In the Cucina #3

When I walked into the kitchen today, Guiseppe had at least six pots going at once. 

Palermo born and raised, young Guiseppe is always smiling. Tall with a spiky brushed this way and that coif with longish sideburns, I can easily imagine this twenty-something as a nine year-old, skinny with scraped knees. In a chefs jacket and apron, he looks unremarkable, but the other night, which he had off, he showed up in jeans where the waistband barely hugged the bottom of his skinny bum, a chain looped and in a leather jacket with All-Star-esque sneakers.

Anyway, Guiseppe was preparing tomato sauce, slow cooked onions (for individual onion flans, vegetable broth, vanilla pastry cream and Spezzatino di Manzo (a beef stew with red wine and rosemary), among other things. The stew starts out with a mirepoix, ground carrots, onions and celery sauteed in olive oil in a big pot. Beef, cut into cubes, is added and browned, red wine, tomato paste, salt and chopped fresh rosemary are added and the mixture bubbles until tender. 

Throughout the day, except during the lunch rush, he cooked and I helped. A few minutes after walking in I was making a butter based dough (butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, flour and semolina, that is the basis for biscotti (or tiny biscottini), patacciotto (individual top and bottom crusted tartes, filled with vanilla cream). After that, I cleaned shrimp (save the heads!), pounded baby lamb chops (they're dipped in egg, dredged in breadcrumbs and quick deep fried), made individual eggplant Parmesans (with the fresh tomato sauce, fresh Mozzarella, grated Parmesan and fresh basil, layered and baked as needed.  

NOTE: I started working here on Tuesday. I was surprised by the small amount of fresh garlic in a small plastic container near the stove. I kept thinking the chefs were going to run out. Surprisingly, little garlic is used in Roman cooking. Other than obvious dishes like pesto (basil, pine nuts, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, Pecorino and Parmesan cheeses all pureed together), garlic is scarcely used here. I remember a story a couple of years ago about trying to nix garlic from Italian cooking. A little Googling and I found the story again. Click on the the title of this post (In the Cucina #3 for the full NPR story).   

Here's the recipe for Spezzatino di Manzo, my interpretation of Guiseppe's:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups ground onions

1 1/2 cups ground carrots

1 cup ground celery

2 pounds beef (tenderloin, steak or stew meat), cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cups red wine

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 Tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary

Salt to taste

Water, vegetable or other broth, as needed

Heat oil with onions, carrots and celery in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute until softened. Add the beef and brown on all sides. Add the wine and heat to boiling cook for five minutes. Add the tomato paste rosemary and about 1 tsp. salt to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until the meat is tender and the sauce is thickened, adding water or broth if the mixture becomes too dry while cooking. Makes 8 servings.