Ruhlman's Twenty (52 page)

You often see veal breast stuffed, but I like to braise it until the meat is tender, chill it, then coat it in bread crumbs and fry it until crispy on the outside but still tender and succulent inside. The long braising process results in a heavenly sauce that completes the dish. Some veal breasts are sold boneless; others have the bone and cartilage. If you cook a bone-in cut, remove the bone and cartilage after the breast has been cooked and is cool enough to handle, but is not chilled. I prefer veal breast for its marbling, and I try to buy it bone-in for the richness that the bones add to the finished sauce, but you can substitute veal brisket or even beef brisket if this is all that’s available to you. This same technique also works very well with osso bucco.

One 5- to 7-pound/2.3- to 3.2-kilogram veal breast

Kosher salt

Canola oil

1 large Spanish onion, sliced

4 or 5 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon tomato paste/purée

2 bay leaves

2 or 3 carrots, or as needed

4 cups/960 milliliters beef stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water

2 tablespoons butter mixed with 2 tablespoons all-purpose/plain flour

Freshly ground black pepper

About ¼ cup/60 milliliters Dijon mustard

Panko bread crumbs

Gremolata

Rinse the veal and pat dry. Sprinkle all over with salt.

Pour ¼ inch/6 millimeters of oil into a Dutch oven or other heavy ovenproof pot just large enough to accommodate the veal. Heat the oil over high heat. When the oil is very hot, sear the veal on all sides. Remove the veal and pour off the oil. Return the veal to the pot. Pack the onion slices beside the veal. Add the garlic, tomato paste/purée, and bay leaves. Pack any open areas around the veal with carrots. Add as little stock as possible but still submerge the veal completely.

Preheat the oven to 275°F/135°C /gas 1.

Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover the pot, slide it into the oven, and cook until the veal is fork tender, about 4 hours.

Allow the veal to cool, covered, at room temperature. Carefully remove it from the pot to a cutting board. Remove the bones and cartilage if there are any, then return the veal to the braising liquid and refrigerate it, covered, for 1 to 3 days.

To complete the dish, discard the congealed fat on the surface. Carefully remove the veal breast to a cutting board. Reheat the liquid until it is steaming hot. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small saucepan. Cook the liquid over medium-low heat until reduced by half. Keep over low heat. Just before serving, whisk in the butter-flour paste, and continue to whisk until the sauce has thickened.

Cut the veal breast into four to six rectangular pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Brush the top and bottom of each piece with the Dijon mustard. Press the top and bottom in the panko. Pour ¼ inch/6 millimeters of oil into a sauté pan large enough to contain the veal. Heat over medium-high heat. Add the veal pieces and cook until nicely browned on top and bottom and hot inside, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Put some of the sauce on each plate and set a piece of veal on top. Garnish with the gremolata and serve.

Truly great, ethereal risotto typically happens when you make it from start to finish and you have a long history of practicing it and understanding its nuances. This may be why risotto has a reputation for being difficult, or that it requires laborious and painstaking attention. That said, even the most inexperienced cook can make
fantastic
risotto. Moreover, you can start it hours or even a day or two before you need it, and finish it in about 10 minutes. For this reason, risotto is the ideal dish for entertaining. An impressive side dish or vegetarian main course, risotto is truly elegant comfort food.

There’s only one risotto dogma I adhere to: fresh stock. Because the process of making risotto involves plenty of liquid that is reduced and absorbed by the rice, whatever you use will be concentrated in the rice and be the dominant color on the canvas. When you concentrate store-bought broths, the worst of their characteristics, especially saltiness, is magnified. When you use fresh stock, all its good characteristics are concentrated. This, more than your skill at the stove, is the secret to excellent risotto. Happily, great stock is easy—see
Easy Chicken Stock.

This recipe provides the quantities for making risotto for four, but it’s best to cook risotto by eye. You don’t even need to measure the rice— I simply make one handful of uncooked rice per person. For a lighter, springtime version, replace the mushrooms with diced zucchini/courgette, yellow squash, and red bell pepper/capsicum.

6 tablespoons/85 grams butter

1 medium onion, cut into small dice

Kosher salt

¾ cup/150 grams Arborio or Carnaroli rice

1 cup/240 milliliters dry white wine

3½ cups/840 milliliters chicken or vegetable stock, or as needed

Sautéed Mushrooms
and any liquid they may have released

¼ cup/60 milliliters heavy/double cream

½ cup/60 grams freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

¼ cup/20 grams minced fresh parsley (optional)

Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion and cook, stirring in a three-finger pinch of salt, until the onion is soft and translucent, 1 minute or so. Add the rice and stir. Cook the rice for 2 minutes or so, allowing it to toast. Add the wine and stir continually as it reduces. Raise the heat to high if you wish. Continue stirring after the wine has cooked off. All stirring should be done vigorously to help the rice release its starch, which makes the dish creamy.

