Chef John's Prime Rib Gravy

I loved this so much I wanted to make sure I always had the recipe available. The original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients for the Beef stock:
1 teaspoon butter for greasing pan
½ onion, unpeeled, sliced
½ cup roughly chopped carrots
½ cup roughly chopped celery
2 beef rib bones
4 cups beef bone broth or high quality, low-sodium beef broth
2 cups water

Ingredients for the Gravy:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sliced brown mushroom (Optional)
2 tablespoons reserved beef fat
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
3 ½ cups reserved beef stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cayenne to taste
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Make magic:

1.    Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with foil.

2.    Spread out onions, carrots, and celery on the prepared baking sheet. Set rib bones on top.

3.    Roast until bones are deep brown and onions are black, about 1 hour. Use a spatula or tongues to transfer bones and vegetables into a saucepan. Drain off and reserve any rendered fat from the baking sheet for the gravy.

4.    Add broth and water to the saucepan, and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat falls off bone and is flavorless, about 4 hours. Skim any fat from the surface and reserve. Strain broth and let cool to room temp.

5.    Melt butter in a pot on medium-high and sauté mushrooms until well browned. Add 2 tablespoons rendered beef fat and stir until melted. Add flour and cook for a few minutes. Whisk in broth, and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until gravy has thickened to desired thickness, 5 to 10 minutes more

6.    Adjust salt to taste and season with freshly ground black pepper, cayenne, and balsamic vinegar. Taste again, adjust, and serve.

Tomato Sauce (2 ways)

1 way:
Wash and cut bad spots out of tomatoes. Quarter or half. Put in kettle until soft. While cooking, dip off water until enough pulp. Cook until mushy, run through blender until whipped. Pour it into colander and run through. Put back on stove and cook until consistency desired. Process for 30 minutes.

2 way:
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup oil
2 cups beef broth
4 teaspoons basil leaves
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 can tomato paste
12 large tomatoes
2 cups cooking wine or water

Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Planked Salmon with Champagne Cream Reduction

One of the things I love best about living in the Pacific Northwest is the readily available, fresh and not too expensive salmon. And one of the ways I like serving it is with a nice Champagne cream reduction. Now that I'm diabetic, we can't eat like this all the time, but it's been a month since I was diagnosed, so it was time for what will now be a very occasional treat.

Ingredients

1 lb. filet of salmon
Lemon slices
1/2 c. thinly-sliced shallot
1 c. dry Champagne
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Pinches of dried herbs (rosemary and thyme); fresh would be better, but I didn't have on hand
1 roasting/barbecuing plank that has been soaked in fresh water for 2 or more hours

Prepare your grill or preheat your oven to around 350F. Place the salmon on your plank, season with salt, pepper, a pinch of rosemary and thyme, and thinly-sliced lemon slices (cover the salmon evenly). Place on the heated grill or in the oven, and grill/roast for about 20 minutes. I aim for medium, but cook it how you like to eat it.

While the fish is cooking, heat a sauce pan over high heat and add in the Champagne and shallot. Reduce the wine to just a tablespoon or two by boiling it vigorously. When reduced, add mustard and the heavy cream and stir until nicely thickened (when it coats the back of a spoon). Spoon over the fish and enjoy with a vegetable of your choice and the rest of the Champagne.

~David

Savory Meat and Mushroom Pasta Sauce

I don't generally cook from recipes (except for baking of course). I cook based on years of learning how to do very basic things, like wine reductions, derivations of the five classical French sauces, and lots and lots of experience. This meal was one of those inventions that tasted really good, but might be difficult to write down. Let's see how I do.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 Tbps. extra-virgin olive oil (e.v.o.o.)
Half of a medium to large fennel bulb, small dice
One leek (with about 6 inches of white, 1 inch in diameter), med. dice
3 - 4 garlic cloves (or to taste)
1/2 c. red wine (do not use "cooking" wine; use a good dry red wine)
3 links of good sweet Italian sausage*
3 c. (or so) fresh Cremini mushrooms
1/2 c. chopped Parma ham or prosciutto
1/2 c. chopped good, dry salami
1 c. tomato sauce**
2 Tbsp. ribboned fresh basil
12 grape tomatoes
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 - 1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Pasta
Excellent romano

Cook your sausage ahead of time using any method you prefer. I generally cook it in a 375 degree (f) oven on a cast iron grill pan. Cook until the internal temperature is about 160 degrees (f). Let cool.

Any good wine reduction begins with the sweating of aromatic vegetables in some kind of fat. In this case, I used e.v.o.o., fennel (also called Anise bulb), leek and garlic.

Heat a large sauce pan over high heat until very hot. Add the e.v.o.o. and after it begins smoking a bit. Then add the fennel and leek and turn the heat down to medium. Add a good pinch of salt, as this aids in the sweating. When the leak begins to turn translucent, add in the mushrooms. After about two minutes, add in the garlic. Cook for another two minutes or so and then add in the wine. You will now cook this until the liquid is reduced to just a couple of tablespoons (the mushrooms will yield a lot of moisture, so be patient with this). When reduced, add in the meats and the basil, and turn up the heat.  After about 3 minutes (or so), add in the tomato sauce and the grape tomatoes. Cook until thickened and then take the pot off the heat. Add in the heavy cream and then put back on the heat and cook over medium until the sauce is thickened. Add the parsley, sugar and then salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta (any pasta--your choice) to al dente and then serve with the sauce and plenty of fresh grated romano. For my friends in NJ/NY, use Locatelli--it's superb (wish we could get it here). Enjoy with a nice wine.

