Thursday 29 November 2007

Recipe: Ossobuco alla Novese


This is a combination of two recipes from Giuliano Bugialli - the basic recipe was from one of his earliest books, and the gremolada is taken from a much later version, where in fact he was quoting a dish from Sardinia. I think the marriage of the two works well.
Outside Italy, Ossubuco tends to be associated with a rich and heavy tomato sauce. The method given here is completely different, and the flavours are light and edgy, and accentuate the taste of the veal perfectly. Generally, there is quite a lot of sauce left over at the end , which is delicious subsequently either as a pasta sauce, or mixed in with cooked borlotti beans.

It is worth getting the best quality veal you can find for this dish!

For Six.

Ingredients:

For the main dish: 6 Ossobuchi; 15 pitted green Olives; 1 tablespoon fresh Rosemary; 6 Sage leaves; 2 tablespoons Capers; 1 clove of Garlic; 1 strip of Lemon Peel; 2 cups of dry White Wine; 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil; 2 tablespoons of Butter; approx 6 tablespoons of Flour; Salt & Pepper.

For the Gremolada: Grated peel of one large Lemon; 10 Sage leaves; 15 sprigs of Parsley; half a tablespoon of Rosemary; quarter of a cup of Oive Oil; 1 teaspoon of Lemon Juice; Salt & Pepper to taste.

Method:

1. Tie each Ossobuco with string, to ensure it doesn't fall to pieces as it cooks. Flour each Ossobuco on each side. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2. On a board, combine the herbs, Garlic, Capers, Lemon peel, and Olives, and chop them finely all together. Put this mixture into a bowl and add the Wine.

3. Melt the Butter in an oven-proof heavy casserole (with a lid). Add the Oil, and when hot enough, brown the Ossobuchi for three minutes on each side.

4. Pour the Wine and herb mixture into the casserole, cover it with the lid, and place in the pre-heated oven for an hour. Half way through, carefully turn the Ossobuchi over and add seasoning.

5. While the Ossobuchi are cooking, chop all of the dry ingredients for the Gremolada and mix them thoroughly with the Oil and Lemon Juice.

6. Check and adjust the seasoning for the Ossobuchi just before serving. To serve, spread a spoonful of gremolada over each Ossobuco once it has been plated, with some of the sauce over and around it.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Artists, or Craftsmen?


This is a subject that has become of increasing personal interest - and gathering irritation - for some time now: Is the process of cooking best understood as the preserve of the Artist or of the Craftsman?

For me, the answer is firmly the latter: cooking is primarily about the efficient deployment of resources to optimal effect, and the ability to judge the correct texture of pastry or pasta dough, or the 'done-ness' of zabaglione or risotto, or the correct point at which to remove a fish or chicken from the oven, or how a freshly-baked loaf of bread should sound when you tap it - all these things are technical skills, learned through experience over time, much as a potter learns to handle clay, or a blacksmith learns how to work with metal. Once you've learned the technical aspects of the process, then - and only then - do you have the technical knowledge even to consider moving ahead and working from that knowledge-base to develop new combinations of ingredients or new methods of production. It is only at this stage - if at all - that any artistry kicks in.........and in my experience, very very few people have the skill or ability to make this leap. (Bruno Loubet does, for sure, and Raymond Blanc, to a lesser extent........and after that, I think we're essentially dealing with people of varying degrees of technical knowledge whose recipes are basically a re-hash of what has already come before, with some slight variation at best.....)

And the reason for my irritation? It's simple - I don't know why, but it seems that in the anglophone parts of the world this distinction between cooking as an Art or a Craft has become completely confused, with sometimes dire results. The process is increasingly viewed as some kind of mystical alchemy, rather than as a precise science, and cooks are encouraged to think of themselves as 'creative beings' rather than as technicians. With an artistic temperament, to match, if a lot of the blah-blah surrounding celebrity chefdom is to be believed. And the end result of all of this is an increasing preponderance of restaurants where the menu is crammed with unrecognisable combinations of things in dishes you've never heard of, and which you're expected to eat with an attitude of hushed reverence for the creative genius behind the whole questionable process. Whilst in Greece, you can go out to dinner with a confident expectation of finding avgolemono soup on the menu, if that's what you want, or in Italy, if your taste is for Spaghetti Carbonara, you can find it........or Paella in Spain, or TĂȘte de Veau in France.........in Britain or the USA, however, you're more likely to be confronted with a 'galaxy' of this, or a 'medley' of that, and end up dubiously picking at an unsuccessful marriage of greengages with Venison, or Wasabi & Campari Sorbet! Heaven forfend that the Chef should actually offer a traditional dish that might also appear on somebody else's menu somewhere else - but with the confidence that his version will bear critical comparison - and the whole experience ends up being a combination of purple prose, over-ambitious egos, and poor food.....

I blame the dead hand of celebrity chefdom, which has encouraged every restaurant cook to see themselves as the future Gordon or Emeril or Jamie, and so rush to distinguish themselves with the creation of 'signature dishes' which, quite frankly, just don't work. Ok, other countries have their foolishness too, like Gualtiero Marchesi with his Gold Leaf Risotto, or El Bulli's 'smoke' souffle - but you're more likely in those countries also to find myriad restaurants where the dishes being produced are an exact replica of what was learned from the generation before, and the generation before that. Which is as it should be.

There's nothing wrong with being a technician rather than an artist, and better an expert technician any day than a lousy artist!

Tonight's Dinner:

Tartes aux Moules

Bistecchie di Maiale, with Cannelini Beans cooked with Pancetta and Sage

Mango Ice Cream