Eating Italy: A Chef's Culinary Adventure (9 page)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add ten to twelve ravioli at a time, and cook just until tender, 4 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep sauté pan. Add the chestnuts, thyme, and 1 cup (235 ml) of pasta water. Skim and discard the fat from the reserved duck braising liquid and add 1 cup (235 ml) of the braising liquid to the pan. Remove the cooked ravioli from the pasta water with a slotted spoon and add them to the pan, simmering until the sauce coats the pasta, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among plates and sprinkle with Parmesan.

FETTUCCINE
with
BRAISED RABBIT
and
PORCINI

You see thick, hearty
ragù
(stew) on every menu in northern Italy. But I wanted to try and make a ragù that was delicate instead of heavy. Rabbit and porcini came to mind right away. In Italy, eating rabbit is about as common as eating chicken is in the United States. It made perfect sense. The rabbit is lean, and the porcini are earthy. Plus, Italian rabbits are big and richer-tasting than the ones you see in the States, so they stay rich and moist even when braised down into a ragù. Don’t worry if you can’t find Italian rabbits for this dish. Farmed American rabbits work fine. The dish just comes out tasting a little leaner.

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

1 pound (450 g) Egg Pasta Dough (
page 282
), rolled into 4 sheets, each about
inch (1.5 mm) thick

4 ounces (113 g) dried porcini mushrooms (about 1½ cups)

2 rabbits (about 3 pounds/1.3 kg each)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil, divided

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (⅔ cup/105 g)

½ cup (120 ml) white wine

2 cups (480 g) canned plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, cored and crushed by hand

4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter

2¾ ounces (78 g) Parmesan cheese, grated (¾ cup), divided

Lay a pasta sheet on your work surface and cut the pasta crosswise into 12-inch (30.5 cm) lengths, making sure each one is well floured. Run each piece of pasta through a fettuccine cutter and fold it gently onto a floured tray. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough. Dust with flour, cover, and freeze for up to 3 days.

Soak the porcini in hot water until soft, about 15 minutes. Pluck out the mushrooms and finely chop. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer and reserve.

Rinse the rabbits and remove the innards and excess fat deposits. Remove the hind legs and forelegs by driving your knife straight through the hip and shoulder joints. Cut each leg in half through the center joints. Snip through the breast bones with kitchen shears, then cut the rabbits crosswise into five or six pieces each. Season the rabbit pieces all over with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the rabbit pieces in batches to prevent overcrowding, and sear until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Add the onion to the pan, and cook over medium heat until soft but not browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the wine, stirring to scrape the pan bottom. Simmer until the liquid reduces in volume by about half, 5 minutes. Put the tomatoes in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, and almost pureed. Add the tomatoes to the pan, along with the chopped mushrooms and the rabbit pieces. Add just enough of the reserved porcini liquid to barely cover the rabbit pieces. Cover and braise in the oven until the rabbit is so tender it falls apart, about 2 hours. Remove the rabbit, let cool slightly, and then pick the meat from the bones, feeling for small bones with your fingers. Shred the meat and discard the skin and bones. Put the braising liquid through a food mill or puree it briefly in a food processor. If the pureed braising liquid is thin, boil it until slightly thickened. Return the shredded meat to the pureed braising liquid.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the pasta in batches to prevent overcrowding, and stir after a couple of seconds to prevent sticking. Cook until tender, 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on whether it is refrigerated or frozen. Drain the pasta and reserve the pasta water.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of olive oil and 2 cups (475 ml) of the pasta water to the ragù. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then lower the heat to medium and simmer gently for a minute or two. Add the cooked pasta, stirring constantly to prevent sticking. When the sauce is slightly reduced and coats the pasta, add the butter and ½ cup (50 g) of Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir until the butter melts completely, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to plates and garnish with the remaining Parmesan.