* We really like Johnsonville sweet Italian sausage. It's the closest we've found to the NJ deli sweet sausage--you know, the stuff that comes in pinwheels.

** See our Sunday Gravy recipe for the sauce I used in this dish. I make huge pots of this and then freeze it future use.

~David

Fettuccini Alfredo (and Variations)

There a millions of Alfredo sauce recipes online. While a lot of them are good, most fail to convey the basics of this delicious sauce; the key ingredients and ratios that must be there. I will hope to do just that here.

A good Alfredo begins with the following key ingredients:

Heavy cream

Unsalted butter

Egg yolk

Romano cheese (grated)
Salt and pepper to taste

The basic proportions (which feed two) are thus:

1/4 c. unsalted butter

1 c. heavy cream

1 egg yolk

1 clove pressed garlic (optional)

1/4 c. grated Romano cheese

Salt, pepper and other seasoning to taste

The important ratio is butter to cream: it should always be 1/4 to 1. You will see many variations, which I shall not dispute, but this is how I was taught, and my results are consistent and, more importantly, delicious. The egg yolk helps to thicken the sauce and it adds a beautiful sheen to the finished product. 

So for four people, my recipe is:

1/2 c. butter (one stick)

2 c. cream

1 egg yolk (yes, still one)

2 sm. cloves garlic

1/2 c. grated romano cheese

Various other flavors as desired (see Variations below)

Salt, pepper and a pinch of really good Italian herb blend

The sauce is fairly easy to prepare, but you can't let your mind wander; it needs pretty much constant attention. It doesn't take long to prepare (less than ten minutes).

Prepare your ingredients ahead of time. Measure everything out in small bowls to make it easy to add as the sauce is being prepared. Don't forget to separate the egg yolk into a 1 c. (or so) container.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat; don't let the butter brown. As soon as it starts to sizzle a bit, add in the garlic and let it bloom, but, again, don't let it brown. After about 20-30 seconds, pour in the cream and begin stirring. No need to whisk, just keep the sauce moving. Add the salt, pepper and herbs to the sauce.

When it begins to thicken, add a couple of spoonfuls (one at a time) to the yolk to temper. Don't add the hot liquid too quickly or else you'll curdle the yolk. Slowly add the yolk mixture back into the main pan and continue cooking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (it should be boiling vigorously; don't worry, as long as you keep it moving, it won't stick or burn). When thickened, turn off the flame and then add in the cheese. Keep stirring until the cheese is mostly melted. Serve over a pasta of your choice (it's particularly yummy over gnocchi; see recipe in this blog). Finish with some chopped herbs: either Italian parsley or chives (fresh only).

Variations:

Bacon and Blue Alfredo Sauce. Add about a 1/4 c. of chopped bacon to the pan at the same time as the garlic. Add 1/4 c. of a good blue cheese (we're particularly fond of Stilton--the king of the blues) in at the same time as the other cheese.

Gorgonzola Alfredo Sauce. Add 1/4 c. of gorgonzola cheese in with the romano. Yummy!

Seafood Alfredo Sauce. Lightly saute (partially cook) shrimps, fresh, shelled clams and scallops in butter and white wine. Drain and then add to the Alfredo sauce to finish cooking.

Use your imagination. There are lots of yummy ways to prepare this. Enjoy!

~David

Ridiculously Easy Marinara Sauce

1 28 oz. can of tomatoes (your choice); we use crushed tomato
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp good olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp basil (or a handful of fresh, minced nicely)*
Salt and pepper to taste
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Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. When hot, press the garlic into the hot oil and cook for about a minute, stirring to prevent burning. Take the pan off the heat and then add the tomato, basil, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for medium-low heat for about five minutes. Serve how you will.

* I prefer fresh basil if I'm going to use the sauce for pasta. I prefer dried basil flakes for pizzas (this makes an absolutely outstanding pizza sauce).

Sunday Gravy

Olive oil
2-3 pounds lamb neck (can use veal, pork or beef short ribs)
1 package sweet italian sausage
Meatballs (see Meatball recipe)
Braciole (see Braciole recipe)
1 onion
5 cloves of garlic
3 28 ounce cans crushed tomato
3 28 ounce cans peeled plumb tomato
1 can (use empty tomato can) of water
6 tablespoons sugar
1 sprig fresh oregano
Handful of fresh basil
Salt
Pepper
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You can be making the meatballs and braciole in advance, but you can do it at the same time.  You don't want to cook the meatballs all the way, they will cook more in the sauce and you want to cook the braciole in the sauce pot.

In a hot stock pot, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil, lamb neck and sausages.  Cook the meat just to brown.  Once they are browned, remove from the pot and brown the braciole.  Remove the braciole from the pot and put with the other meat.

In the stock pot add your onion (diced), garlic (pressed), oregano, salt and pepper, basil (chopped), tomatoes, water, sugar and all the meat (including meatballs).  Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 4 to 5 hours.

Mushroom Sauce

1 pound and 1/4 cup crimini mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
1 package dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups chicken stock
White wine
Olive oil
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Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 oz of water to rehydrate; save the liquid.

Drizzle some olive oil in a sauce pan, add garlic (use a garlic press), pepper flakes and crimini mushrooms.  Add salt.  Saute mixture, adding rehydrated mushrooms.  When mushrooms are tender, add white wine to deglaze the pan.  Add part of the mushroom liquid and the chicken stock.  Simmer to reduce the liquids down and thicken up the sauce a bit.  Enjoy with potato gnocchi or any pasta of your choice.