The Minimalist Cooks Dinner (29 page)
Read The Minimalist Cooks Dinner Online
Authors: Mark Bittman
1 tablespoon butter or extra virgin olive oil
½ cup sugar
2- to 3-pound piece of chuck or brisket
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup sherry vinegar or good wine vinegar
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
1 orange
Cayenne
Put the butter in a casserole or skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. Put the sugar on a plate and dredge the meat in it until all the surfaces are coated. Reserve the remaining sugar. When the butter foam subsides, brown the meat on all sides—this will take about 15 minutes—seasoning it with salt and pepper as it browns.
When the meat is nicely browned, add the vinegar and cook for a minute, stirring. Add the cranberries and remaining sugar and stir. Strip the zest from the orange (you can do it in broad strips, with a small knife or vegetable peeler) and add it to the skillet. Juice the orange and add the juice also, along with a pinch of cayenne. Turn the heat to low and cover; the mixture should bubble but not furiously.
Cook, turning the meat and stirring about every 30 minutes, for 2 hours or longer, or until the meat is tender. When the meat is done, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Turn off the heat and let the roast rest for a few minutes, then carve and serve, with the sauce.
| WINE | Rioja, Merlot, or another soft red |
| SERVE WITH | 60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread; Steamed Broccoli (or Other Vegetable) or Glazed Carrots ; Mashed Potatoes or Crisp Potatoes |
DUSTING THE MEAT
with some of the sugar makes the browning process go much more rapidly, and leaves behind a caramelized residue that is deglazed by the vinegar when you add it. All of this lends complexity to the final dish.
MOST POT ROASTS
depend for their flavor on the juices exuded by the meat itself; that’s why tough, slow-cooking cuts like brisket or chuck are usually preferable. But since the meat’s contribution here is minimized by the powerful cranberry-based combination, a faster-cooking cut like tenderloin works perfectly, reducing the cooking time to just over an hour (see With Minimal Effort).
Faster Pot Roast with Cranberries:
Substitute a 2-to 3-pound piece of tenderloin (filet mignon) for the chuck or brisket and reduce the cooking time to about 1 hour, or until the internal temperature is 125° to 130°F (medium-rare); you can cook it longer than that if you like.
Stew
The charm of most braised dishes is that they result in succulent, tender meat, and require little attention after an initial browning. The sad truth, however, is that most meats need hours—sometimes many hours—before they become truly tender. Not so with veal chunks taken from the shoulder or leg, which become tender in less than an hour and produce a superb stew.
TIME:
1 hour
MAKES:
4 servings
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter (or use more oil)
1½ to 2 pounds veal chunks, cut into pieces no larger than 1½ inches in any dimension
1 sprig fresh tarragon, or ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
1 pound spring onions, shallots, or scallions, peeled or trimmed and cut in half if large
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup white wine or water
1 cup fresh shelled peas, snow peas, or frozen peas
Put a 12-inch skillet over high heat and heat for a minute. Add the oil and butter. When the butter melts, add the meat in one layer (if you use the larger amount of meat you may have to cook it in batches in order to cook only in one layer; it’s worth the effort). Cook, undisturbed, until the meat is nicely browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes.
Add the tarragon, onions, and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions soften and any bits of meat stuck to the bottom of the pan are released, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, stir, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the veal is tender.
Uncover, add the peas, and raise the heat to medium. Cook for about 5 minutes more, until the peas are done. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, and serve.
| WINE | Chardonnay, a light Zinfandel, or Pinot Noir |
| SERVE WITH | 60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread; buttered noodles, Easy Rice , Mashed Potatoes , or Crisp Potatoes ; Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms ; Simple Green Salad |
THE SMALLER
the chunks of meat the quicker the cooking time. (This is a very basic and oft-ignored general principle of cooking: Spend a little more time with the knife and you sometimes spend a lot less time at the stove.) Smaller chunks have another advantage as well: In just a few minutes, enough of their surface area browns so that you can move to the next step of the recipe. This guarantees a full-flavored stew.
WHEN YOU
are browning the meat, keep the heat high and do not move it around. Check one piece and, only when it appears good and browned underneath, proceed to the next step; it’s really only necessary to brown one side.
DON’T ADD
too much liquid; the meat and onions generate plenty of their own as the covered meat simmers gently.