Add 1 cup/240 milliliters of the stock and continue stirring until the stock has cooked off and the rice begins to take on a creamy appearance. Add another 1 cup stock and repeat the process. When the stock has cooked off, remove the rice to a plate or a container that will allow it to cool quickly. The edges of the rice kernels should be pale, and the centers should be white; the rice should have a slight crunch. When the rice has cooled, cover it with plastic wrap/cling film and refrigerate it for up to 2 days (though it will be best if used that day).

To finish the risotto, return it to the sauté pan with the remaining stock. Place over high heat and stir until the stock comes to a simmer. Add the mushrooms and stir. When the stock has cooked off, taste the risotto and adjust the seasoning. If the rice is still too al dente, add water or more stock and cook until the rice is soft and creamy but not mushy. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the remaining butter. Add the cream and continue to stir until incorporated. Stir in the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve immediately, garnished with the parsley and grated lemon zest, if desired.

A deviled egg is one of those items that, whenever I’m offered one, I accept. As soon as I eat it, I think, “Why don’t I have these more
often
?” Deviled eggs make a fantastic canapé—satisfying, simple to prepare ahead, and unbeatably affordable. I will take a deviled egg over belabored smoked salmon and caviar on a blini every time. This is more proof that the expense of ingredients doesn’t necessarily correlate with a dish’s deliciousness.

If there’s a problem with deviled eggs, it’s that they’re customarily served halved, and that’s a big portion. How many can you eat? Combine that with their richness, and they can easily be too filling for you and your guests. So I like to quarter them and pipe or spoon the yolk mixture onto the quarters. They make for much more neatly consumed bites. Piping the mixture into the whites is less messy and tedious than using a spoon.

The garnish is up to the cook. I’m happy with some sweet paprika sprinkled on top. If it’s holiday time, use some minced parsley. You might add a leaf of tarragon in the summer, or put a crisp delicate crouton on top. You might fold something into the yolk mixture, what chefs call
interior garnish
—macerated minced shallot, or finely diced celery or red onion. Or, if you want to make the eggs fancy (and extend the egg motif), garnish each serving with a small dollop of sevruga caviar or a few salmon eggs.

12 large eggs, preferably at least 1 week old

1 to 1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard

¼ cup/60 milliliters
Mayonnaise

1½ tablespoons finely minced shallot,
macerated in lemon juice

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional garnishes: 2 teaspoons finely chopped celery, tarragon leaves, small delicate croutons

Cayenne pepper or sweet paprika

Place the eggs in a pan that will hold them in a single layer, but is not so big that the eggs roll around the bottom. Add enough water to cover the eggs by about 1 inch/2.5 centimeters. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. When the water reaches a full boil, take the pan off the heat and cover it. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 13 minutes if they were at room temperature to begin with or 15 minutes if they were cold.

Lower the eggs into an
ice bath
and allow them to chill thoroughly, at least 10 minutes. Chilling the eggs is especially critical, as it prevents the yolks from turning green and sulfurish.

Peel the eggs. I like to crack them in the ice bath, because sometimes that makes them easier to peel; very fresh eggs can be difficult. Halve the eggs lengthwise, and scoop the yolks into a bowl, then cut the halves into quarters.

Add the mustard, mayonnaise, and shallot to the yolks and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and several fine grinds of black pepper, and mix until all the ingredients are evenly dispersed and the yolks are creamy. If adding an interior garnish, such as chopped celery, fold it in here.

Put the yolk mixture into a plastic bag. Cut a ¼- to
³
/
₈
-inch/6-millimeter to 1-centimeter hole in one corner of the bag. If you have a fluted pastry tip, insert it into the hole. (For making deviled eggs occasionally, this method suffices, but if you prepare them often, you will want to acquire a pastry/piping bag and tips.)

Pipe filling onto each egg quarter. Garnish with a sprinkle of cayenne or sweet paprika, or as desired, and serve.

This recipe is from my colleague and chief tester, Marlene Newell. When I first made the eggs and served them at brunch, they were such a hit that I considered it a moral lapse not to include them here. All the ingredients go beautifully together. It’s important to finely dice the bacon and chives so they’re evenly distributed and don’t take over the yolks.

6 eggs, hard-boiled, halved or quartered, yolks and whites separated

2 to 3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

¼ cup/60 milliliters
Mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dry mustard