GRILLED HALIBUT
with
MUSSELS
and
CHANTERELLES

Frosio had a way of making sauce that I’ll never forget. He would put some stock in a pan with a tiny amount of butter and olive oil, simmer it down, and then shake the hell out of it until it got thick and creamy. When I got back to Philadelphia, I thought that kind of sauce would be perfect if we made it from the juices of steamed mussels. It was early summer, chanterelles and halibut were both in season, and the ingredients practically combined themselves.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

2 tablespoons (30 ml) grapeseed oil, plus some for oiling the fish

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced into half-moons (½ cup/80 g)

1 garlic clove, smashed

2 pounds (1 kg) mussels, cleaned and scrubbed

½ cup (120 ml) dry white wine

6 tablespoons (90 ml) olive oil, divided

6 ounces (170 g) chanterelle mushrooms, thinly sliced lengthwise (about 2 cups)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon (5 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 scallions, thinly sliced (green parts only)

¼ cup (15 g) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

4 (6-ounce/170-g) skinless halibut pieces

Heat the grapeseed oil in a 2-quart (2-L) pot over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add the mussels, along with the wine. Cook until the wine reduces in volume slightly, and then add enough water to come about halfway up the mussels. Cover, bring to a simmer, and steam over medium heat until all the mussels open, 10 to 12 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Remove the mussels from their shells with a melon baller or small spoon, keeping the mussel meat as whole as possible. Strain the stock at least twice through cheesecloth or a clean coffee filter to remove any grit.

Heat 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice and ½ cup (120 ml) of the mussel stock, scraping the pan bottom and simmering until the liquid reduces in volume and starts to thicken when stirred, 5 to 8 minutes. When the sauce has a creamy consistency, add the scallions, parsley, and reserved mussel meat, and cook for 1 minute. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Heat a grill to medium-high heat. Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper and coat with oil. Scrape the grill grate clean and coat it with oil. Grill the fish until deeply grill-marked on one side, about 4 minutes. Rotate 90 degrees for crosshatch grill marks and continue grilling until the flesh turns white about halfway up the sides, 3 to 4 minutes more. Flip and cook until the fish is just a little moist and translucent in the center, about 125°F (52°C) internal temperature, 5 minutes or so.

Spoon the mushrooms and mussels on opposite sides of each plate and place the grilled fish in the middle. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of olive oil to the mushroom pan and gently shake and swirl the pan until the sauce becomes creamy and thick, about 30 seconds. Drizzle the sauce over the fish and around the plate.

PORK SHANK OSSO BUCO
with
SAFFRON RICE CREMA

When they hear “osso buco,” most people think of veal. But
osso buco
just means “bone with a hole,” which is what you see in a crosscut piece of leg. I thought, why not make osso buco with pork shanks instead of veal? They’re even richer and more deeply flavored than veal. Otherwise, the flavors here are classic Milanese: braised shanks, saffron risotto, and lemon-garlic-parsley gremolata for punch. The pork makes all the difference. This recipe will feed two hungry people, but if you have a braising pan big enough to hold eight shanks in a single layer (or if you have two pans), double the amounts to serve four people.

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Pork shanks:

4 small pork shanks, each 6 to 7 ounces (170 to 200 grams) and 2 inches (5 cm) thick

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup (62 g)
tipo
00 flour (see
page 277
) or all-purpose flour

¼ cup (60 ml) grapeseed oil

2 medium-size carrots, diced (1 cup/125 g)

1 medium-size yellow onion, diced (1 cup/160 g)

2 medium-size ribs celery, diced (1 cup/100 g)

¼ cup (60 ml) red wine

3 cups (720 grams) canned plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, cored and crushed by hand

1 sachet of 3 sprigs rosemary, 4 sprigs thyme, 10 peppercorns, 1 garlic clove, and 1 bay leaf (see
page 277
)

Saffron Rice Crema:

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

2 tablespoons (20 g) minced yellow onion

½ cup (100 g) Arborio or other risotto rice, rinsed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 to 4 cups (0.75 to 1 L) very hot tap water or boiling water, divided

1 tablespoon (2 g) saffron

Gremolata:

2 tablespoons (7 g) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 small garlic clove, minced

Grated zest of ½ lemon

For the shanks:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Rinse the pork shanks, and then pat them dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper and dredge the shanks in flour in a shallow plate.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When hot, add the shanks and sear on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the shanks to a plate and add the carrots, onion, and celery to the pan. Cook until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the red wine, scraping the pan bottom and cooking for a minute or two. Add the shanks back to the pan, and cook until the wine reduces in volume by about three-quarters, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, along with enough water to cover the ingredients halfway. Add the sachet to the pan, cover, and braise in the oven until the shanks are tender, 2½ to 3½ hours, checking once or twice and adding water, if necessary, to keep the shanks halfway covered in liquid. Remove the shanks and pass the vegetables and braising liquid through a food mill to make a rustic puree. You can also use a food processor, pureeing the vegetables with just enough liquid to make them loose, and then mixing the puree back into the braising liquid. You should have about 3 cups (750 ml) of puree.