Veal Stew, Provençal Style:
In step 1, use all olive oil. In step 2, omit the tarragon and onions, adding instead 2 crushed garlic cloves, 20 roughly chopped basil leaves, 2 cups seeded and chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; drain them lightly), and 1 cup good black olives. Omit the wine or water. Add the salt and pepper and cook as above. In step 3, omit the peas; uncover and reduce the liquid if necessary until the stew is thick. Garnish with more chopped basil.
Veal Stew with Bacon and Mushrooms:
In step 1, render ¼ pound chopped slab bacon in 1 tablespoon olive oil until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, then brown the veal in the bacon fat (pour some off first if it seems excessive). In step 2, omit the tarragon; cook the onions with a few sprigs of thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme) and 1 cup trimmed and chopped mushrooms. After the onions soften, add the liquid as above. In step 3, return the bacon to the pan (you can add the peas or not, as you like) and cook for about 5 minutes more. Garnish and serve.
Veal Stew with Paprika:
In step 1, use all butter (or grapeseed, corn, or other light oil). In step 2, omit the tarragon; add 2 crushed garlic cloves, and 2 teaspoons good paprika. Add salt, pepper, and liquid and cook as above. In step 3, omit the peas and stir in 1 cup sour cream and more paprika, if necessary.
TIME:
30 to 40 minutes
MAKES:
4 servings
This dish has the beguiling, distinctively Southeast Asian aroma of garlic—lots of it—nuoc mam (the Vietnamese fish sauce known more commonly by its Thai name, nam pla), and lime. But there are a couple of “secret” ingredients as well, including mildly acidic lemongrass and spicy black pepper in large quantities. Traditionally, this dish also contains caramelized sugar, which contributes a burnt sweetness but the intense heat of the grill makes honey a good substitute, and a much easier one. So the marinade can be assembled in 10 minutes, the grill preheated in another 10, and the pork grilled in 10: a great, intensely flavored, 30-minute dish.
2 tablespoons minced lemongrass
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce), or to taste (you may substitute soy sauce)
2 limes
Freshly ground black pepper
1½ pounds country-style pork chops, preferably boneless
Chopped Thai basil, mint, cilantro, or a combination, optional
Combine the lemongrass, garlic, honey, and nam pla in a bowl; whisk to blend. Add the juice of 1 lime and lots of pepper—about a teaspoon. Marinate the pork in this mixture while you start a charcoal or wood fire, preheat a gas grill to the maximum, or preheat a broiler; the fire should be moderately hot, and the grill rack should be about 4 inches from the heat source.
Grill or broil the pork, spooning the marinade over it as it cooks, until done, about 10 minutes. Turn only once, so that each side browns nicely. Serve with wedges of lime, garnished with the optional herb.
| WINE | Beer, Champagne, or light Gewürztraminer |
| SERVE WITH | Crisp Pan-fried Noodle Cake, Cold Noodles with Sesame (or Peanut) Sauce , Rice Salad with Peas and Soy ; Green Salad with Soy Vinaigrette |
YOU CAN
use pork chops for this dish, but so-called country-style ribs (actually the shoulder end of the pork loin) remain moister during grilling. And if you can find these “ribs” with the bone out, so much the better—you’ve essentially got a 1-inch-thick pork loin steak that grills beautifully.
TO PREPARE
lemongrass, first peel it like a scallion. Virtually the entire inner core is tender enough to mince (in the winter, when the stalks have been in storage, you may have to peel off layer after layer to find the edible center). Figure a yield of about a tablespoon of minced lemongrass per stalk.
|
Serve on a bed of shredded, lightly salted cabbage, tossed with chopped mint, lime juice, and black pepper to taste.
TIME:
3 hours
MAKES:
4 servings
This is a really easy dish that takes some time. But once you get it started (which will take just 5 minutes or so), you can all but ignore it during the cooking, just checking every now and then to turn the ribs and make sure the liquid doesn’t dry out.
2 pounds pork spare ribs, cut into pieces, or beef short ribs
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 star anise
1 dried chile
5 slices ginger (don’t bother to peel)
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
2 teaspoons sugar
Combine the meat, ¼ cup soy sauce, star anise, chile, ginger, garlic, and sugar with ½ cup water in a skillet just broad enough to hold the meat
Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours or so, turning the meat occasionally and adding water, ½ cup at a time, if and when the pan dries out. The meat is done when it is tender and nearly falling from the bone. Remove the meat, spoon some or all of the juices over it, and serve.
