnivores. I like meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, but I love them all equally. Dave, on the other hand, is a natural carnivore. Oh, he'll eat everything else, but deep within his soul what he really wants is a big lump of meat. Preferably beef.
I suppose I could just toss him the occasional bloody steak, as though he were a lion at the zoo, but it seems somewhat nicer to tease and tantalise his senses for a few hours with the enticing smell of roasting meat. So, on Saturday I decided to tackle a pot-roast.
Years ago, when I first moved in with Dave, I did try a Weight Watchers recipe for pot roast. As far as I recall, it didn't go well. The meat was tasty but nowhere near meltingly tender and somehow the potatoes and carrots that I'd cooked in the same pan had barely soaked up any of the meat flavours. So forgive me for being a little anxious about this attempt....
We've had a huge lump of sirloin sitting in the freezer for a few months--taking up valuable ice-cream space, I might add--so that sorted out the meat side of things. I know it's not the traditional cut of meat for a pot-roast, but I wasn't about to go and buy yet another huge lump of meat. I'm afraid I rather subscribe to the view that anything cooked in wine for hours will eventually become tender and delicious.
For the rest of the recipe I cobbled together Tessa Kiros's ingredients from Twelve--I am very pleased to be finally cooking something from this marvellous book!--and the technique from Cook's Illustrated.
Browning the beef went surprisingly well. I'm prone to poking at meat and lifting it to see how it's getting on, then never achieving a really good brown crust. This time I set a timer for three minutes per side and simply walked away and left it alone. Result? Deep brown crust on the meat and an incredibly rich smell rising from the pot.
The smell rising from the pot got even better when I tossed in the onions, carrots and celery. It's interesting how so many cultures have a culinary trinity at the heart of their cooking.... Anyway, I used up the last of the small, sweet freshly dug carrots that we bought last weekend at a farm shop and abruptly felt saddened that we hadn't had time to go there today for our shopping. Ah well,
After much hovering over the oven, lovingly turning the meat every half an hour--possibly not the cleverest choice of dish when you've got a prolapsed disc--the meat was ready! I could feel it flaking as I fished it out of the pot with a couple of carving forks.
We shredded up the beef, which very obligingly fell apart with minimal effort, piled it over a mound of potato and celeriac mash and napped it with some luxuriously thick (and meaty!) sauce.
Two minutes later I was in my own little Meat Heaven. So tender. You could truly eat it with a spoon, and so we did while nestled up on the sofa watching UKTV Food's Local Food Heroes 2007.
My resident carnivore pronounced it to be absolutely perfect. Rich, meaty, moist and tender. He even moaned a little while he ate. (Or was that me?)
I don't think you can get a better recommendation than that!
Stracotto di manzo
Adapted from Twelve by Tessa Kiros
Serves 8 comfortably with a side of some description
1 tablespoon olive oil
1.5kg de-boned shoulder of beef, trimmed of fat
2 onions, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
4 small carrots, chopped
generous sprig of sage
1 clove garlic, minced
500ml full-bodied red wine (such as Chianti)
250ml water
1 tablespoon tomato puree
salt and pepper
Move oven rack to lowest level then preheat oven to 150C or equivalent.
In cast iron pot (Dutch oven) just big enough to hold the meat and vegetables, heat oil over medium heat. Brown the beef on all sides.
Once browned, season with salt and pepper. Toss in the onions, carrots and celery--the Italian trinity--along with the sage and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are golden and softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute, stirring frantically.
Pour over the wine and water; add the tomato puree.
Bring to a very gentle simmer on the stove then cover the pot with a sheet of foil--shiny side facing down--and then clamp the lid on.
Place in the oven and roast for at least three hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes or hour depending on how lazy you're feeling. The time needed will vary depending on the cut of meat used. My sirloin took 4.5 hours. Keep an eye on the level of the liquid--it shouldn't dip below about 500ml (or 2 cups). If it does, chuck in some hot water from the kettle.
When done the meat should be very very tender--a sharp knife should slide into the centre of the meat easily.
Remove the meat from the pot to a chopping board and cover. Either blend the vegetables and sauce together roughly with a hand blender or run them through a coarse food mill and return to the sauce. Check seasoning and adjust as necessary.
Thickly slice or shred the pot roast and serve with the sauce poured over and carbs of your choice. I did a potato and celeriac mash which worked extremely well. Hot buttered wide noodles would also be nice, I think.
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